Umar Farooq Tariq Lutfi (born 20 September 1951) is a Pakistani football coach and former midfielder. He is the manager of Sui Southern Gas. He played his entire career at Pakistan Airlines. He was also the caretaker manager of the Pakistan national football team in 2011.[1]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Umar Farooq Tariq Lutfi | ||
| Date of birth | September 20, 1951 | ||
| Place of birth | Karachi, Pakistan | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Pakistan Airlines | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Pakistan Airlines | |||
| International career | |||
| Pakistan | |||
| Managerial career | |||
| Pakistan Airlines | |||
| 1989 | Pakistan (caretaker) | ||
| 2003–2005 | Pakistan | ||
| 2010 | Pakistan women | ||
| 2011 | Pakistan (caretaker) | ||
| 2011–2017 | Khan Research Laboratories | ||
| 2017–2019 | Sui Southern Gas | ||
| 2019 | Pakistan | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Tariq has the distinction of being the first-ever FIFA Coaching Instructor from South Asia. He is the current manager of Sui Southern Gas having previously managed his former club Pakistan Airlines and four times Pakistan Premier League winners Khan Research Laboratories[2] and the former head coach of the Pakistan women's national football team.[3] He was also the manager of Karachi Bazigar in the Geo Super Football League 2007 campaign. Tariq is often described as arguably the most qualified football coach of Pakistan.[4]
Pakistan Airlines
editAs a player and coach of Pakistan Airlines, Lutfi has led the team to become National Champions a record nine times in the history of Pakistani club football.[5]
Managerial career
editPakistan women football team
editPakistan Football Federation's President Faisal Saleh Hayat had appointed Tariq Lutfi as coach of the Pakistan Women football team in 2010. Tariq coached the team for the first SAFF Women Championship in Bangladesh where the team reached the semi-finals for the first time in history.[6]
Pakistan national team
editTariq Lutfi was member of the Pakistan national team coaching staff several times from 1985 to 2004. He replaced Burkhard Ziese two days before facing the United Arab Emirates at the second leg of the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification in February 1989.[7] Later on, he helped Pakistan win the gold medal at the 1989 South Asian Games.[5] He was member of the coaching staff along with Chinese coach Wang Xiaohe during the event.[8] He was also member of the coaching staff during the 1991 South Asian Games and the 2004 South Asian Games.[1] He returned as caretaker coach in 2011 but was replaced by Zaviša Milosavljević.
Khan Research Laboratories
editLutfi was appointed the head coach for Khan Research Laboratories before the start of 2011-12 Pakistan Premier League season. Lufti went on to win the league title for three consecutive season, winning the league in 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and finished sixth in the 2014-15 season. Lufti also won the Pakistan National Football Challenge Cup on four occasions, winning the competition in 2011 and then successfully defending it in the edition, defeating K-Electric on both occasions in the finals. Lutfi won the cup again in 2015, and went on to defend it in the next edition in 2016.[9]
Sui Southern Gas
editIn 2017, Lutfi was appointed as the head coach for second division side Sui Southern Gas after a successful tenure with Khan Research Laboratories. Lutfi won three out four silverware they competed for after winning Major Tufail Shaheed Memorial Football Tournament, All Pakistan Salahuddin Dogar Memorial Football Tournament and winning the second division title to achieve the promotion to Pakistan Premier League.
Pakistan
editFollowing the expulsion of Faisal Saleh Hayat by FIFA, Lutfi was assigned the head coach role again in 2019, for a tour in Malaysia, until the Pakistan Football Federation was banned again briefly after.[10]
Honours
editTariq Lutfi is widely considered to be the most qualified and successful coach in Pakistan football.[11] Shazia Hasan of Dawn describes Tariq as "arguably the most-qualified football official in Pakistan".[4] He has several coaching qualifications through Bisham Abbey, Bert Trautmann, Holger Osieck, etc. and has the honour of attending several FIFA and Olympic courses.[5] Tariq has the grand distinction of being the first-ever FIFA Coaching Instructor from South Asia.[5] In 2019, he had the honour of winning the Pakistan Sports Awards for the Best Coach in Pakistan.
Manager
editPakistan
editKhan Research Laboratories
edit- Pakistan Premier League: 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14
- Pakistan National Football Challenge Cup: 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016
Sui Southern Gas
edit- Pakistan Football Federation League: 2017-18
References
edit- ^ a b Lutfi appointed Pakistan coach. The News International.
- ^ Liaquat Ali loses hand in Swat shelling. The News International.
- ^ Sincere efforts required to boost women’s soccer: FIFA coach. Daily Dawn.
- ^ a b Controversies will hurt Pakistan soccer: Lutfi. Daily Dawn.
- ^ a b c d Shazia Hasan. Coach upbeat to bring improvement: Lutfi given charge of football team. Daily Dawn.
- ^ New football coach focuses on Malaysia. The Express Tribune.
- ^ "Darwen-born man honoured to play football for Pakistan on global stage". Lancashire Telegraph. 2014-11-16. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
- ^ "PFF unlikely to retain Chinese coach". DAWN.COM. 2004-04-11. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
- ^ "KRL ease to title". paktribune.com. 5 January 2012. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012.
- ^ Reporter, The Newspaper's Sports (2019-12-27). "Ayaz, Lutfi and Gohar named officials for Pakistan's tour of Malaysia". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ Shazia Hasan. Absence of qualified coach hurts as PFF looks the other way. Daily Dawn. "Meanwhile, the most experienced coaches of all here, Tariq Lutfi, was overlooked on the pretense of his not having the required qualifications from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) even though the man has served as coaching instructor for both FIFA and AFC and is confident that his qualifications from England, Germany, Brazil, etc., are enough to get him an honorary certification from AFC to do the needful. The PFF only saw him worthy of coaching the raw national girls’ team, which he helped reach the semi-finals in the recently-concluded inaugural SAFF Women Football Championship."
External links
edit- Tariq Lutfi coach profile at National-Football-Teams.com