{"id":6953,"date":"2026-07-22T09:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T09:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=6953"},"modified":"2026-07-22T09:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T09:55:08","slug":"pakistans-abdullah-iqbal-makes-uefa-champions-league-qualifying-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=6953","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan\u2019s Abdullah Iqbal Makes UEFA Champions League Qualifying Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>STOCKHOLM:<\/strong> Pakistani international <strong>Abdullah Iqbal<\/strong> has made his debut in the <strong>UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds<\/strong>, becoming the <strong>first active Pakistan national team player<\/strong> to feature in the prestigious European club competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iqbal achieved the milestone while representing <strong>Swedish club Mj\u00e4llby AIF<\/strong> in their UEFA Champions League qualifying match against <strong>Lincoln Red Imps<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pakistani defender entered the match in the <strong>62nd minute<\/strong>, marking a historic moment for both his career and Pakistani football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With his appearance, Abdullah Iqbal became the <strong>first currently active Pakistan international<\/strong> to play in a UEFA Champions League fixture, including the qualifying stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The achievement is regarded as another significant step forward for Pakistani football, highlighting the growing presence of players of Pakistani origin in European competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although footballers of Pakistani heritage have previously featured in UEFA competitions, Abdullah Iqbal is the first active member of Pakistan\u2019s national team to reach this milestone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report notes that <strong>Atizaz Hussain<\/strong>, a footballer of Pakistani origin, had previously played in UEFA Champions League qualifiers before representing Pakistan at the international level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similarly, <strong>Ghayas Zahid<\/strong>, another player of Pakistani descent, has featured in the UEFA Champions League while representing <strong>Cypriot club APOEL<\/strong>. However, Zahid has not played for Pakistan\u2019s national team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abdullah Iqbal\u2019s debut is expected to inspire aspiring footballers in Pakistan and reflects the increasing opportunities available to Pakistani players competing in professional leagues abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His participation in Europe&#8217;s premier club competition is seen as a landmark achievement for Pakistan football and a positive sign for the continued development of the national team on the international stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>STOCKHOLM: Pakistani international Abdullah Iqbal has made his debut in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds, becoming the first active Pakistan national team player to..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438496_3642429_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438496_3642429_updates-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438496_3642429_updates-1-300x171.jpg",300,171,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438496_3642429_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false],"large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438496_3642429_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438496_3642429_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438496_3642429_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?cat=6\" rel=\"category\">Sports<\/a>","tag_info":"Sports","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6955,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953\/revisions\/6955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}