[7] Football has also struggled to gain popularity in Pakistan largely due to the heavy influence of cricket in South Asia.

[9][11] In Iraq, due to the Iraqi FA's inability to gather a full national team, Pakistan played an unofficial friendly against the club Haris al-Maliki resulting in a 1–1 draw.

[9][13] Masood Fakhri had most notably scored a hat-trick, and became the first player from Pakistan to do so as his national team thumped Singapore 6–2 in a group match at the 1954 Asian Games in Manila, Philippines.

[13] Pakistan recorded some famous victories including a 7–0 walloping of Thailand,[19] and a 3–1 win over the Asian powerhouses Japan.

[13] The World Cup qualifiers followed a similar pattern, with Pakistan missing crucial matches because of a lack of interest from the federation and insufficient government support.

After several years without competitive football activity, in the 1981 King's Cup, Pakistan secured a goalless draw against Indonesia.

However, in 1984, the national team lost 4 out of 5 games in the 1984 AFC Asian Cup qualification, the only victory coming against North Yemen 4–1 with Sharafat Ali scoring a hat-trick.

[25] The national team hosted another 1985 Quaid-e-Azam International Cup, this time inviting North Korea, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nepal.

In 1987 after participating at the 1988 Summer Olympics Qualification, the side was more successful at the 1987 South Asian Games, winning the bronze medal match against Bangladesh 1–0.

In the 1991 South Asian Games however, Pakistan beat the Maldives in the final 2–0 to win their second Gold, from goals scored by Qazi Ashfaq and Mohammad Nauman Khan.

The following year Pakistan achieved their first point in the 2002 World Cup qualification, thanks to a hat-trick by Gohar Zaman in a 3–3 draw against Sri Lanka, but all other matches ended in defeat.

At the 2003 SAFF Cup, under the inspiration of the attacking midfielder Sarfraz Rasool, Pakistan stunned India, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in three victories as they reached the semi-finals only to fall short against Maldives by 1-0.

In the 2010 World Cup qualifiers in 2007, they fell to a heavy defeat by the Asian champions Iraq, losing 7–0 on aggregate across the two legs after drawing 0–0 in the second round.

In the 2008 SAFF Championship, Pakistan failed to go beyond the group stages, losing to Maldives 3–0, India 2–1 and Nepal 4–1, which signalled the end of Akhtar Mohiuddin's tenure as head coach.

The side were defeated 1–0 by Sri Lanka, before drawing 0–0 with Bangladesh as Adnan Ahmed missed a late penalty to seal a win.

Later in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in July, Pakistan lost 3–0 to Bangladesh in Dhaka, before earning a 0–0 draw in Lahore a few days later.

[38] Despite having little time to influence the team, Zavisa managed to hold Bangladesh 0–0, Maldives 0–0 and Nepal 1–1 in the India-hosted SAFF Championship 2011.

Against hosts Nepal, Hassan Bashir scored an early goal, only to see 15-year-old Bimal Gharti Magar level things in injury-time.

For three years since March 2015, the top division of the Pakistan Premier League remained suspended because of the crisis created due to his actions, along with the men's senior team,[47] who remained suspended from any international competition, and FIFA rankings of the senior team had slumped from 168 in 2003 to the lowest 201 in 2017.

[50] Pakistan went to Bangladesh to take part in 2018 SAFF Cup which started in September, 2018 which was their first FIFA recognized tournament after a span of 3 years.

Green shirts played their final group game against Bhutan which ended in a 3–0 win and sealed their place in semis after 13 years.

It was initially reported that the match will be played in Lahore, Pakistan on 15 November 2018 but Palestine decided to host the event afterwards.

Disappointment would soon strike again as Pakistan lost its chance to pass the 2022 FIFA qualification, losing against Cambodia twice in the first round and was eliminated.

[58] Pakistan made their comeback by playing a friendly match against Nepal in November 2022, losing 0–1 in a late minute goal.

[61] On 27 July 2023, the draw for the first round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification took place in which Pakistan were drawn once again against Cambodia, followed by the appointment of the English coach Stephen Constantine.

For the first fifty years of their existence, Pakistan played their home matches at various multi-purpose stadiums all around the country, particularly in Karachi.

At the Afghanistan Republic Day Festival Cup in 1977, the B team managed by Qayyum Changezi also participated under the name of Shaheen FC.

India first won at the consequent 1953 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament with a 1–0 win, with Neville D'Souza scoring a goal.

Pakistan men’s football team recorded its first official win over India at the 1960 AFC Asian Cup qualification with Abdullah Rahi netting the winner.

Win Draw Loss Fixture The following players were named in the squad for the 2026 WCQ R2 against  Saudi Arabia  Tajikistan and on 6 and 11 June 2024.