From a Ramazan festival to a 2030 plan: Islamabad at the centre of women's football's push

Women's football in Pakistan has spent years in stop-start mode. In 2026, a run of activity anchored in Islamabad suggests the Pakistan Football Federation is trying to build something more lasting, starting at the grassroots.

A festival rather than a tournament

In March 2026, the PFF marked AFC Women's Football Day with Women in Play: Ramazan Football Festival at Jinnah Stadium in Islamabad, reported by The News on 10 March. It was deliberately non-competitive: a five-a-side event designed to make the women's game visible and encourage more girls to take part.

Five clubs took part: Legacy, Strikers, Smurfs, Highlanders and Infinite, with current and former players also attending. Even without a trophy at stake, the organisers handed out individual awards. Shanzeh Khan of Legacy was named best player, Asra of Strikers finished as top scorer and Aleena Bilal of Smurfs Jr was recognised as best goalkeeper. PFF President Syed Mohsin Gilani used the occasion to point to the national team's upcoming FIFA Series appearance in Cote d'Ivoire.

Futsal opens another door

The festival followed a futsal push that began late in 2025. On 24 November 2025, ProPakistani reported that the PFF had announced open trials in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Karachi to select Pakistan's first women's national futsal squad. The federation said the trials were open to players regardless of age or background, with selection based on skill, commitment and potential. The squad was being prepared for the inaugural SAFF Women's Futsal Championship in early 2026, where Pakistan were set to make their debut.

Small-sided formats matter for women's football in Pakistan because they need less space, fewer players and shorter sessions. That makes them easier to organise in schools, universities and private five-a-side venues than the full eleven-a-side game.

The 2026 to 2030 strategy

The biggest step came on 14 September 2026, when the PFF launched the Pakistan Women's Football Strategy 2026-2030 under the theme From Paper to Pitch, as reported by The Express Tribune. The document starts from a small base: 62 registered clubs and academies, 673 registered female players and five certified female referees.

Its main targets include:

• A phased structure of district, provincial and national women's leagues, plus more grassroots and youth competitions.
• Training and certifying at least 250 women coaches across four regions and raising the number of female referees to 100.
• School, college and university awareness programmes aiming to reach at least 2,000 girls a year.
• Regional training centres, youth national team programmes and at least ten international matches a year for the senior side.
• More women in decision-making roles, plus stronger safeguarding and player welfare.

Head of Women's Football Muzghan Orakzai described the aim as strengthening what already exists rather than starting again, while the Prime Minister's Coordinator Syeda Mehreen Sajid called for players from smaller cities and towns to be brought into the pathway.

What it means locally

For Islamabad's clubs, the strategy offers the prospect of regular league football rather than one-off festivals. The figures also show how far there is to go: fewer than 700 registered players nationwide is a small foundation for a country of Pakistan's size. Whether district leagues and school programmes actually appear in 2027 will decide whether 2026 is remembered as a turning point or another promising start.