Sport in Pakistan is a significant part of Pakistani culture. Cricket is the most popular sport in Pakistan. Football has also gained popularity in recent years, and is the second most popular sport in the country. Field hockey is the national sport, and was popular for several decades, with some of Pakistan's greatest sporting accomplishments having taken place in this sport, along with squash. Polo and traditional sports like kabaddi, Tent pegging and other well-known games are also played.
In cricket, the country has had an array of success over the years, and has the distinct achievement of having won each of the major ICC international cricket tournaments: ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC World Twenty20, and ICC Champions Trophy; as well as the ICC Test Championship. The Pakistan Super League ranks among the top T20 leagues globally.
Football in Pakistan is as old as the country itself. Shortly after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the Pakistan Football Federation was created, and the nation's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah became its first Patron-in-Chief. The highest football division in the country is the Pakistan Premier League. Pakistan is known as one of the best manufacturers of the official FIFA World Cup ball.
In field hockey, Pakistan is one of the most successful national teams with a record four Hockey World Cup wins, eight Asian Games gold medals, three gold medals at the Olympic Games, and the only Asian team to have won the prestigious Champions Trophy three times.
Pakistan's Jahangir Khan is widely regarded as the greatest squash player of all time, followed by his compatriot Jansher Khan. From 1981 to 1986, Jahangir was unbeaten and during that time won 555 consecutive matches – the longest winning streak by any athlete in top-level professional sport, as recorded by Guinness World Records.
In Northern Pakistan, the annual Shandur Polo Festival at Shandur Top is an international event attended by enthusiasts from all over the world. The Shandur polo ground at Shandur Pass is the world's highest, at approximately .
The Pakistan Olympic Association, established in 1948, and recognised in the same year by the International Olympic Committee, is the National Olympic Committee for Pakistan. It was the premier regulator of sports activities in Pakistan from 1948 until the establishment of Pakistan Sports Board. Established in 1962 as a corporate body, the Pakistan Sports Board is responsible for promoting and developing uniform standards of competition in sports across Pakistan, as well as regulating and controlling sports activities on a national level. It is supported by the Pakistan Sports Trust, which provides financial assistance to players and associations facing financial difficulties, enabling them to continue their participation in the Olympic Games, Asian Games, World Games, and Commonwealth Games.
History Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, had a great love for the sport and fully realized the vital role it played in the development of nations and the inculcation of discipline among the masses. In a meeting with the Organizing Committee of the First Pakistan Olympic Games held at Karachi, Jinnah told the first President of the Pakistan Olympic Association, Ahmed E.H.:
The first National Games were held at Polo Ground, Karachi from 23 to 25 April 1948. Sportsmen and officials from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and all the integrated Provincial units of West Pakistan took part in these games. The total number of athletes was 140. No competitors were, however, invited from any foreign country. Competitions were held in basketball, boxing, cycling, track and field, volleyball, weightlifting, and wrestling.
Pakistan's sporting prowess has declined sharply in recent years, while cricket remains widely popular, other sports have suffered due to neglect from both the government and sporting authorities. The corporatization of sports in Pakistan has led to a lack of investment in nurturing talented athletes and providing adequate facilities and training. Government patronage and funding for sports are at an all-time low, resulting in outdated equipment, obsolete training methods, and dilapidated sports infrastructure. The focus on cricket has overshadowed other sports, exacerbating the decline across various disciplines.
Sports structure
Since independence, Pakistan's sports system has developed along multiple overlapping models rather than a single club-based pyramid. The most distinctive of these has been the departmental model, where state-owned enterprises, government ministries, and the armed forces employ athletes as staff and field teams in domestic competition. This approach, inherited from colonial-era works teams, became dominant from the 1960s to the 1990s across cricket, football, hockey, and athletics, providing stable employment for players through institutions such as Pakistan International Airlines, WAPDA, and the armed services.
Alongside departments, federations have periodically promoted regional and provincial teams, representing administrative units such as Punjab, Sindh or Karachi, particularly in the National Games and domestic cricket. Community clubs and academies have remained central at the grassroots, especially in football hotbeds such as Lyari in Karachi, but have historically lacked resources compared to departmental employers.
Since the 2010s, a fourth model has emerged with franchise-based leagues, most notably the Pakistan Super League in cricket or Super Kabaddi League, which operate on commercial contracts and media rights. The coexistence of departments, regions, clubs, and franchises has produced a hybrid and sometimes unstable sporting landscape, with policy shifts periodically reshaping the balance among these models.
