Muhammad Essa

Muhammad Essa
Personal information
Full name	Muhammad Essa Khan
Date of birth	20 November 1983 (age 38)
Place of birth	Chaman, Balochistan, Pakistan
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Centre Forward
Youth career
1999–2000	Afghan FC Chaman
Senior career*
Years	Team
2000–2004	Pakistan Telecommunication
2004–2005	Afghan Chaman
2005–2007	Water & Power Development Authority
2007–2009	Khan Research Laboratories
2009–2017	K-Electric
National team‡
1999–2006	Pakistan U23
2000–2009	Pakistan
Teams managed
2018–	Pakistan (assistant coach)
Honours
Pakistan Telecommunication
Khan Research Laboratories
K-Electric
Pakistan
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 August 2015 (UTC); ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:47, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

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.

Career[]

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 .

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 . 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.

International career stats[]

Goals for Senior National Team[]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	12 June 2005	Ayub National Stadium, Quetta, Pakistan	India	1–1	1–1	Friendly
2	18 June 2005	Punjab Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan	India	1–0	3–0	Friendly
3	9 December 2005	Peoples Football Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan	Afghanistan	1–0	1–0	2005 South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup
4	1 March 2006	National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan	United Arab Emirates	1–0	1–4	2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification
5	2 April 2006	Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh	Kyrgyzstan	1–0	1–0	2006 AFC Challenge Cup
6	6 April 2006	Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh	Macau	2–1	2–2	2006 AFC Challenge Cup
7	16 August 2006	Jinnah Sports Stadium, Islamabad, Pakistan	Oman	1–3	1–4	2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification
8	25 March 2008	Pokhara Rangasala, Pokhara, Nepal	Nepal	1–0	1–2	Friendly
9	2 April 2008	Chungshan Soccer Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	1–1	2–1	2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualification
10	8 December 2009	Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh	Bhutan	1–0	7–0	2009 SAFF Championship
11	8 December 2009	Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh	Bhutan	6–0	7–0	2009 SAFF Championship