Pakistan national under-23 football team

The under-23 side won the gold medal at the 2004 South Asian Games held across 3 venues in Pakistan from March 28 to April 6, 2004. The tournament was the first to introduce an under-23 tournament system for the football events.[2]

Muhammad Essa ended the tournament as top scorer and was player of the tournament, and helped Pakistan win the gold medal.[3] His goal in the semi final against Sri Lanka which ultimately ended in a 1-1 draw until the penalty shootout took Pakistan all the way to the final against India, where Abdul Aziz's goal gave Pakistan a 1–0 victory.[4]

In the 2006 South Asian Games held across in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 14 to 26 August 2006, Pakistan again won the gold medal.[5]

After advancing from the group stages, Essa's strike against Nepal led Pakistan to the final against Sri Lanka, which ended in a victory for the Green Shirts thanks to a goal by Adeel Ahmed in the half time.[5]

Pakistan first participated in the 1992 Summer Olympics qualifiers, finishing last placed with Yemen, Qatar, UAE, and Iran within the group.[6]

In 2007, Pakistan thrashed Singapore in both the home and away legs by 2-1 and 3-2,[7] consecutively under the newly appointed head coach Muhammad Rashid,[7] and won the preliminary round of 2008 Summer Olympics first time in the history of Olympics.

The under-23 side participated in their first ever tournament during the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. They were put into a group with Kuwait, North Korea and Hong Kong.[8]

The team subsequently felt short participating in the 2006, 2010, and 2014 editions.

FIFA restored membership of PFF on 13 March 2018.[9] With Asian Games approaching in August, the team had very little time to prepare. PFF announced the signing of new Brazilian coach José Antonio Nogueira and started camps in Lahore.[10] Then, the under 23 team along with 3 senior players flew to Indonesia in mid August to take part in Asian Games. On 14 August 2018, the team played its first group game against Vietnam, the then runner ups of 2018 AFC U-23 Championship, which resulted in a 3–0 loss. On 16 August 2018, the team faced a loss against Japan by a scoreline of 4–0. Pakistan defeated Nepal by 2–1 in their final group game which was the former's first win in Asian Games after 44 years.[11][12] Pakistan expected to qualify for knockouts being 3rd in the group. However, the team fell short in terms of Goal Difference.

• The following players were called up for the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification.[14]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
22	1GK	Salman ul Haq	(2001-06-10) 10 June 2001	0	0	SNGPL
20	1GK	Hassan Ali		0	0	Lyallpur
1	1GK	Usman Ali		0	0	Huma
12	2DF	Mohammad Sohail		0	0	KRL
2	2DF	Mohib Ullah		0	0	Karachi United
3	2DF	Haseeb Ahmed Khan	(2000-04-04) 4 April 2000	0	0	PAF
13	2DF	Muhammad Sufyan		0	0	WAPDA
15	2DF	Abdullah Shah (Captain)	(2001-02-06) 6 February 2001	0	0	Dhivehi Sifainge Club
5	2DF	Mamoon Moosa Khan	(2000-11-28) 28 November 2000	0	0	PAF
14	2DF	Saeed Khan		0	0	KPT F.C.
4	2DF	Abdullah Iqbal	(2002-07-27) 27 July 2002	0	0	B.93
23	3MF	Mohammad Hayan Khattak		0	0	Popo FC
6	3MF	Mohammad Taha		0	0	PAF
7	3MF	Zaid Umar		0	0	KRL
19	3MF	Nizam Uddin		0	0	Pakistan Army
21	3MF	Alamgir Ghazi	(2001-05-09) 9 May 2001	0	0	WAPDA
11	3MF	Harun Hamid	(2003-11-10) 10 November 2003	0	0	Free Agent
8	4FW	Shayak Dost	(2002-05-01) 1 May 2002	0	0	WAPDA
16	4FW	Moin Ahmed	(2003-11-28) 28 November 2003	0	0	KRL
9	4FW	Muhammad Waheed	(2002-10-15) 15 October 2002	0	0	KRL
10	4FW	Waleed Khan	(2004-12-08) 8 December 2004	0	0	Popo FC
18	4FW	Hamza Ahmed		0	0
17	4FW	Farid Ullah		0	0	Muslim FC

• 2002 Asian Games
• 2006 Asian Games
• 2010 Asian Games
• 2014 Asian Games
• 2018 Asian Games

• 2004 South Asian Games

AFC U-23 Championship was initially set to be held as AFC U-22 Championships in 2013 and its qualification matches in 2012, but the finals tournament was postponed to be played in January 2014.[15][16]

AFC U-23 Championship record										AFC U-23 qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA
2014	did not qualify									5	0	1	4	0	8
2016										3	1	0	2	3	8
2018										did not enter
2020	Withdrawn									Withdrawn
2022	Suspended									Suspended
2024	To be determined									To be determined
2026
Totals	0/7	0 Titles	0	0	0	0	0	0		8	1	1	6	3	16