Bhutan national football team results

For the Bhutan national women's team, see women's results.
For the Bhutan national under-19 team, see under-19 results.
For the Bhutan national under-17 team, see under-17 results.
For the Bhutan national futsal team, see futsal results.
Bhutan men's national football team
FIFA ranking
Current 189 Increase 3 (15 September 2016)
Highest 159 (June 2015)
Lowest 209 (November 2014 – February 2015)
Elo ranking
Current 230 (29 March 2016)
Highest 190 (1 April 1982)
Lowest 231 (6 September 2013)
First international
   Nepal 3–1 Bhutan 
(Kathmandu, Nepal; 1 April 1982)
Biggest win
 Bhutan 6–0 Guam 
(Thimphu, Bhutan; April 23, 2003)
Biggest defeat
 Kuwait 20–0 Bhutan 
(Kuwait City, Kuwait; February 14, 2000)
World Cup
Appearances None
Best result Qualifying – second round
AFC Asian Cup
Appearances None
South Asian Football Federation Cup
Appearances 7 (first in 2003)
Best result Semi-finals, 2008

This is a list of all the recorded matches played by the Bhutan national football team, which represents Bhutan in international men's football. The team is controlled by the governing body for football in Bhutan, the Bhutan Football Federation, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Federation and the regional body the South Asian Football Federation. Bhutan play their home games at the national stadium, Changlimithang. It is one of the younger national teams in the world having played its first match in 1982.

The team are currently one of the very weakest in the world and are, as of March 2016 are ranked 46th and last in the Asian Football Confederation with zero points and 193rd in the world on the official FIFA / Coca Cola rankings.[1] Their highest ranking achieved was 159th, which they last reached in April 2015 following their two World Cup qualifying victories over Sri Lanka.[1]

The team are also ranked extremely low on the all time Elo ratings at 230th out of 234 as of the end of 2015.[2] There are no FIFA affiliated teams ranked below them with the other four spots taken by Kiribati, Tibet, the Northern Marianas Islands and Palau respectively.[2]

Despite being one of the weakest national teams of all time, they had, as results show below, never been beaten at home and indeed, had never concede a goal in an official international at Changlimithang until the 6–0 loss to China in 2015.

Results

This is a list of all football matches played by Bhutan national football team from their recorded debut in the 1982 ANFA Cup in Nepal.

1980s

Some sources suggest that Bhutan regularly sent international teams to compete in tournaments abroad from the 1960s.[3] However, it is not known the extent to which these were genuinely international teams or merely representative teams, as many of the players are said not to have been of Bhutanese origin.[3] Regardless of their nature, none of the results of any of these hinted at tournaments are known, with the first recorded instance of Bhutan playing an international match being against Nepal in the ANFA Cup in 1982. After this match, the team regularly participated in the football tournaments held as part of the South Asian Games, however, they were generally unsuccessful and indeed failed to score a competitive goal against international opposition between 1982 and 1987.

1982
1984
1985
1986
1987

1990s

Following their regular appearances at the South Asian Games during the 1980s, Bhutan disappeared completely from the international stage for some twelve years resurfacing only at the end of the 1990s to compete again at the South Asian Games. Their time away from competitive football had done nothing to strengthen the team as they lost all of their games at the tournament for a fourth consecutive time.

1999

2000s

2000

Following nearly twenty years of competition restricted to South Asia, Bhutan entered a continental competition for the first time, competing in the qualifying rounds for the AFC Asian Cup. This series of matches was arguably the nadir of Bhutanese football as they lost heavily not only against relative minnows Yemen and Turkmenistan, but suffered the ignominy of a then world record 20–0 defeat to Kuwait.[5]

2001
2002
Main article: The Other Final

Just over twenty years since their début on the international stage, Bhutan recorded their first win, a victory over Montserrat in a game organised by a Dutch advertising agency, and sanctioned by FIFA to coincide with the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final.

2003

They were unable initially to continue this form into the next edition of the SAFF Championship, but following a disappointing performance in those games, they were comparatively successful in the preliminary round of Qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup. Hosting Guam and Mongolia, they recorded a 6–0 win over Guam and a 0–0 draw with Mongolia to set a new record victory margin the first time that the side gained positive results in two consecutive competitive games and their best set of results until the two victories over Sri Lanka in 2015. They qualified for the next round where they were outclassed in all games by stronger opposition.

2005
2006

Bhutan gained only their third positive competitive result, and their first in the AFC Challenge Cup in a 0–0 draw with Brunei, although this was not enough to see them through to the next stage.

