Muhammad Essa Khan (Urdu/Pashto: محمد عیسیٰ خان; born on 20 November 1983) is a former Pakistani footballer and current assistant coach of Pakistan national football team. He was the captain of Pakistan national football team and is regarded as one of the most talented football players Pakistan had seen. 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. He was a left-footed free-kick specialist. Essa is one of the most well known faces in Pakistani football, due to his regular goal scoring at international level.
Personal information | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Muhammad Essa Khan | ||||||||||||
Date of birth | (1983-11-20) 20 November 1983 (age 38) | ||||||||||||
Place of birth | Chaman, Balochistan, Pakistan[1] | ||||||||||||
Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||
Position(s) | Centre Forward | ||||||||||||
Youth career | |||||||||||||
1999–2000 | Afghan FC Chaman | ||||||||||||
Senior career* | |||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||
2000–2004 | Pakistan Telecommunication | 34 | (7) | ||||||||||
2004–2005 | Afghan Chaman | 22 | (12) | ||||||||||
2005–2007 | WAPDA F.C. | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||
2007–2009 | Khan Research Laboratories | 72 | (19) | ||||||||||
2009–2017 | K-Electric | ||||||||||||
National team‡ | |||||||||||||
1999–2006 | Pakistan U23 | 10 | (5) | ||||||||||
2000–2009 | Pakistan | 36 | (11) | ||||||||||
Teams managed | |||||||||||||
2018– | Pakistan (assistant coach) | ||||||||||||
Honours
| |||||||||||||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17 August 2015 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21:47, 17 August 2015 (UTC) |
Born in the football-mad city of Chaman in Pakistan's Balochistan province, he took up the game with great interest and passion. He played in the Afghan Club Chaman youth team before signing for PTCL FC.
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 2000.
He won the old 2003 PFF President's Cup with PTCL FC. In 2004, Essa was called up to the Pakistan U23 squad for the SAF Games. He ended the tournament as top scorer and was player of the tournament, and helped Pakistan win Gold.
Essa’s most famous moment came when he scored from a free-kick against India in the first match of the 2005 Pakistan-India friendly series, at the Ayub National Stadium, Quetta to tie the game 1–1 with minutes to go before the final whistle. With a 3–0 victory in the final game in which Essa scored, he was offered a playing contract from major Indian football team East Bengal Club, but the PFF seemingly turned it down.
In the inaugural 2004 PPL season he returned to his home town club Afghan Club Chaman with his goals helping them to survive relegation. The following season, the striker transferred to WAPDA FC but could not help them retain their PPL title; finishing second to Pakistan Army FC. In 2006, he captained Pakistan to another SAF Games gold medal. Returning from the Games, he moved to KRL and helping them finish 3rd in the 2006–07 season.
A proposed move to prominent Bangladesh Pro League side Mohammedan Sporting Club was rumoured but failed to materialise.
Essa played in the Geo Super Football League for Quetta Zorawar as captain with the club coming second in the league round and losing semi-finalists in the knock-out round of the tournament, although he was awarded the SFL 2007 Player of the Tournament trophy. The striker was awarded the 'Salaam Pakistan Award' alongside tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and female squash player Maria Toor Pakay for their contributions to sport by the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf on 13 August 2007. He captained Pakistan to a surprise nil-nil draw against Iraq in Syria in the second leg of the World Cup 2010 qualifiers, but were knocked out due to a 7–0 aggregate loss.
In the 2007/08 season of the PPL, Essa struggled to score goals, only scoring 9 goals in 21 appearances. He retained his captaincy for the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualifying campaign. Despite a 2–0 win against Chinese Taipei in the first match, they 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 SAFF Cup 2008.
In 2009, he opened an academy at his home town in Chaman, called the Essa Khan Academy.
# | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 12 June 2005 | Ayub National Stadium, Quetta, Pakistan | ![]() | 1–1 | 1–1 | Friendly |
2 | 18 June 2005 | Punjab Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan | ![]() | 1–0 | 3–0 | Friendly |
3 | 9 December 2005 | Peoples Football Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan | ![]() | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2005 South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup |
4 | 1 March 2006 | National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan | ![]() | 1–0 | 1–4 | 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification |
5 | 2 April 2006 | Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh | ![]() | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2006 AFC Challenge Cup |
6 | 6 April 2006 | Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh | ![]() | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2006 AFC Challenge Cup |
7 | 16 August 2006 | Jinnah Sports Stadium, Islamabad, Pakistan | ![]() | 1–3 | 1–4 | 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification |
8 | 25 March 2008 | Pokhara Rangasala, Pokhara, Nepal | ![]() | 1–0 | 1–2 | Friendly |
9 | 2 April 2008 | Chungshan Soccer Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan | ![]() | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualification |
10 | 8 December 2009 | Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh | ![]() | 1–0 | 7–0 | 2009 SAFF Championship |
11 | 6–0 |
Pakistan Telecommunication
Khan Research Laboratories
K-Electric
Pakistan