Pakistan women’s football team head coach Adeel Rizki has become the only Pakistani to attain a UEFA (A) License coaching badge. He was appointed the head coach of the national women’s team in 2022.
Adeel Rizki has managed 13 international matches during his tenure as head coach of the Pakistan women’s team.
Pakistan played 3 matches in 2022 and for the first time in their history, they managed to compete in 10 international matches during a calendar year in 2023.
Pakistan women’s team also played in the Paris Olympic Qualifiers Round 1 for the first time in their history under Adeel Rizki and registered a historic victory against Tajikistan by 1-0 in the qualifiers.
The Pakistan Women’s team head coach received a lot of criticism on the day he was appointed as he did not hold a Pro License Coaching badge, which is the actual requirement set by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
When Adeel Rizki was named the head coach of the women’s team in the SAFF Women’s Championship back in September 2022, the local coaches labeled him as a case of nepotism as he allegedly had ties with the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Normalisation Committee President Haroon Malik. The head coach only possessed a UEFA-B License at that time.
Despite criticism, Rizki has continuously upgraded his CV and has now acquired the UEFA-A license which is one short of the desired Pro License according to AFC.
The women’s national football team has delivered some historic results over the last 18 months, which include defeating a much higher-ranked Laos side on penalties in the four-nation tournament in October 2023.
They also defeated Maldives 7-0 in the SAFF women’s Championship and defeated teams like Comoros as well.
Under the leadership of Rizki, the team has punched above their weight without a league and infrastructure, achieving 4 victories and 2 draws from 13 matches against sides that were much higher in ranking.
Pakistan also achieved improvement in world rankings from 161 to 157 but since September they haven’t played a single international match.
