Bangkok, Thailand: Pakistan men’s national futsal team registered successive wins in the 2026 SAFF Futsal Championship. The Nonthaburi Indoor Stadium witnessed a dominant performance by the Shaheens as they thrashed Sri Lanka 5-2, two days after their historic comeback 4-2 win against Bhutan.
Hamza Nusrat gave Pakistan an early lead when he pounced on the loose ball and slotted past Sri Lanka goalkeeper Aarnikan Sivanathan in the 2nd minute. A few minutes later, Ali Agha ran from inside his own half and made it 2-0 for Pakistan. The scoreline remained the same at the end of the first period, with Sri Lanka often on the backfoot.
The 2nd period saw Pakistan work for increase their lead. Team captain Muhammad Hassaan Zafar Khan made it 3-0 in 28th minute before Asif Ahmad Chaudhry made it 4-0 in 34th minute. Sri Lanka then pulled one back seconds later when Pakistan conceded a sixth foul and allowing Mohamed Aakib Mohamed Faizal to score from a direct free kick.
The goal gave Sri Lanka some life to further reduce the deficit. However, Pakistan head coach Ali Imani of Iran made a bold change by making Ali Agha a substitute goalkeeper and go further up. The move paid off as Ali Agha made it 5-1 in 39th minute.
Yet, Sri Lanka pounced to make it 5-2 in the next minute when Abdul Azeez Abdul Azmeer tapped the ball into an open net after intercepting some sloppy defending. Yet Pakistan eventually prevailed with no further goals in the remaining minutes of the second period.
The win gave Pakistan 6 points from 3 games, with -1 goal difference. In other men’s fixtures, India and Nepal battled to a 3-3 draw while Bangladesh beat Bhutan 4-1. Tomorrow, 19 January, the women’s event returns with Pakistan taking on India at 6:00pm PKT.