Karachi United
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| Full name | Karachi United Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | KUFC | ||
| Founded | 1996 | ||
| Ground |
15,000-capacity KPT Football Stadium (and 2,000-capacity Karachi United Stadium), Karachi, Pakistan | ||
| Chairman | CDR Ilyas | ||
| Manager | Khubaib Ilyas | ||
| League | Karachi Premier League | ||
| KASB 2007/08 | 4th | ||
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Karachi United F.C. is among the main Pakistani football clubs based in the southern city of Karachi. It was established in 1996. Karachi United became one of the first Pakistani sports clubs with almost 100,000 followers on Facebook.
The club's objectives since inception have been the grassroots development of football and community development through football. At the time of the formation of the club, there was a lack of forums in which teams/clubs could participate. Hence to date, Karachi United's most significant contribution to football development has been its setting up events such as the Karachi Premier League previously sponsored by KASB, the Karachi United School Championship (KUSC), the Energile Youth Football Championship etc. In fact the Karachi League, which was commenced in 2003 was started even prior Pakistan's national league i.e. the Pakistan Premier League.
First team
In nine seasons of the Karachi League, KU have not as yet managed to win the same. However, in the recently concluded 9th season, KU were unlucky to finish as runners-up losing out on penalties to Burma Muhammadan.Given that KU's focus has been on developing internal talent from its own set-up, it has not followed a 'buying policy' and the fruits of its investment into its youth set-up have been evident from 2006 onwards as the youth academy players have formed an integral part of the 1st Team.
Youth
The Karachi United youth program was set up in 2001. At that time, it was the only fully functional youth academy / program. Subsequently, a multitude of youth set-ups have been established across Karachi and Pakistan. The youth program has achieved good results with the highlights being the KU Academy touring Manchester United ( to train at their soccer schools in 2004) and then later sending players to Charlton Athletic in the summers of 2006 and 2007 as well as players in 2010. In October 2008 and in 2011, the Karachi United under-17 team travelled to Doha, Qatar to play a series of matches against local Qatari youth sides and train with coaches at Aspire.
Community work
Karachi United as a club has also taken an initiative to help the footballing community primarily in trying to raise the standard of the game in the country. The club provides coaching to various school kids and also often participates in matches and enjoys relations with many clubs in Lyari where in the past most of Karachi's footballing talent has come from. On various occasions, the club has donated equipment and apparel to youth players across Karachi.
KUSC
The Karachi United School Championship features the top schools of Karachi vying to be crowned as the Champions of Karachi's school football. The first edition of the KUSC was played in 2005–06 which was won by Karachi Grammar School (KGS) who beat Lyceum School in the final. In fact KGS have won the event five times. City School finally broke KGS's hegemony in the 5th Edition of KUSC when they beat them 4–3 after extra time. The 7th edition of KUSC saw Nixor College beat City PAF to become only the third school to win the KUSC. Karachi Grammar School regained their throne in the 9th edition of the tournament. Erhaan Ahmad's sensational brace made the difference in the final against Nixor College.