KARACHI, Feb 15: Defending champions Shahzad Mohammadan became Sport 360’s KASB Premier League Football’s current champions when they defeated Nazimabad FC 7-5 in the final that went into tiebreaker at the CDGK Stadium on Saturday night.
The scoreline was 3-2 in favour of Nazimabad FC until the 77th minute when Shahzad Mohammadan equalised to take the game into extra time where both sides scored one goal each to make it 4-4 to have it decided on penalty kicks.
The match generated much excitement amongst the 15,000 crowd gathered to witness it. Shahzad Mohammadan’s captain and striker Sohail Baloch earned the lead for his side in the 12th minute alone. But the 15th minute saw Nazimabad FC’s frontrunner Hameed Afridi heading the ball in to restore parity.
Nazimabad FC’s second and third goals came in the 28th and 29th minutes when right-winger Naveed Gul and striker Faiz Mohammad scored, respectively. But the 33rd minute brought a setback when their defender Atta Mohammad’s own goal presented Shahzad Mohammadan with their second.
Striker Amjad Ali made it 3-3 in the 77th minute.
The extra time had Nazimabad FC’s midfielder Akhtar converting a penalty kick in the 100th minute to take it to 4-3. But just 50 seconds before the final whistle, Shahzad Mohammadan’s midfielder Shahnawaz converted a penalty kick (120th min) to equalise with Nazimabad and have the winner decided on penalty kicks.
Shahzad Mohammadan managed to convert four while Nazimabad scored twice.
Earlier, Karachi Kickers beat Sharafi Mohammadan 3-1 to take the third position. Saeed Alam (17th min), Zeeshan Tara (51st) and Fareed Alam (64th) scored for the winners while Abdul Jabbar (76th) reduced the margin for Sharafi Mohammadan.
The final day’s matches were supervised by former FIFA referee Ahmed Jan with assistance from Yunus Lal, Khalid Mumtaz and Ghulam Nabi. Abdul Latif Baloch was the referees’ inspector and Shakoor Baloch the match commissioner.
Deputy Nazim Karachi Nasreen Jalil, the chief guest on the occasion, presented the triumphant captain Sohail Baloch with the winners trophy and Rs10,00,000 (ten lacs) cheque. KASB Group Chairman Nasir Ali Shah Bukhari gave away the runners-up trophy and a cheque of Rs2,50,000.
Karachi Kickers received Rs75,000. Hyderi Baloch got the Fair Play Trophy and Rs35,000.
Hameed Afridi of Nazimabad FC (Player of the Tournament) and Sharafi Mohammadan’s Abdul Haleem (Golden Boot with 26 goals) received Rs25,000 each. The Rs10,000 prizes for Emerging Players went to Mohammad Ubaid (Hyderi Baloch) and Arshad Jamal (Nazimabad FC), for best manager and coach to Saleem Patni and best referee to Yunus Lal.
