ISLAMABAD: In a country where cricket is without doubt the most sought-after sport, pursuing a career in professional football would be considered a courageous decision.
But the challenges — limited opportunities and financial constraints — did not stop Imaad Khan from following his passion for football, with the 26-year-old becoming the first Pakistani to enroll for a master’s degree at the prestigious Real Madrid Graduate School in Spain this year.
Khan, a skilled football player himself since the age of ten, was on the national team in 2016 during Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka. Today he runs a sports club and football academy in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
Last month, Khan started a master’s degree in football coaching and management and is currently taking online lessons while he waits for his Spanish visa to physically attend classes at the pioneering Real Madrid Graduate School, which aims to train the industry’s future leading professionals.
Khan was also accepted to the institute in 2016 but could not enroll as he needed financial aid.
“I got sponsored by the Bilquis and Abdul Razak Dawood(BARD) Foundation to go to Real Madrid Business School and do the masters in football coaching and management,” Khan told Arab News in an interview.
Khan chose the Real Madrid Graduate School because some of the best European football leaders teach there, he said. The school is also ranked the world’s second-best for sports education by Forbes.
“Basically, Real Madrid is the biggest club in the world and they have the best facilities, the state-of-the-art technologies, and they are on top when it comes to innovations in the football industry,” Khan said.
“I will be having full access to the training facilities there and would be getting practical exposure at Real Madrid under-21 from Carlo Ancelotti, who is the manager of Real Madrid and also teaching us one of the courses on football management.”
Khan has also completed a number of courses from Barcelona’s online innovation hub about football tactical analysis, sports marketing, and sponsorship. He hopes the courses will help him join the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) to play for his country and also build the country’s women’s team.
“While I play for Pakistan football, I would like to work for under-18 and under-16,” he said of his future plans, adding that he planned to start a development program catering to all football players who could not reach their potential.
Khan’s inspiration is his father, Asmatullah Niazi, a polio survivor who is a former controller at state TV.
“My father has been a fighter all his life as he was a polio survivor and I have seen him fighting with all the barricades and obstacles [but still working] as a sports reporter,” Khan said.
“That gave me that push and the spark that I needed to fix on my dreams.”
Niazi said it was his son’s passion that convinced him to let him pursue a career in football management despite a dearth of opportunities and avenues for growth in the field in Pakistan.
“Of course, I was worried about this because he was always pressing to go for sports management but when I saw his passion, I allowed him to pursue it as a career because passion always drives you toward success,” he told Arab News.
He said it was a “proud moment” for him to see his son adopting football as a full-time profession and enrolling in the Real Madrid Graduate School.
“This achievement of Khan will inspire many young Pakistanis to adopt football and sports management as a profession [and this will ultimately] help the promotion of sports in the country,” Niazi added.
Saad Khalid, one of Khan’s colleagues and a coach at his football academy, called him an “inspiration.”
“He could have easily gone abroad to study something else or to work somewhere else, but he decided to do something for football and that is what inspires all of us,” he said.
For Khan, he says football is his only choice.
“I will never give up on football,” he said, “that is my love.”
