Faqir Hussain

Faqir Hussain
Personal information
Full name	Faqir Hussain
Date of birth	15 May 1938
Place of birth	Peshawar, British India
Date of death	24 February 2016 (aged 77)
Place of death	Peshawar, Pakistan
Position(s)	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team
1955–60s	Pakistan Air Force
International career
1959–1965	Pakistan
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Faqir Hussain (15 May 1938 – 24 February 2016) was a Pakistani footballer who played as a forward.^[1] Hussain played for Pakistan Air Force throughout his career, and also represented the Pakistan national team from 1959 until the mid-1960s.

Club career

Faqir with Nur Khan after winning Inter Services Football in 1965

Tikka Khan distributing the Inter Services football trophy to Faqir in 1974

In 1955, Hussain participated at the Army Football Tournament in Iran with the Pakistan Combined Armed Forces Services football team while playing for Pakistan Airforce, in a tournament which showcased army football teams from India, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, and Syria.^[2] Along with Moideen Kutty, Hussain was a crucial player of the Air Force team.^[3]^[4]

In August 1960, he scored in a 2–0 victory against a select team from Hoshiarpur in the 25th minute during the fifth Ismail Gold Shield Football Tournament in the semifinals.^[5] The tournament which featured teams from India and Iran concluded with PAF winning the final.^[6] He also played the Inter-Services Football Championship for Pakistan Air Force at the domestic level in Pakistan.^[7]^[8] In the 16th edition of the championship in 1960, Faqir scored a hat-trick against Pakistan Army winning the final by 3–0.^[9]

In 1961, while playing for Pakistan Airforce in a friendly game against the Iranian club Shahin F.C., he scored all 4 goals for his team in a match which ended in a 6–4 defeat.^[10]

International career

Hussain played for the Pakistan national team in the 1960s. He was among the players present in the 1960 Asian Cup qualifiers hosted by India in Ernakulam in 1959,^[1] where Pakistan faced Iran, India and Israel twice each in the qualifiers.^[11]^[12] Hussain scored a goal in a memorable victory over Iran by 4–1.^[13]

In 1964, he also played 1964 Summer Olympics qualification against Iran in Teheran and the match was lost by 1–4.^[14] Second match was played at Lahore and Pakistan won the match by 1–0 but failed to qualify on aggregate.^[15] He also played at the 1965 RCD Cup.^[16]