The 1948–49 Pakistan National Football League was the first season of the NFL and ended with Sindh Red being crowned champions. The National Football League era though saw Karachi based Pakistan Airlines with most championships, winning the competition nine times. The Pakistan Premier League era is different though as most of the champions of the league have come from Punjab side with Khan Research Laboratories from Rawalpindi winning the league five times.[2]
Currently, the team with the most championships in Pakistan Premier League is Khan Research Laboratories, who have won five championships in the league. However, Pakistan Airlines are the team with the most championships overall, winning National Football League nine times.[3]
Champions
Bold indicates double winners – i.e. League and Domestic (National Challenge) Cup.
Italic indicates team winning the season unbeaten – i.e. (invincible).
Note: Various provinces (Sindh, NWFP, Balochistan, Punjab, East Pakistan), divisions (Karachi, Peshawar) or other clubs (Railways) entered teams under various names; all finalists listed can nevertheless be regarded as the 'first' team of the respective clubs with the exception of the 1948 losing finalists, Sindh Blue, who were the second-string team of Sindh.[3]
Punjab has dominated the football league in Pakistan with a total of 31 league titles won between three cities; Faisalabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi. Sindh based Karachi and East Bengal based Dacca dominated the league from 1960 to 1965; Dacca winning consecutive titles from 1960-61 and 1961-62, and Karachi winning back to back three titles from 1962-63, 1963-64 and 1964-65.[1][2]