The National Women Football Championship is the top

cup competition A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

for women's football clubs in Pakistan – designed as an equivalent to the

National Challenge Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. Op ...

for men. It was started in 2005 by the

Pakistan Football Federation Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of association football in Pakistan. Founded in 1947, its headquarters are at the FIFA Football House in Lahore, Punjab near Punjab Stadium. The federation manages the men's and women's ...

. Young Rising Stars has been the most successful team in the history of he competition, winning it five times (including four consecutive wins from 2010 to 2013). WAPDA has had the most final appearances (7), winning once and losing six times. The most recent champion is

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the Partition of British India, which occurred as a result ...

, which defended its

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

title in 2019-20.

History

The first edition was held in 2005, organised by

(PFF). On 4th August 2010,

President

Faisal Saleh Hayat Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat ( ur, مخدوم سيد فیصل صالح حیات; born 1952 in Lahore) is a Pakistani politician from Jhang, Punjab and sports administrator. He is currently serving as the President of South Asian Football ...

dedicated the Best Player Award of the National Women Football Championship to Misha Dawood, the late Diya W.F.C. midfielder. Misha had been on the ill-fated Airblue Flight 202 which crashed in the

Margalla Hills The Margalla Hills () are a hill range within the Margalla Hills National Park on the northern edge of Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan, just south of Haripur District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They are part of the Himalayan foothills. Th ...

on 28 July 2010. Due to the political and judicial crisis of 2015 at the PFF, the championship was not held from 2015 to 2018. The 2021 edition was cancelled, no official reason was given, but the decision took place after the

's office was attacked and people inside held hostage by its former president, Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah, and his group. The championship was interrupted before the knockout stage started.

Format

The number of teams participating has varied through the years. In the first edition, 8 teams took part. In the 2018 edition, 16 teams participated in the tournament, with three departmental teams, four provincial teams, four regional teams and five club teams, divided into four groups, winner of each group will earn a spot in semi-finals. For the 2021 competition, 20 teams divided into four groups were originally supposed to participate in 59 scheduled matches, but one of them withdrew before the tournament commenced.

Tournament summary

List of finals

* ^g Guest teams invited by

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

represented

and Malavan BA represented

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Performance by club

* ^g Guest teams invited by

represented

and Malavan BA represented

References

External links

Pakistan Football Federation official websiteFootball PakistanNational Women Championship
{{Top level women's association football leagues around the world National Women Football Championship

Women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

Women's sports leagues in Pakistan Sports leagues established in 2005 2005 establishments in Pakistan