Myanmar national football team


The Myanmar national football team represents Myanmar in men's international football and is governed by the Myanmar Football Federation.
It was known as the Burma national football team until 1989, when Burma was renamed Myanmar. During heyday, Burma finished second in the 1968 Asian Cup, participated in the Summer Olympics in 1972 and in the Asian Games and having won the Asian Games twice; in 1966 and 1970, and the football event of the Southeast Asian Games on five successive occasions; in 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971 and 1973. No participation in World Cup qualification was made for the rest of 20th century, contributing to the downfall of the national side.
Since renamed, Myanmar's highest achievement is the silver medal in 1993. Myanmar played its first World Cup qualifiers in 2007 in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, losing 0–7 and 0–4 to China.

History

1948 to 1970s: the golden era

Burma participated in 1954 Asian Games and won a bronze medal, standing behind Taiwan and South Korea ; this was the beginning of the golden era. On the other hand, the nation was not expected to contend for a medal in the Olympic-type Asian Games. In the meantime, this delegation became the first male Burmese team to win a continental medal. Against all odds, the Burma team bettered their 1954 effort by winning the gold medal in the Asian Games, which was held at Bangkok in the mid-1960s. In that tournament, Burma beat Iran in the gold-medal game.
The 1966 Asian Games gold medal winning squad established itself as one of the two best teams in the region as it finished as runner-up to Iran at the 1968 Asian Cup.
Having won a silver medal in 1968, the men's soccer team had a strong performance in the early 1970s as it qualified to compete in the 1972 Summer Olympics, which was held at Munich, upon being one of the three finalists in the Asian tournament.
Despite losing almost all matches, the Burmese players won the Fair Play Award. The following year, the nation earned its fifth consecutive Southeast Asian Games gold medal at Singapore City.
Three years before that, the national team wrote perhaps their most important chapter: they captured the continental title for the second time in a row, after the Burmese Olympic Committee sent footballers to Thailand for the 1970 Asian Games. Burma thus became the second football squad to win the Asian tournament twice. They were declared national heroes in Rangoon, the then capital of Burma, with their second consecutive gold medal in men's soccer.
During this golden era, Burma produced many talented footballers. One among them is Suk Bahadur who is now considered as the greatest Burmese footballer of all time for his outstanding contribution to Burmese football.
Over the following years, mainly due to political problems within the country, the national side's ability to defend its Asian title slowly faded away.

1970s to 2010s: decline and struggle

In the later years, Burma were unable to achieve similar results like in the golden era, due to many factors. The collapse of whole Burmese football system during the rule of Ne Win and later, the junta, had a negative impact on Burmese football team. Lack of funding and poor infrastructure prevented many Burmese players to play abroad, thus leading to retirement. At the same time, the rise of Malaysia, Indonesia, and especially Vietnam and the Philippines made Myanmar's golden era fade away.
Despite this, Myanmar managed to win silver medal in 1993 Southeast Asian Games, after losing to Thailand in the final, or the 2004 Tiger Cup when Myanmar won bronze.

Since 2010s: resurgence

Myanmar's 2011 reforms had been a major point of turning Myanmar's football, which had declined since 1970s. During this era, a new wave of Burmese football had arrived with the change of Myanmar's political climate, after many years under junta's rule.
The arrival of Gerd Zeise, a German manager, had been the crucial point. Under Gerd, Myanmar's football since reforms has witnessed a significant progress. The U-20 Myanmar team qualified to Myanmar's first ever FIFA tournament, the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup after going to the semi-finals in the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship as host. In 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup, Myanmar, as host, once again went to semi-finals, only losing to eventual champions, Thailand.
Between these successes, a lot of problems remain. Myanmar's football capability has been questioned after their disastrous 2018 World Cup qualification; while on the same time, a lot of teams in Asia have also risen up after many years under shadows. Once again, Myanmar failed to qualify for 2019 AFC Asian Cup, when they suffered a tremendous 1–5 defeat at the hand of Kyrgyzstan. Under Antoine Hey, Myanmar also had an unsuccessful 2018 AFF Championship, with the team was knocked out from the group stage, and Hey resigned after.

Home stadium

The national team plays most of its home matches in Thuwunna Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar. The stadium is larger and more up-to-date than Bogyoke Aung San Stadium. It was upgraded to a seating capacity of 50,000 spectators from capacity of 32000 in 2013.

Kits

The Myanmar national team used to play with a kit made by FBT. This contract lasted until 2018.
In November 2018, the Myanmar national team signed a six-year contract with Warrix Sports. The sports kit sponsorship contract is valued at US$5.67 million and it will run from 1 November 2018 to 31 December 2024.
On 6 November 2018, Warrix introduced a new Myanmar home and away kit. Myanmar's home kit is a red shirt with red shorts and red socks while the away kit is a white shirt with white shorts and white socks.

Competition records

Olympic Games

FIFA World Cup

Asian Games

AFC Challenge Cup

AFF Championship

SEA Games

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures

2019

Coaching staff

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were called up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called-up recently in the last 12 months.
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Notes:
;ASEAN Football Championship
;South East Asian Games
;Olympics
* As caretaker

Most caps and goals

#PlayerCapsGoalsCareer
1Zaw Min Tun7452011–
2Yan Paing67132001–2017
3Khin Maung Lwin6642006–2017
4David Htan6442012–
5Yan Aung Kyaw6202011-
6Soe Myat Min 60191998–2008
7Aung Kyaw Moe5571999–2010
7Min Thu5511998–2008
9Aung Aung Oo5401999–2010
10Kyaw Ko Ko52162010–

Top scorers

Data based by wikipedia.

Honours

International

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