Mujahidullah Khan Tareen (born 11 August 1949), commonly known as Mujahid Tareen, is a Pakistani former footballer who played as a defender. Tareen played for Pakistan Army throughout his career, and later also coached the team. He was member of the Pakistan national team in the 1970s. He also served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Pakistan Army.
Early life
Tareen was born on 11 August 1949 in Maqsooda, in the Vehari district of Pakistan. He started his football career in 1962 as a left-out in his family team named Tareen Football Club. Later, he joined Afghan Club. In 1966, he represented DFA Multan in the Youth Championship.[1]
He later joined the Pakistan Army in 1972, where he became member of the Pakistan Army football team and participated in the National Championship with the team for ten consecutive years from 1973 till 1982.[1]
Tareen was first selected for the Pakistan national team in 1970, when the team under the name of PFF XI participated at the 1970 Friendship Cup in Tehran.[1]
He was also member of the team which participated at the 1974 Asian Games.[1]
In 1989, Tareen got the responsibility of secretary of the Pakistan Football Federation for 6 months, when he organized the national championship in Lahore in short period, and played a crucial role in building the national team which won the gold medal at the 1989 South Asian Games in Islamabad.[5] He retired from the Army in 1994.[1]
Colonel Mujahid lost by one vote to Ghulam Abbas Baloch in the election for the secretary of the federation position in 1995, but in 1997–98, the president of the federation, Mian Muhammad Azhar, entrusted him with the responsibility of the federation secretariat. Tareen was crucial in voting Azhar as Army representative in PFF, which helped defeat Faisal Saleh Hayat by only one vote.[6][7] From 2003 till 2007, Tareen worked with the next PFF president Faisal Saleh Hayat as technical director,[8] and was behind the successful launch of the Pakistan Premier League in 2004, before quitting the post after differences with the PFF chief.[9][10][7]
Tareen was appointed member of the Normalization Committee for the Pakistan Football Federation in September 2019, whose task was to hold elections of the country's football governing body and bring it would bring an end to a four-year crisis that resulted in Pakistan suffering significantly in the game.[12][13][14][15][16][17] He replaced Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi, assuming the role of interim secretary general.[18][19][20] He was replaced in January 2021, when FIFA appointed Pakistani Canadian Haroon Malik as new chairman of the Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee.[21]
