Jaffar Khan

Jaffar Khan (Urdu, Pashto: ; born on 20 March 1981) is a Pakistani football manager and former footballer who played as a goalkeeper for the Pakistan national football team. He is the current head coach of Pakistan Army F.C.

Jaffar played for Pakistan Army F.C. from 1998 till 2019. He was first called up to the Pakistan national team in 2001 and captained the national side from 2003 until 2013. Despite his lack of height needed for modern goalkeepers, he was praised for his shot-stopping skills and reflexes. He is considered one of the most successful goalkeepers to play for Pakistan. At the age of 16, he started playing club football with Khyber Club Paniala.

In 2000, he kept a clean sheet in the PFF President's Cup final against Allied Bank, which Pakistan Army won 1–0. Khan helped them retain the trophy in 2001 until 2006-07 where he set a new goalkeeping record by not conceding a goal through 16 matches.

In 2001, Khan reportedly received an offer from a second division club in the UK and also a first division side in Korea, but was not given permission from the superiors in the Pakistan Army. In November 2000, he featured at the 2000 AFC Youth Championship in Tehran. Khan was declared the Man of the Match in a 2–1 victory against United Arab Emirates. In April 2002, he played with the youth team during the 2002 AFC Youth Championship qualification in Karachi.

After playing at the 2004 Summer Olympics qualifiers, he took the under-23 side all the way to the final of the 2004 South Asian Games against India, where his string of saves gave Pakistan a 1–0 victory. After playing in the 2005 Islamic Solidarity Games, he retained his captaincy for a three-match friendly series against India in 2005, later playing in the 2005 SAFF Gold Cup and the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification the same year. When he was away on military duty, Pakistan succumbed to one of their worst defeats, losing by 7–0 to Iraq.

In December 2009, at the end of the SAFF Championship in Bangladesh, Jaffar publicly stated his decision to retire from international football after a fallout with Pakistan's Austrian coach György Kottán, but returned later on captaining the under-23 side at the 2010 Asian Games.

Coaching career Khan got an AFC License C and did a specialised goalkeeping course in Bahrain. He was briefly appointed as goalkeeping coach for the Pakistan national team from 2014 to 2015. In 2019 following his retirement from football, he became the goalkeeping coach for his club. In 2021, Khan was appointed as head coach of Pakistan Army.

In August 2023, Khan was appointed as the goalkeeping coach for the Pakistan under 16 national team for the 2023 SAFF U16 Championship held in Bhutan.

Personal life Like several players of Army FC, Jaffar Khan was still in service with the Pakistan Army as a Non-Commissioned Officer with the Frontier Force Regiment, and during the 2007-08 season was called up to service for UN peacekeeping operations in Congo. On 7 May 2009, Jaffar received AFC Distinguished Services Awards from FIFA President Sepp Blatter at Kuala Lumpur during the AFC 23rd Congress. National team Year Apps Goals

2001 5 0 2002 2 0 2003 9 0 2005 9 0 2006 8 0 2009 3 0 2011 5 0 2012 1 0 2013 5 0

47 0

Honours Pakistan Army Pakistan Premier League: 2005–06, 2006–07 Pakistan National Football Challenge Cup: 2000, 2001

Pakistan U23 South Asian Games: 2004