The 2023–2024

PFF National Challenge Cup The PFF National Challenge Cup is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic Pakistani football within the Pakistan football league system. It is organized by and named after the Pakistan Football Federation. Initially named as ...

was the 30th edition of domestic football cup competition in Pakistan. The cup competition, which ran from 24 January 2023 until 12 May 2024, featured 27 departmental teams from across the country vying for the title, which was defended by the

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

champions

WAPDA The Pakistan Water & Power Development Authority (), colloquially known as WAPDA, is a Pakistani government-owned public utility agency maintaining hydropower and water in Pakistan, although it does not manage thermal power plants. WAPDA includes ...

. Initially scheduled to be held throughout 2023, the second phase was held in May 2024 after almost 15 months of inactivity.

Background

The tournament took place after a gap of nearly three-and-a-half years because of the

Pakistan Football Federation The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) is the national governing body of association football in Football in Pakistan, Pakistan. It is a member of FIFA, the international governing body of Association football, football, and affiliated to the A ...

's suspension by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

due to a power struggle within the

. FIFA lifted the ban imposed on PFF after the legitimate Normalization Committee body was restored. The tournament was announced briefly after departmental sports in Pakistan were restored in August 2022 by Prime Minister

Shehbaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who has served as the 20th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan since March 2024, having previously been in the role between Ap ...

. Many of the departmental clubs were disbanded following the shutdown of departmental sports in Pakistan in September 2021. Departmental teams were then restricted to the

, following their controversial participation in the Pakistani domestic league setup in the previous years. A PFF official stated that from now on, there will be separate competitions for departments and clubs. When a domestic league is held, it will be solely for clubs. The PFF Constitution stated that all departmental players need to be “affiliated with a club”, with some teams taking advantage of it such as POPO FC, which had their team playing the Challenge Cup under the department with the name of Mamsons Builders.

Lyallpur FC Lyallpur Football Club is a Pakistani professional football club based in Faisalabad, Punjab. History The club was founded in 2010 as University Football Club. After advancing to the second round of the 2010 PFF League club phase, the team fi ...

competed under the name of Otto Cranes.

Format

In the first phase, teams, bracketed in seven groups, competed on home and away basis. The leading two teams from each group and the two best third-placed sides progressed to the round of 16. The first phase was held at

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

Bahawalpur Bahawalpur (Urdu: ; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 13th largest city of Pakistan and List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, 8th most populous city of Punjab. Bahawalpur is the capital of Bahawalpur Division. Founded in ...

Faisalabad Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

Chaman Chaman (Pashto and ) is the capital city of the Chaman District in Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan, Pakistan. It is located near the Durand Line, Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The city is situated south of the Wesh–Chaman border crossing with ...

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

and

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

simultaneously. The second phase was set to be conducted from May 1 to 12 in 2023 at a centre yet to be decided. It was postponed to kick off on the 21st of October until 6 November 2023. After an uncertain inactivity almost 15 months after it began, the National Challenge Cup knockout stage was finally announced to reach its end in Lahore from May 1 to 12 in 2024. The venue was ultimately shifted to

, with Jinnah Stadium hosting the semifinals and final, and the group stage and the rest of knockout round at local nearby grounds.

Teams

The 27 teams participating in the tournament are as below:

First phase

Group A

Gwadar Port Authority The Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) functions as a governmental body in Pakistan established in accordance with the ''Gwadar Port Authority Ordinance, 2002'', this ordinance outlines the framework for planning, constructing, operating, managing, an ...

withdrew due to their internal issues. ----

Group B

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group C

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group D

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group E

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group F

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group G

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Second phase

Group A

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group B

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group C

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group D

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Knockout round

Bracket

Quarter-finals

---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

----

Third position

Final

Awards

References

External links

2024 National Challenge Cup GSA
{{2023–24 in Asian football (AFC) PFF National Challenge Cup 2023 domestic association football cups 2023 Asian domestic association football cups 2023 in Pakistani sport 2020s in Pakistan