Sohail Abbas, (born 9 June 1977) is a former professional field hockey player from Pakistan who played as a Full-back.

After representing Pakistan at junior levels Abbas made his international debut in the Test series against India in February 1998.

Sohail has often said that his inspiration came from his uncle, Safdar Abbas, a left-winger who represented Pakistan from 1973 to 1981 where he scored against Argentina during the 1973 World Cup as a 16-year-old boy.

In the beginning he played as a forward but due to his physical built and unsatisfactory performance his youth coach moved him in the defense.

Before him Pakistan played a brand of hockey that was known for its speedy forwards who created goal scoring chances from their technique not penalty-corner specialists like the European style.

[citation needed] After a brief stunt with SSGC Abbas continued playing in the Pakistan domestic season but this time for WAPDA.

During the 2005-06 as Pakistan was hit with a devastating earthquake Abbas started a fund raising mission with the approval of his club and Rotterdam city council for the victims of the tragedy.

[9] In 2013 Abbas signed for Punjab Sports Club to play in the semi-professional Hong Kong premier league for a season.

Finally, he made his debut the following year on the national team and has since become arguably modern hockey's most prolific goalscorer of all time.

The following day, on 1 March 1998, in the second test at Rawalpindi's Army Hockey Stadium, Abbas announced his arrival on the international scene in dramatic fashion, scoring a drag flick from a penalty corner which proved to be the match-winner in Pakistan's 2–1 victory.

But he staged a comeback to win silver in 1998 Hockey Champions Trophy in Lahore and bronze at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.

Pakistan started off the year playing in an invitational tournament in Dhaka, Bangladesh where they finished second after losing the final to India on penalty strokes.

In the last assignment of the year Pakistan played in the Champions Trophy in Rotterdam where he scored another hat-trick against Germany but Pakistan again finished at fourth place Sohail attracted worldwide attention in 2002 when he emerged as the joint highest scorer along with Argentina's Jorge Lombi in the 10th World Cup at Kuala Lumpur.

Later, in the 24th CT in Cologne, Germany, Sohail played a major role and Pakistan finished third ahead of India.

Sohail and Waseem represented German club Harvestehuder THC of Hamburg while Nadeem played for Gladbacher HTC.

Nadeem did return in time for the trials for the Australia-bound squad, but he was not considered for selection and Pakistan suffered embarrassment, finishing last in both twin 4-Nation tournaments at Perth and Sydney.

But PHF President Gen. Muhammad Aziz Khan brought an amicable end to the controversy when he said that the under-fire players will compete in the CT in better national interest.

Sohail started 2004 in whirlwind fashion and won the top scorer award in 13th Azlan Shah Cup at Bukit Jalil Complex.

[14][15] He retired in December 2004, just after the Champions Trophy in Lahore along with another Pakistani great Waseem Ahmad, when he was only 27 years of age but on 4 July 2006, he decided to return to the international hockey.

His 33rd goal emerged from penalty-mark when he converted 66th-minute penalty-stroke against India in Pakistan's 2–1 win on fourth day of 26th Champions Trophy.

He took 11 editions for his 32 goals while Sohail did the needful in his 6th CT and added another on 12 December tie to make his final Champions' Trophy total 34.

Abbas helped secure qualification for the 2010 World Cup by winning the qualifiers in Lille, France, and later finished silver in the Hockey Champions Challenge I in Argentina.

Despite good performances in the test series with Netherlands in previous months Pakistan finished their worst 12th at the 2010 World Cup in New Delhi managing to win just a match.

Abbas's finest moment for Pakistan continued to be the 2010 Asian Games as he was part of the team which beat South Korea 4–3 on penalty strokes.

The 16-year drought ended and Pakistan and Sohail Abbas put a poor World Cup and Commonwealth Games behind them to give their country their first major trophy in 16 years.

After serving Pakistan for almost 14 years, Abbas was awarded the captaincy of the national hockey side for the first time in the Azlan Shah Cup and London Olympics 2012.

Despite multiple coaching offers from PHF Sohail declined taking part in any program working under the Pakistan Hockey management and kept a low profile.

He is a natural short corner expert with a very strong wrist, a powerful drag flick and a perfected dummy "body dodge" action.

He scored the most goals from penalty corners, so definitely he is the best in the world," Time spent in Netherlands him tone his skills and he pays warm tribute to the club boss Jons Hanset, who helped make his stay enjoyable.

Twelve goals in 5 matches and helped his team qualify for the play-offs was no mean feat and he has no hesitation in stating that Netherlands remains his favorite country to visit.