Masr and Sham played a dandy in the 2023 BISL Finals. Masr stuck first with Rameez Siddiqi fighting his way to a long ball from Shaheen Limbada and putting in a clincal finish. Aadhil Mohamed produced some solo magic to beat two defenders with his pace to put Masr up 2-0. Sham FC got a momentum building goal just before halftime on a free kick from Ovaiz Khan that found Ayaz Patel infront of the net to deflect it home. Sham found the equalizer midway through the 2nd half on a defensive breakdown that saw Muhammad Shah 1v1 with the goalie that squared up the game. Once again, the finals came down to penalty kicks. Shah - Miss, Aadhil - Goal, Ali Lone - Goal, Shaheen Goal, Ovaiz - Goal, Afnan - Miss, Abdo - Goal, Rameez - Goal, Ayaz - Goal, Sheraz - Miss... the penalties went to 2 extra kickers before Sham took home the victory. Sham FC complete the undefeated season. Congrats to both teams on an amazing display of footy and brotherhood. Sham FC take home their first title in team history.
Maghrib and Masr came into the finals after two different paths. Maghrib had hard fought battles in the quarters and the semis. Masr steamrolled the quarters and narrowly won their semi on penalty kicks. Both teams faced adversity on their path to the finals. Maghrib was missing their captain and star midfielder Danish Khan after an injury in the semis. Masr dominated the first half with a series of high quality chances but Hannan Ghafoor made some brilliant saves. Neither team could break through and for the first time in league history a match finished 0-0. On to penalty kicks, after 3 kickers we were still square at 2-2. The fourth round saw Rameez Siddiqi score and Masr miss to give Maghrib the title. The boys in Red fought hard and had their chances but Maghrib stood tall and found a way to win. Congrats to Maghrib FC on their first title in their first season!
Hejaz and Anatolia played a classic defensive battle in the 1st half the final. It wasn't till midway through the 2nd that Anatolia found their finishing touch. GM Zain Khilji blasted a through ball from Fawad Akram to open the scoring. Mike Isoufi would add a second 7 minutes later to double the lead. Mike would then set up Syed "Ronaldo" Kazmi on a through ball for a Kazmi finish and celebration to make it 3-0. Hejaz put on all the pressure after that and found a goal by GM Taqi Ahmed with 4 minutes to play. They created a bunch of chances but missed that finishing touch. Komayl Jawadi would once again get the final kick as he tapped in a Fawad Akram pass to finish the match at 4-1. A fantastic final played with great sportsmanship. Congrats to Hejaz on a fantastic season. Anatolia are finally BISL Champions ending their 6 year drought.