2007

Two friendly games against Tibet saw Bhutan gain a win and a draw from two matches for only the second time in their history. However, although these matches are counted in the official Elo ratings, Tibet are not a member of FIFA and so these matches do not count in the official FIFA rankings.

2008

A further creditable 1–1 draw was gained against Brunei in an otherwise unsuccessful AFC Challenge Cup qualification campaign. However, later in the year Bhutan achieved arguably their best ever performance in an official competition, reaching the semi finals of the SAFF Championships, beating Afghanistan in their group stage before losing ultimately to India in the semi finals to a last minute goal in extra time.

2009

2010s

Having lost their last eight games in a row, their successes in the SAFF Championships were now a distant memory and matters have not improved in the years since, their losing run stretched to nineteen games. However, following an eighteen-month absence from the international arena and entering the World Cup for the very first time, Bhutan produced two shock results in beating Sri Lanka in both legs of the AFC first qualifying round to proceed to the group qualifying round and record back to back victories for the first time in their history. The next stage of qualifying was not successful for Bhutan as they lost all of their matches including a 15–0 defeat to Qatar and a 12–0 defeat to China in addition to an overall 15–0 loss to Thai club side Buriram United in two unofficial back to back friendlies. A fourteen match losing streak was broken however when they drew 0–0 with Bangladesh in the first leg of their 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification – Play-off Round tie. The second leg saw Bhutan record their first ever victory over Bangladesh in a 3–1 win, which saw them progress to the third round of qualifying for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

2011
2012
2013
2015
2016

Summary record

By venue

As at 10 October 2016:

Venue Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Diff Win % Loss %
Home124171825−733%58%
Away*2812256138−1324%89%
Neutral*49264225172−1474%86%
Total*89787449335−2868%83%

NB: Listing includes ANFA Cup matches against teams other than the official Nepal national team, four unofficial friendly matches against Tibet and Bangladesh and two unofficial charity matches against Buriram United.
*: Total includes two drawn matches in the 1986 ANFA cup against Hong Kong Gurkhas (classed as played at a neutral venue) and Nepal Youth (classed as played at an away venue) for which no score is available. The results are included here statistically as 0–0 for the purpose of completeness.

By year

As at 31 March 2016:

Year Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Diff Win % Loss %
1982200226−40%100%
1984300308−80%100%
1985200204−40%100%
1986*4022110−90%50%
1987200229−70%100%
19993003112−110%100%
20006006249−470%100%
2001100103−30%100%
2002210141+350%50%
2003121110642−368%83%
2005300319−80%100%
2006301203−30%67%
2007211054+150%0%
20087124515−1014%57%
20097007232−300%100%
20117007224−220%100%
2012100105−50%100%
20133003416−120%100%
2015132011760−5315%85%
20166114523−1817%67%
Total*89787449335-2868%83%

NB: Listing includes ANFA Cup matches against teams other than the official Nepal national team, four unofficial friendly matches against Tibet and Bangladesh and two unofficial charity matches against Buriram United.
*: 1986 includes two drawn matches in the ANFA cup against Hong Kong Gurkhas and Nepal Youth for which no score is available. The results are included here statistically as 0–0 for the purpose of completeness.

By competition

As at 10 February 2016:

Competition Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Diff Win % Loss %
AFC Asian Cup*1422101169−5814%71%
AFC Challenge Cup11029228−260%82%
ANFA Cup200217−60%100%
FIFA World Cup10208853−4520%80%
Friendly7106615−914%86%
SAFF Championship2211201186−755%91%
South Asian Games100010333−300%100%
Official Total75556539290-2517%87%
ANFA Cup**6024216−120%67%
Friendly7115528−2314%71%
Unofficial Total**13139744-348%69%
Overall Total**89787449335-2868%83%

NB: Unofficial matches includes ANFA Cup matches against teams other than the official Nepal national team, four friendly matches against Tibet and Bangladesh and two charity matches against Buriram United.
*: AFC Asian Cup matches exclude qualifying matches from the Asian section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification following the ratification in 2014 of a proposal to merge the preliminary qualification rounds of the FIFA World Cup with those of the AFC Asian Cupby the AFC Competitions Committee. The new qualification structure will take place in three stages, with the first two merging with the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.[6] These matches are counted only in the FIFA World Cup total.
**: Unofficial ANFA Cup matches includes two drawn games in the 1986 competition against Hong Kong Gurkhas and Nepal Youth for which no score is available. The results are included here statistically as 0–0 for the purpose of completeness.

