The 2007–08 season was the 53rd season of Pakistan domestic football and the 4th season of the Pakistan Premier League. It was held from November 1, 2007 to February 6, 2008, under the auspices of Pakistan Football Federation.
Changes The Pakistan Football Federation had recently made changes to the league. It was announced that the league strength had been increased to a total of 14 teams with Habib Bank Limited, which was relegated after winning 2 and drawing 6 out of their 20 games the previous season, had been granted permission to field its team. Similarly, Pakistan Airlines, which had withdrawn its entry from the last year's edition at the eleventh hour, were also to feature in the coming event.
Format The winners will represent Pakistan at the 2008 AFC President's Cup. The bottom two teams will be relegated to the Pakistan Football Federation League and two teams (winners and runners-up) from Pakistan Football Federation League will be promoted for the 2008-09 edition.
The matches will be held at 13:00 PST and 15:00 PST respectively on home and away basis.
This season the winning prize will be Rs. 500,000, the runners-up team will receive Rs 300,000 while the third position holder will receive Rs 100,000. All matches are likely to be supervised by neutral referees.
Venues The 2007–08 Pakistan Premier League was staged across designated hubs rather than strict home stadia: Karachi (Peoples Sports Complex, Korangi Baloch Stadium, KPT Stadium, CDGK Stadium), Lahore (Railway Stadium, Punjab University Old Campus), Rawalpindi (Army Stadium, KRL Football Stadium), Islamabad (Naval Sports Complex, Jinnah Stadium), and Chaman (Government High School). Peshawar, which was also under consideration to host few matches, has been left out of the venues’ list due to financial constraints.
Teams Stadia and locations
Club City/State Afghan Chaman Chaman Habib Bank Karachi Karachi Electric Supply Corporation Karachi Karachi Port Trust Karachi Khan Research Laboratories Rawalpindi Pakistan Airlines Karachi National Bank Karachi Pakistan Army Rawalpindi Pakistan Navy Islamabad Pakistan Television Islamabad Pakistan Railways Lahore PMC Club Athletico Faisalabad Faisalabad WAPDA Lahore Wohaib Lahore
Season summary The league title went to the final day of the season, with a match between Pakistan Army and WAPDA, with Army only needing a draw to retain their title, however WAPDA went on to win the match 2–1 after two goals from Arif Mehmood completing the comeback after being 0–1 down by a goal from Imran Hussain.
WAPDA won their second Premier League title and sixth top division title and became the first team to end a season undefeated.
Wohaib and Pakistan Railways were relegated to the PFF League and will be replaced next season by PFF League winners Pak Elektron and runner-ups Pakistan Steel.
Final standings
Season statistics
Scoring Fastest goal in a match: 43 seconds – Essa for Khan Research Laboratories against Habib Bank (12 December 2007) First hat-trick of the season: Adeel Ahmed for Khan Research Laboratories against Pakistan Television (19 November 2007) Widest winning margin: 6 goals – WAPDA 7–1 Wohaib (5 January 2008) Most hat-tricks scored by one player: 2 Arif Mehmood for WAPDA WAPDA 7–1 Wohaib (5 January 2008) WAPDA 4–0 Habib Bank (13 January 2008) Most hat-tricks by a team: 3 Khan Research Laboratories Adeel Ahmed v Pakistan Television (19 November 2007) Muhammad Rasool v National Bank (26 December 2007) Yasir Afridi v Afghan Chaman (15 January 2008) WAPDA Arif Mehmood v Habib Bank (13 January 2008) Zulfiqar Ali Shah v Wohaib (5 January 2008) Arif Mehmood v Wohaib (5 January 2008) This is the first time in the Premier League that two players has scored a hat-trick in a single match. Team with most goals scored: 64 goals – WAPDA Team with fewest goals scored: 11 goals – Wohaib Team with fewest goals conceded: 10 goals – Pakistan Army Team with most goals conceded: 57 goals – Wohaib
Top scorers RankScorerClubGoals1Arif MehmoodWAPDA212Zulfiqar Ali ShahWAPDA183Imran HussainPakistan Army174Shakir LashariPakistan Airlines10Ishtiaq AhmedHabib BankAbdul RehmanKarachi Port Trust7Farooq ShahNational Bank9Muhammad EssaKhan Research LaboratoriesMuhammad QasimKhan Research Laboratories
Hat-tricks PlayerForAgainstResultDateKhan Research LaboratoriesPakistan Television4–1Abdul RehmanKarachi Port TrustPakistan Railways3–2Pakistan ArmyPakistan Television5–3Nomi Martin GillPakistan NavyHabib Bank5–0Khan Research LaboratoriesNational Bank3–0Zulfiqar Ali ShahWAPDAWohaib7–14WAPDAWohaib7–1WAPDAHabib Bank4–2Yasir AfridiKhan Research LaboratoriesAfghan Chaman5–0
4 Player scored four goals
References
External links Pakistan Football Federation PFF announces changes to Premier League - The News More changes in League - The News WAPDA down Army 2–1 to clinch title