Pakistan captain Abdullah Iqbal has become the first active player of the Pakistan national football team to appear in the UEFA Champions League.
The defender came on as a 62nd-minute substitute for Mjällby AIF in their Champions League second qualifying round first-leg tie against Lincoln Red Imps on Tuesday. He replaced Ludvig Svanberg as Mjällby, playing their first-ever European tie, went on to win 3-0 at Strandvallen through goals from Áki Debes Samuelsen, who scored twice, and Jacob Bergström.
Iqbal, 23, joined Mjällby from Danish side B.93 in August 2024 and has since captained Pakistan while helping the Swedish club win its first-ever Allsvenskan title in 2025. The title triumph secured Mjällby’s place in this season’s Champions League qualifiers.
Two other Pakistani-origin players had previously featured in the competition, though neither did so while representing Pakistan.
Etzaz Hussain played Champions League qualifiers for Molde FK, including a third qualifying round tie against Dinamo Zagreb, several years before he switched his international allegiance to Pakistan.
FIFA approved his change of sporting nationality in September 2025, and he made his Pakistan debut against Afghanistan the following month.
Ghayas Zahid became the first Pakistani-origin footballer to appear in the Champions League when he featured for APOEL FC in a 2017 group-stage match against Real Madrid. Zahid, however, has never played for Pakistan. He represents Norway at the international level.
Mjällby and Lincoln Red Imps meet in the second leg on 28 July in Gibraltar.