By opponent

As at 6 September 2016:

Opponent Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Diff Win % Loss %
 Afghanistan6105222−2017%83%
 Bangladesh10127523−1810%70%
 Brunei20201100%0%
 Cambodia100102−20%0%
 China PR2002018−180%100%
 Guam110060+6100%0%
 Hong Kong200208−80%100%
 India5005116−150%100%
 Indonesia200204−40%100%
 Kuwait1001020−200%100%
 Maldives7007831−230%100%
 Mongolia10100000%0%
 Montserrat110040+4100%0%
   Nepal130013641−350%100%
 Pakistan200219−80%100%
 Philippines200204−40%100%
 Qatar2002018−180%100%
 Saudi Arabia2002010−100%100%
 Sri Lanka7205518−1329%71%
 Tajikistan100113−20%100%
 Thailand100105−50%100%
 Turkmenistan2002015−150%100%
 Yemen3003223−210%100%
Official Total76656542291-2498%86%
 Bangladesh200206−210%100%
Thailand Buriram United2002015−150%100%
China Guangzhou Football Team100116−50%100%
Hong Kong Hong Kong Gurkhas1010???0%0%
 India100103−30%100%
China Kunming Army Team100113−20%100%
Nepal Nepal Red100101−10%100%
Nepal Nepal Youth1010???0%0%
South Korea Soongsil University100106−60%100%
 Tibet211054+150%0%
Unofficial Total*13139744-378%69%
Overall Total*89787449335-2868%83%
Key
>50% Wins
50% Wins
<50% Wins

NB: Unofficial matches includes ANFA Cup matches against teams other than the official Nepal national team, four friendly matches against Tibet and Bangladesh and two charity matches against Buriram United.
*: Includes unofficial matches in the 1986 ANFA Cup against Hong Kong Gurkhas and Nepal Youth which sources indicate were drawn but for which no score is available. The results are included here statistically as 0–0 for the purpose of completeness.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

Bhutan attempted to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 2015. Drawn against Sri Lanka, they produced a shock result over the two legs of the first round to progress to the next round. They were drawn in group C of the second round, but were unable to progress to the next stage.

FIFA World Cup FIFA World Cup qualification record
Hosts / Year Pld W D* L GS GA Pld W D* L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 to Brazil 2014 Did not enter Did not enter
Russia 2018 Did not qualify10208853
Qatar 2022 To be determined To be determined
Total00000010208853

AFC Asian Cup

Prior to 2015, Bhutan had only attempted to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup on two occasions, both of which ended unsuccessfully. In their first attempt, they lost all of their matches, including a then world record 20–0 defeat to Kuwait. They were marginally more successful in the next iteration. Qualifying was divided into two stages. Bhutan hosted their group in the Preliminary stage, finishing in first place after a 0–0 draw with Mongolia and a 6–0 victory over Guam, a result that is still a record win for the nation. However, progressing to the second stage, they lost all six of their games and failed to progress to the competition proper. for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the qualifying rounds for the 2018 FIFA World Cup were used as the first two stages of qualifying for this competition. Bhutan were eliminated in the second round of World Cup qualifying and entered the play-off round where they were drawn against Bangladesh. Bhutan beat them 3–1 over two legs to progress to the third round of qualifying for the first time.

AFC Asian Cup AFC Asian Cup qualification record
Hosts / Year Pld W D* L GS GA Pld W D* L GF GA
Hong Kong 1956 to United Arab Emirates 1996 Did not enter Did not enter
Lebanon 2000 Did not qualify 4004242
China 2004 Did not qualify 8116626
Indonesia Malaysia Thailand Vietnam 2007
to Australia 2015		 Did not enter Did not enter
United Arab Emirates 2019* To be determined 123181154
Total00000024421819122

*: 2019 qualification campaign also includes qualifying matches from the Asian section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification as in 2014, a proposal to merge the preliminary qualification rounds of the FIFA World Cup with those of the AFC Asian Cup was ratified by the AFC Competitions Committee. The new qualification structure will take place in three stages, with the first two merging with the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.[6]

AFC Challenge Cup

Bhutan have a dismal record in the AFC Challenge Cup, not only have they never qualified for the competition, but they have only managed a single draw, 1–1 against Brunei during the 2008 qualifying campaign. In addition, this is the only match in which they have ever managed to score. The AFC Challenge Cup has been discontinued by the AFC, with all nations now entering qualifying for the AFC Cup due to the expansion of the Asian Cup to the 24-nation format from the 16-nation one after the 2015 edition.[7][8]

AFC Challenge Cup AFC Challenge Cup qualification record
Hosts / Year Result Pld W D* L GS GA Pld W D* L GF GA
Bangladesh 2006Group 301203 No qualification stage
India 2008 Did not qualify301216
Sri Lanka 2010 Did not qualify3003013
Nepal 2012 Did not qualify200205
Maldives 2014 Did not enter Did not enter
Total3012038017124

South Asian Football Federation Cup

Bhutan have an almost equally poor record in the South Asian Football Federation Cup. Only once have they managed to make it out of the group stage of the competition, with this being the only time they have managed to achieve any form of positive result.

