Football in the Land of the Thunder Dragon

(This article was originally written for indianfootball.com on September 2009) 

It is a known fact that football’s popularity around the world cannot be questioned. Football is without any shadow of doubt the most popular sport in the world. In Bhutan too it’s no different; the Landlocked Himalayan Kingdom also shares that special bond with the Beautiful game. Football enjoys tremendous popularity amongst the masses. After football Archery and Basketball are other two disciplines which interest the Bhutanese. The passion for the beautiful game started picking up in the country after the Bhutan Football Federation was set up in the year 1983, the BFF worked towards improving infrastructure and popularizing the game in the country under the Royal patronage. In 2000 Bhutan Football Federation got FIFA’s affiliation which further boosted the progress of football in the country which is known as the “Land of the Thunder Dragon”

Football first started catching the fancy of the Bhutanese people in the fifties when Schools started opening up in the Haa and Paro regions. The teachers were recruited from foreign countries and it was them who introduced football to Bhutan. But the credit for popularizing the game and taking it to the masses, even before the BFF was formed  goes to the Bhutanese Students who went to the foreign countries in pursuit of further education and when they retuned they also bought back the knowledge about football and passed it on to the natives.

Bhutan had a strong national side from 1970 to 1984.Teams from the country participated in major tournaments abroad  and lifted many trophies. Bhutan reached the finals of ANFA Cup (All Nepal Football Association), an international tournament four times. Teams from countries like China, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka used to participate in this tournament. At present the national team is managed by Khare Basnett (Khare), a renowned footballer of his times.

On June 30, 2002,Bhutan National team was involved in a very interesting and an unusual match, on the day when the World Cup final was played, Bhutan, then the second-lowest ranked team in the world, recorded their first victory ever. They played against the lowest ranked team, Montserrat, in a friendly match jokingly referred to as "The Other Final", winning 4-0 at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. "The Other Final" was organized by a group of Dutch filmmakers.

Prior to the 2010 World Cup qualification round, Bhutan football suffered a set back as they were the only FIFA member not to have attempted to qualify for the World Cup. Bhutan withdrew from the qualifying rounds because their stadium would not be ready in time for their match vs. Kuwait. That was the low point but in the 2008 South Asian Football Federation Cup tournament, Bhutan reached the Semifinals, where they lost, a hard fought battle narrowly to India (2 - 1).

Bhutan also has league football in place,(Bhutan Premier League) which is run in a very amateur way but  its contribution cannot be ignored, it has  helped many players to develop in the country.BPL is contested by eight teams and is keenly followed by the people. Some of the teams playing in the BPL are Transport United (the most successful team), Yeedzin FC, Druk Star FC and the Royal Bhutan Army. 

So we can see Bhutan has seen both ups and downs in football but with improving facilities and a growing enthusiasm among the younger generations, the future of football in this tiny Himalayan Kingdom looks bright. The construction of the state of the art Changlimithang Stadium, the first International standard facility  in the country is one of the positive steps Bhutan has taken. With a boost in Corporate Sector, the future of Bhutanese Football seems well on course and seeks to find its right footing in the World Football scene, as well as in the Asian Football fraternity.  It’s about time now when the thunder dragon will strike and announce its arrival on the world football scene with a streak of lightning and that loud bang!

*This article was written with the help of Keshav Gurung who is based in Thimphu (Bhutan)