Lahore, 30 December: Multan-born international striker Arif Mehmood, only Pakistani to score hat-trick in history of SAFF Championship (three against Bhutan, 8 December 2009 at Dhaka) clinched Leading Scorer Award for the fifth time in Pakistan Premier Football League. WAPDA’s popular spearhead struck 21 goals in PPFL that saw completion of all 240 matches on Thursday. Those 240 matches produced 615 goals with Arif, also skipper of WAPDA, being only player to reach twenties. His goals are too much for other rivals.
Relegated SSGC produced second best in the shape of lanky striker Asim Faiz who managed 16 goals. Abdul Rehman (KESC) and Muhammad bin Younus (KPT) were third with 13 goals while Pakistan skipper Muhammad Essa (KESC) slammed 12 goals. Muhammad Qasim (KRL) collected 11 goals while ten goals were netted by Khuda Bakhsh (WAPDA), Muhammad Rasool (KESC), Shakir Lashari (PIA), Imran Hussain, Muhammad Imran (Army), Jadeed Khan (Afghan FC)and Asim Mansoor (Young Blood).
Making international debut during Test Series in Sri Lanka 2002, he appeared in U17 Asian Championship 2002, U20 Asian Championship 2002, 14th Asian Games 2002, World Cup QR 2003. He pocketed gold in 9th SAF Games 2004 and later on represented Pakistan in Taif’s Islamic Games, Indo Pak Series and SAFF Championship in 2005 and 14th Asian Cup Qualifiers in 2006.
Arif was also leading marksman in PPFL 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009 while Imran Hussain (Army) and Muhammad Rasool (KESC, formerly KRL) grabbed top scorer award in 2005 and 2008 respectively. Arif returned to international soccer after two years gap in 2008 and played in SAFF Championship and Malaysia friendly on 10 October 2008. Georg Kottan also picked him for Thailand Tour and SAFF Championship 2009. Twenty-six years old sharp-shooter is also one of the two player of 106-day PPFL to register two hat-tricks (other being Asim Faiz) in the show that was started on 16 September.
Pakistan Premier Football League 2010
FACT & FIGURES
Matches : 240
Outright Decisions: 181
Drawn Games: 59
Goals: 615
Hat Tricks: 16
1. Arif Mehmood (WAPDA) against Sahiwal’s Young Blood at Rai Ali Nawaz Stadium, Sahiwal on 21 Sep 2010
2. Arif Mehmood (WAPDA) against Sahiwal’s Young Blood at Railway Stadium, Lahore on 24 Sep 2010
3. Zafar Majeed (KPT)’s against NBP at Korangi Baloch Stadium, Karachi on 25 Sep 2010
4. Jadeed Khan (Afghan FC) against Young Blood at Rai Ali Nawaz Stadium on 14 Oct 2010
5. Khuda Bakhsh (WAPDA) against KPT at Railway Stadium, Lahore on 22 Oct 2010
6. Nomi Martin Gill ( Navy) v SSGC at Municpal Stadium, Rawalpindi on 25 October
7. Muhammad Essa (KESC) v SSGC at CDGK Stadium Karachi on 1 November 2010
8. Muhammad Rasool (KESC) vs Afghan FC at Peoples Sports Complex, Karachi on 8 Nov 2010
9. Muhammad Qasim (KRL) vs PEL at MTFA Ground, Lahore on 10 November 2010
10. Abdul Rehman (KESC) v SSGC at Peoples Stadium Karachi on 14 November 2010
11. Asim Faiz (SSGC) v PMC Athletica at KPT Stadium on 24 November 2010
12. Shakir Lashari(PIA) v Young Blood at Korangi Baloch Stadium on 24 November 2010
13. Asim Faiz (SSGC) v Young Blood at KPT Stadium on 26 November 2010
14. Muhammad bin Younus (KPT) v Young Blood at KPT Stadium on 30 Nov 2010
15. Muhammad Ashfaq (NBP) v Young Blood at Korangi Baloch Stadium on 2 December 2010
16. Sattar Mansuri (NBP) vs PEL at Peoples Sports Complex, Mauripur Road, Lyari Town on 28 December 2010
All Scorers:
