Muhammad Essa

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Muhammad Essa
Personal information
Full name Muhammad Essa Khan
Date of birth (1983-11-20) 20 November 1983 (age 42)
Place of birth Chaman, Pakistan[1]
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position Centre forward
Team information
Current team
 Pakistan U17 (assistant coach)
Youth career
1999–2000 Afghan Chaman
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2005 PTCL 34 (7)
2005–2006 Afghan Chaman 22 (12)
2006–2007 WAPDA
2007–2009 Khan Research Laboratories
2009–2017 K-Electric
International career
1999–2006 Pakistan U23 11 (6)
2001–2009 Pakistan 40 (11)
Managerial career
2017–2018 K-Electric (assistant)
2018–2019 Pakistan (assistant)
2019–2020 K-Electric
2023–2024 Khan Research Laboratories
2025– Pakistan U17 (assistant)
Medal record
Representing File:Flag of Pakistan.svg Pakistan
Winner South Asian Games 2004
Winner South Asian Games 2006
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Muhammad Essa Khan (Urdu, Pashto: محمد عیسیٰ خان; born 20 November 1983) is a Pakistani football manager and former footballer who played as a forward.

A former captain of the Pakistan national team, he is regarded among the most talented football players Pakistan has produced. He was used as a playmaker particularly in support of a striker, or a genuine centre forward because of his ball holding and passing skills.[2][3] He was a left-footed free-kick specialist. In his playing days, Essa was one of the most well known faces in Pakistani football, due to his regular goal scoring at international level.

Club career

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Early career

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Born in the city of Chaman in Pakistan's Balochistan province, he played in the youth team of Pakistani club side Afghan FC Chaman before signing for PTCL, with whom he won the old PFF President's Cup in 2003.[4] In the inaugural Pakistan Premier League season in 2004, the club finished fifth in the league table.[5]

Foreign interest

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In June 2005, Essa was offered a playing contract from major Indian football team East Bengal FC after his stellar performance in the international friendly series against India,[6][7][8] but the deal collapsed after the club decided to retain the striker Bhaichung Bhutia for the next season following the wages demands of Essa.[9][10] Essa was also later offered to play for JCT in India, and clubs from Oman and Maldives but the move seemingly failed to materialise.[11]

Afghan Chaman

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In the second season of Pakistan Premier League season in 2005, he returned to his hometown club Afghan FC Chaman, with his goals helping them to finish fourth in the table.[12]

WAPDA

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The following season, he transferred to departmental side WAPDA, but could not help them retain their Pakistan Premier League title; finishing second to Pakistan Army.[13]

KRL

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He moved to Khan Research Laboratories, and helped them finish third in the 2007–08 season. The same year, he played in the Geo Super Football League for Quetta Zorawar as captain. Although his team came second in the league round and lost in the semi-final in the knock-out round of the tournament, he was awarded the SFL 2007 Player of the Tournament trophy.

K-Electric

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In 2009, he moved to K-Electric, where he served both as a player and assistant coach in the last years.[14] He also played in the 2010 season that the Geo Super Football League for Karachi Energy beating Quetta Zorawar 1–0 in final.[15]

International career

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Essa started at the under-16 level in 1995, and went on to play for the under-19 side.[16] He was discovered by then Pakistan youth team and under-23 manager John Layton back in early 1999, and found his way into the Pakistan national football team soon enough, receiving his first cap in 2001.[1] In 2004, Essa was called up to the Pakistan U-23 squad for the 2004 South Asian games. He ended the tournament as top scorer and was player of the tournament, and helped Pakistan win the gold medal.[17] 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. Essa scored his first senior international goal in a free-kick against India, in the first match of the 2005 Pakistan-India friendly series at the Ayub National Stadium in Quetta to tie the game 1–1 with minutes to go before the final whistle.[18][19][20] He scored again in the 3–0 win against India at the Punjab Stadium in Lahore.[21] He was named player of series at the end.[16]