Hosting history Global Level Pakistan has hosted several major international sporting events across multiple disciplines. At the global level, it co-hosted the 1987 Cricket World Cup, 1996 Cricket World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy, and hosted the 1990 Hockey World Cup, finishing runners-up after losing 3–1 to the Netherlands in the final. Pakistan also hosted the 1984 Squash World Open and later editions in 1993 in Karachi and 1996 and 2003 in Lahore, as well as the 1993 and 2005 Men's World Team Squash Championships. The country also hosted multiple editions of the Hockey Champions Trophy in 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, and 2004. National Hockey Stadium in Lahore is considered to be the largest international field hockey stadium in the world, and holds a capacity of 45,000 spectators. Pakistan hosted the circle style 2020 Kabaddi World Cup. Pakistan also hosted the 2025 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
Continental Level At the continental level, Pakistan hosted the Men's Asian Individual Squash Championships in 1981, 1992, 2013, and 2021, and the Women's Asian Individual Squash Championships in 1992, 2013, and 2021.Match ResultsMen's 21st Asian Championship 2021, Mushaf Squash Complex, Islamabad, Pakistan Pakistan hosted the 2008 Asia Cup and co-hosted the 2023 Asia Cup in cricket, the 1982 Hockey Asia Cup, the 2012 and 2016 Asia Kabaddi Cup, the 1984 Asian Table Tennis Championships, and the 1981 and 1988 Asian Wrestling Championships. Pakistan has also hosted multiple editions of Asia Baseball Cup in 2006, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2023. In 2026, Pakistan hosted 8th World Taekwondo President's Cup (Asian Region), with a record participation of 38 nations.
Regional Level Pakistan has hosted several major regional and multi-sport events, including the South Asian Games in 1989 and 2004, and is scheduled to host the 2027 edition. It also hosted the 1993 SAARC Gold Cup and the 2005 SAFF Gold Cup. Jinnah Stadium in Islamabad has long served as the primary home ground of the Pakistan national football team and hosted the 2014 SAFF Women's Championship. Pakistan hosted the CAVA Men's Volleyball Nations League in 2022, 2024 and 2026. Pakistan has also hosted notable international qualifiers and championships, including the 2025 SAAF Cross Country Championships.
Team sports
Cricket
Cricket is the most popular sport in Pakistan. Pakistan has won international cricket events, which include the 1992 Cricket World Cup, the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy besides finishing as runner-up in the 1999 Cricket World Cup, 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and the 2022 T20 World Cup. Pakistan also won the ACC Asia Cup in 2000 and 2012 and all three versions of the Austral-Asia Cup.
Pakistan's cricket teams take part in domestic competitions such as the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, the Patron's Trophy, ABN-AMRO Twenty-20 Cup, and the ABN-AMRO Champions Trophy. Pakistan Cricket Board also organize a franchise based T20 cricket league known as the Pakistan Super League.
Pakistan has also been a major host nation, co-hosting the 1987 and 1996 Cricket World Cups and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, while hosting the 2008 Asia Cup and co-hosting the 2023 Asia Cup. Pakistan won the 1998–99 Asian Test Championship, reached No. 1 in ICC Test rankings in 2016 under Misbah-ul-Haq, and holds a record six Hong Kong Sixes titles. The women's team won gold medals at the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games, underlining Pakistan's strength across formats. Pakistan also hosted the 2025 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifiers, further highlighting its growing role in international women's cricket.
On March 3, 2009, 12 militants with guns, grenades, and rocket launchers attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lanka national cricket team to a match at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium in Pakistan. Six Pakistani policemen escorting the team and two civilians were killed while seven Sri Lankan players and an assistant coach were injured. Since the terrorist attacks, no foreign cricket teams toured Pakistan until 2015 when Zimbabwe toured for an away series. A month after the attack on the Sri Lankan team, the International Cricket Council relieved Pakistan of co-hosting duty for any 2011 Cricket World Cup games. Pakistan has tried to make the best of the situation by offering to host its "home" matches on neutral territory in the United Arab Emirates. However, due to a decrease in terrorism in Pakistan over the past few years, as well as an increase in security, many teams have toured Pakistan since 2015. These teams include Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh, South Africa, Australia, England and an ICC World XI team. In addition, the Pakistan Super League has seen games hosted in Pakistan.
International Test and one-day matches are played between the Pakistan national cricket team and foreign opponents regularly. Women's cricket is also very popular, with Kiran Baluch holding the current record for the highest score in a women's test match with her innings of 242. The Pakistan Cricket Board controls both the men's and women's games. The 2020 Pakistan Super League events was hosted entirely by Pakistan.
Notable cricketers from Pakistan include Aaqib Javed, Ramiz Raja, Babar Azam, Shoaib Akhtar, Younis Khan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Abdul Qadir, Wasim Akram, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Saeed Anwar, Muhammad Yousaf, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Waqar Younis, Shahid Afridi, the Mohammad brothers (Hanif, Mushtaq, Sadiq and Wazir) and Imran Khan. Imran Khan has been named in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Saeed Anwar's 194 runs against India remained the record for most runs by a batsman in an ODI for 11 years which was broken by Fakhar Zaman's 210 against Zimbabwe in 2018. Shoaib Akhtar holds the record of delivering the fastest delivery in the history of cricket. Shahid Afridi holds numerous records i.e. the 3rd fastest century in ODIs, and the highest number of sixes in international cricket. Wasim Akram at the time of his retirement had taken the most wickets in ODIs. Muhammad Yousuf has scored the most Test runs in a calendar year.
Field hockey