Army takes home title victory of 28th National Challenge Football Cup
Army struggled against SSGC to be crowned the champions of the 2019 National Football Challenge Cup which successfully concluded at Tehmash Khan Football Stadium in Peshawar.
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The final match that started under the floodlights at sharp 08:00 PM witnessed Pakistan Army and Sui Southern Gas Companies (SSGC) teams battling against each other to take home the lavish and shinning trophy as well as the 1.2 million cash prize for the winner of this mega championship.
SSGC booked berth in the final by defeating WAPDA on 1-0 scoreline while Army won by 3-1 against KRL on penalty shootouts to take spot in the final stage.
The final game between the two teams was such a thrilling encounter from both sides as it ended in a 3-2 win for Pakistan Army and SSGC. This thrilling final started on much of a slow pace as none of the teams were able to score for their side till the 32nd minute in the match when it was all change by an incredible shot from Saadullah Khan that landed right into Army's net post, letting SSGC take the lead for the first half.
Second session also witnessed the first goal from SSGC's side through Muhammad Tahir who enhanced the score line to 2-0 but just when it was seen that Army's players were falling in their performance, they picked up stunning speed, netting two perfect goals by Ansar Abbas at the 67th and 75th minutes. As the match tied on 2-2 score, Army put int more efforts in their game strategy and did not allow SSGC's boys to come any near to their net post though their best of goal keeping and defence.
Ali Raza's 77th minute goal declared Army team winner of this mega football championship while SSGC stood the runner up. KRL settled for the third spot by claiming the victory over WAPDA.
The winner team was awarded with a cash prize of Rupees 1.2 million while the runner up team was given 300,000 worth of cash money and third position holders received a cash prize of Rupees 200,000. Apart from the position takers, Best Goal-Keeper bagged 25,000 Rupees, Best Players won 30,000 Rupees, Max Goal Scorer also got 25,000 Rupees and Most Emerging Player received 20,000 Rupees.
Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) organized this mega football event which was officially named as "National Football Challenge Cup" into the current year which marked its 28th successful edition.
As many as sixteen teams featured in this tournament and these teams belonged to sixteen different departments of the country and were equally divided into groups of four teams each.
Participating teams were: Pakistan Army, Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Air Force, Khan Research Laboratories, Pakistan Railways, Sui Southern Gas Company, National Bank of Punjab, WAPDA, Ashraf Sugar Mills, Pakistan Television, Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, Pakistan Football Federation Tigers, Karachi Port Trust, Pakistan Police and Karachi United.