In 2006, he captained the Pakistan under 23 side at the 2006 South Asian Games, winning another gold medal.[22][23] 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.[24] He also captained the under-23 side at the 2006 Asian Games.[25]

He retained his captaincy for the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualification campaign. Despite a 2–0 win against Chinese Taipei in the first match, Pakistan lost 7–1 to Sri Lanka, which made Pakistan's 9–2 demolition of Guam meaningless as they finished behind on points to Sri Lanka, thus failing to qualify for the main round. Because of injury, Essa had to miss the 2008 SAFF Championship.[26][27]

He retired from the national team during the 2009 SAFF Championship, following a fallout with the international team manager György Kottán.[28][29][30][31]

Managerial career

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Essa served K-Electric both as a player and assistant coach while attaining the AFC B coaching license.[14]

He was appointed as assistant coach of the Pakistan national team in 2018,[32] lasting during the tenure of former PFF president Faisal Saleh Hayat, who was ousted by FIFA in June 2019.[33] He returned to K-Electric as head coach until the team got disbanded in 2020.[14] He joined KRL as the head coach in January 2023.[14]

In 2025, he was appointed assistant coach for the Pakistan under-17 football team for the 2025 SAFF U-17 Championship held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, under head coach Nasir Ismail.

Personal life

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Essa came from a family of footballers. Two of his uncles and his two brothers played in the domestic circuit. His older brother Ahmad Shah played at the national level and younger brother Jahangir Khan played for Pakistan national under-19 team.[16] Essa's younger cousin Kaleemullah Khan is also a footballer and represented the Pakistan national team.[34]

On 13 August 2007, Essa was awarded the Salaam Pakistan Award alongside tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and female squash player Maria Toorpakai for their contributions to sport by the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf.[35] On 7 May 2009, Essa received AFC Distinguished Services Awards from FIFA President Sepp Blatter at Kuala Lumpur during the AFC 23rd Congress.[36]

In 2009, he opened an academy at his home town in Chaman, called the Essa Khan Academy. Essa is the co-founder of Pak Afghan Clearing Agency, founded as a hybrid of a department and football club.[37][3][38]

Career statistics

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International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year[1]
National team Year Apps Goals
Pakistan 2001 6 0
2003 2 0
2005 8 3
2006 9 4
2007 2 0
2008 5 2
2009 8 2
Total 40 11
Scores and results list Pakistan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Essa goal.
List of international goals scored by Muhammad Essa
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 12 June 2005 Ayub National Stadium, Quetta, Pakistan File:Flag of India.svg India 1–1 1–1 Friendly
2 18 June 2005 Punjab Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan File:Flag of India.svg India 1–0 3–0 Friendly
3 9 December 2005 People's Football Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan File:Flag of Afghanistan (2004–2013).svg Afghanistan 1–0 1–0 2005 South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup
4 1 March 2006 National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan File:Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg United Arab Emirates 1–0 1–4 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification
5 2 April 2006 Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh File:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.svg Kyrgyzstan 1–0 1–0 2006 AFC Challenge Cup
6 6 April 2006 Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh File:Flag of Macau.svg Macau 2–1 2–2 2006 AFC Challenge Cup
7 16 August 2006 Jinnah Sports Stadium, Islamabad, Pakistan File:Flag of Oman.svg Oman 1–3 1–4 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification
8 25 March 2008 Pokhara Rangasala, Pokhara, Nepal File:Flag of Nepal.svg   Nepal 1–0 1–2 Friendly
9 2 April 2008 Chungshan Soccer Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan File:Flag of Chinese Taipei (Olympics; 1986–2010).svg Chinese Taipei 1–1 2–1 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualification
10 8 December 2009 Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh File:Flag of Bhutan.svg Bhutan 1–0 7–0 2009 SAFF Championship
11 6–0

Honours

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Pakistan Telecommunication

Khan Research Laboratories

K-Electric

Pakistan U23

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Muhammad Essa at National-Football-Teams.comLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
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  • Muhammad Essa at National-Football-Teams.comLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  • Muhammad Essa at Global Sports Archive
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