South Asian Football Federation Cup
Hosts / Year Result Pld W D* L GS GA
Pakistan 1993 to India 1999 Did not enter
Bangladesh 2003Group stage3003011
Pakistan 2005Group stage300319
Maldives Sri Lanka 2008Semi-finals411256
Bangladesh 2009Group stage3003017
India 2011Group stage3003016
Nepal 2013Group stage3003416
India 2015Group Stage300319
Total221120784

South Asian Games

Early in their competitive history, Bhutan's sole participation in international football was their attendance at the South Asian Games. Taking part in the first three editions of the games, they failed to win a single game, losing all their matches and failing to score a goal until their final group game in 1987 against Nepal.[9] Following this edition they did not enter a team again and from 2004 the national team has been ineligible as the tournament was changed to an under-23 competition.[10]

South Asian Games
Hosts / Year Result Pld W D* L GS GA
Nepal 1984Fourth**300308
Bangladesh 1985Group Stage200204
India 1987Group Stage200229
Pakistan 1989 to India 1995 Did not enter
Pakistan 2004 to India 2016 Not eligible
Total7007221

**It is unclear from the sources provided whether there was a third place playoff or whether the Maldives were awarded the bronze medal on the strength of their group performance alone, either way Bhutan finished in fourth and last place.[11]

ANFA Cup

The ANFA Cup refers to a series of invitational association football knockout tournaments organised by the All Nepal Football Association.[12] A national team has represented Bhutan at a number of editions of this tournament. Some of the matches have been against other national teams with the remainder against clubs or other representative teams. Again they have struggled to achieve any real success, their only positive results coming in 1986 in non-international matches against teams representing the Hong Kong Gurkhas and Nepal Youth respectively.[13]

ANFA Cup
Hosts / Year Pld W D* L GS GA
Nepal 1980 to 1981 Did not compete
Nepal 1982 200226
Nepal 1983 to 1985 Did not compete
Nepal 1986 4022--
Nepal 1987 to 1989 Did not compete
Nepal 2000 200207
Nepal 2009, 2010, 2014 Did not compete
Total8026--

Source: RSSSF.

*Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. Red border indicates that the tournament was hosted on home soil. Gold, silver, bronze backgrounds indicates 1st, 2nd and 3rd finishes respectively. Bold text indicates best finish in tournament.

References

  1. 1 2 "Bhutan – Ranking". fifa.com. FIFA. 17 July 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  2. 1 2 "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. World Football Elo Ratings web site and Advanced Satellite Consulting. 2 June 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  3. 1 2 "A look at football in Bhutan". raonline.ch. RA Online / Kuensel. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  4. ↑ Bhutan national football team statistics and records: top scorers archive
  5. ↑ "FIFA Factsheet – Biggest margin victories/losses" (PDF). fifa.com. FIFA. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  6. 1 2 "ExCo approves expanded AFC Asian Cup finals". AFC. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "Revamp of AFC competitions". Asian Football Confederation. January 25, 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-02-03.
  8. ↑ "ExCo approves expanded AFC Asian Cup finals". Asian Football Confederation. April 16, 2014.
  9. ↑ Garin, Erik; King, Ian (16 December 2010). "3rd South Asian Federation Games 1987 (Calcutta, India)". rsssf.com. RSSSF. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  10. ↑ Courtney, Barrie; Hai Naveed, Malik Riaz (25 June 2006). "9th South Asian Federation Games 2004 (Pakistan)". rsssf.com. RSSSF. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  11. ↑ Garin, Erik; Morrison, Neil (6 November 2009). "1st South Asian Federation Games 1984". rsssf.com. RSSSF. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  12. ↑ "ANFA Invitational Tournament (Nepal)". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 16 November 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  13. ↑ Garin, Erik; Stokkermans, Karel; Lewis, Tom; Morrison, Neil (13 January 2011). "ANFA Invitational Tournament (Nepal)". rsssf.com. RSSSF. Retrieved 12 February 2016.

External links

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