| Younus Rana | |
| Birth Date: | 1941 4, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Hoshiarpur, British India |
| Position: | Midfielder |
| Years1: | 1961–1979 |
| Clubs1: | Pakistan Railways |
| Nationalyears1: | 1963–1970 |
| Nationalteam1: | Pakistan |
| Manageryears1: | 1982 |
| Managerclubs1: | Pakistan |
| Manageryears2: | 2003–2005 |
| Managerclubs2: | Pakistan Telecommunication |
Younus Rana (born 10 April 1941), is a Pakistani former footballer and manager. Rana played as a mdfielder for the Pakistan national team in the 1960s and 1970s and captained the national side in 1969. He is also one of the players to have played and served as head coach of the national team.
Rana was born on 10 April 1941 in Hoshiarpur, in the Punjab province of British India. After the partition, his family moved to Multan where he represented the university football team of Emerson University.[1] [2]
Rana represented the Pakistan Railways departmental team from 1961 till 1979, earning the captaincy in 1965. In the 1969 edition of the National Football Championship held in Lahore, Rana helped the side finish champions after defeating Karachi in the final.
Younus was first selected for the Pakistan national team at the 1964 Summer Olympics qualification in 1963. He later played several editions of the RCD Cup. In 1969, he was selected as captain of the national team for the 1969 Friendship cup held in Tehran and the later 1969 RCD Cup the same year.[3] [4] His last international tournament was the 1970 RCD Cup, where Qadir Bakhsh replaced Rana as captain.[5]
While playing, Younus also trained to become referee in 1971, and refereed several matches at the National Football Championship in the 1980s. From 1981 onwards, he turned his attention to coaching, and was coach of the Multan team that won the 1981 National Youth Championship under the captaincy of Sharafat Ali. He was later appointed member of the coaching staff of the Pakistan national team under head coach Bert Trautmann at the 1981 King's Cup held in Thailand.
The next year, Rana was appointed head coach of the Pakistan national team (named as Pakistan Greens) in the 1982 Quaid-e-Azam International Cup and President Gold Cup the same year.[6] [7] [8] [9] He later served as assistant coach of the national team from 1987 till 1989 under head coach Burkhard Ziese.
In 2003, Rana served as head coach of the Pakistan Telecommunication departmental team at the last edition of the National Football Championship,[10] and from 2004 onwards at the Pakistan Premier League.[11]