21- Arif Mehmood (WAPDA)
16 – Asim Faiz (SSGC)
13 – Abdul Rehman (KESC), Muhammad bin Younus (KPT)
12 – Muhammad Essa (KESC)
11 – Muhammad Qasim (KRL)
10 – Khuda Bakhsh (WAPDA) Muhammad Rasool (KESC), Shakir Lashari (PIA), Imran Hussain, Muhammad Imran (Army) Jadeed Khan (Afghan FC), Asim Mansoor (Young Blood)
9 – Zahid Ahmed (KPT), Abdul Hadi (Afghan FC), Saad Ullah (PEL)
8 – Orangzaib Shahmir (KESC), Nazeer Ahmed (PIA), Haroon Yousof (PMC)
7 – Zulfiqar Ali Shah (WAPDA), Nasr Ullah Khan (PIA), Muhammad Asif (NBP), Muhammad Zeeshan, Muhammad Mujahid (PAF)
6 – Riaz Ahmed (PEL), Imran Hussain (SSGC), Nomi Martin (Navy), Muhammad Ashfaq (NBP), Zakir Lashari (HBL), Own Goals
5 – Imran Niazi (WAPDA), Muhammad Riaz, Abdul Ghafoor (KESC), Shahid Salim, Muhammad Wasim (KPT), Hasnain Abbas, Muhammad Ishtiaq, Zeeshan Ali (PIA), Sharjeel Vicky, Muhammad Ikram (Army), Asmat Ullah (PEL), Sabir Khan (SSGC), Asif Bakhsh (Navy), Naveed Mumtaz (PMC), Khayal Muhammad (HBL)
4 – Mehmood Ali, Zeeshan Javed (WAPDA), Zafar Majeed (KPT), Kalim Ullah Khan, Zia Us Salam (KRL), Bilal Afridi, Naveed Ahmed, Muhammad Basharat (Navy), Abdul Aziz (NBP), Habib Ullah, Sana Ullah, Nasib Ullah Khan (Baloch FC), Aurangzeb (HBL)
3 – Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Afzal (WAPDA), Jamal Uddin, Akhter Mamil, Naveed Ahmed (KPT), Saddam Hussain (PIA), Abdul Rehman (Army), Fazal Ur Rehman (Afghan FC), Syed Ghazi Khan, Mehmood Khan (KRL), Ijaz Sarfraz (PEL), Jabbar Hussain (Navy), Farooq Shah, Sattar Mansuri (NBP), Nizam Uddin, Amir Khan, Arif Nawaz (PAF), Abid Hussain, Khawar Khalid (Young Blood), Muhammad Qaise, Muhammad Luqman (PMC), Muhammad Ibrahim (HBL)
2 – Ghulam Abbas (WAPDA), Naseer Ahmed (KPT), Ansar Abbas, Mubassir Hussain (Army), Najeeb Khan, Aziz Ullah, Abdul Nasir, Ahmed Shah (Afghan FC), Muhammad Shahid, Mudassar Saeed, Abid Ghafoor (KRL), Muhammad Bilawal, Waqas Ahmed, Muhammad Shaire, Muzaffar Ali, Muhammad Rashid , Waheed Hameed (PEL), Rizwan Tanoli, Abdul Haq, Sajjad Ahmed (Navy) Adil Ahmad, Javed Hamza, Adam Hameed, Atiq Ullah (NBP), Zafar Ahmed, Saeed Ahmed (Baloch FC) Amir Hussain, Mudassar Wasim (PAF), Asif Mansoor, Zain Khalid (Young Blood)
1 -Akram Masih (WAPDA), Aftab Ahmed, Ahmed Lal, Muhammad Moosa, Aurangzeb Jr, Akber Ali (KESC), Ismail Baba (KPT), Wasim Ullah, Abdul Ghaffar, Ali Ehsan (PIA), Umar Daraz , Muhammad Shabbir Chacha, Ghulam Mustafa , Noor Ul Amin (Army), Jumma Khan, Moaz Khan, Abdul Ali (Afghan FC), Jalil Ahmed, Luqman Amir, Samar Ishaq, Shahid Ahmed, Muhammad Adil, Yasir Afridi (KRL) Muhammad Usman (PEL), Rustam Khan, Aftab Ahmed, Zia Ur Rehman, Muhammad Tehsin, Ata Ullah, Zaman Ghani (SSGC), Muhammad Ramzan (Navy), Imran Aziz, Jamil Ahmed, Mehmood Khan, Faisal Iqbal (NBP), Sherdil Khan, Wali Khan, Akber, Imran Dost, Abdul Nabi (Baloch FC), Saleh Khan, Muhammad Farooq, Arshad Jan, Erfan Ali (PAF), Ghulam Fareed, Amir Yaqoob, Muhammad Adnan (Young Blood), Ahmed Raza, Kamran Anwar , Tanveer Ahmed (PMC), Abid Hussain , Abdullah, Abdul Waheed, Gul Muhammad (HBL)
FINAL STANDINGS
Teams P W D L GF GA Pts
WAPDA 30 22 4 4 61 20 67
KRL 30 17 7 6 37 16 58
PIA 30 16 9 5 49 23 57
KESC 30 16 7 7 58 28 55
Army 30 15 9 6 41 22 54
KPT 30 15 6 9 54 41 51
PAF 30 12 9 9 31 30 45
Afghan FC 30 12 6 12 43 34 42
Navy 30 11 9 10 33 35 42
PEL 30 11 5 14 36 47 38
NBP 30 7 13 10 35 45 34
Baloch FC 30 8 10 12 31 34 34
HBL 30 6 7 17 26 40 25
PMC 30 5 6 19 22 54 21
SSGC 30 5 5 20 36 72 20
Y. Blood 30 4 6 20 23 73 18