Timor-Leste national football team

The Timor-Leste national football team is the national team of East Timor and is controlled by the Federação de Futebol de Timor-Leste. They joined FIFA on 12 September 2005.
Timor-Leste's international debut was in the preliminary round of the 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification in March 2003, when they lost 3–2 to Sri Lanka and 3–0 to Chinese Taipei. They also participated in the 2004 AFF Championship. Timor-Leste's participation in Southeast Asia's premier international football event in 2004 was announced after an Asian Football Confederation council meeting in Petaling Jaya. Although not yet a member of the AFC, the Timor-Leste Football Association was invited to sit in on the meeting, where they were represented by FA president Francia Kalbuadi. Timor-Leste won their first international match on 5 October 2012 against Cambodia with a score of 5–1.

History

Football was established in Timor-Leste during the Portuguese colonial era, when many of the locals and the Portuguese officials played amateur football. After Portugal ended its colonial rule, Indonesia invaded and occupied the island. East Timor eventually gained independence from Indonesia in 2000, which resulted in a long running battle against Jakarta-led forces.
The East Timor Football Association was accepted as an associate member of AFC at the 20th AFC Congress in 2002. Their international debut came in March 2003 when they participated in the qualifying campaign for the 2004 AFC Asian Cup in China. Given their history, it was no surprise that they crashed out with defeats against the likes of Sri Lanka and Chinese Taipei. They entered the regional competition for the first time in 2004 as they played in the ASEAN Football Federation Championship as an invited member. They finished in last place, showing that they had a long way to go before they could compete even on the regional stage.
They again had no success in the qualifying round of the 2007 AFF Championship, with four heavy losses, including a 7–0 trouncing by the Philippines. In the third qualifying round for the 2008 AFF Championship, they surprisingly drew against Cambodia; this feat was reported in international news.
In the ninth AFF Suzuki Cup, the country's football federation reportedly selected their foreign based players, who played in Brazil, Portugal, Australia and elsewhere, to fortify the team as they also did at the 2011 SEA Games.
On 5 October 2012, Timor-Leste won their first international match in a 5–1 victory against Cambodia. On 9 October 2012, the team won another match against Laos at AFF Suzuki Cup qualifier. Murilo de Almeida score the penalty at 43 minutes of the first half of the match. Later Adelino Trindade extended the Timorese advantage with a header early in the second half and then Alan Leandro added the third goal on the 83rd minute. After winning the second match against Laos, Emerson Alcântara stated "This is a win for the people of Timor Leste. They had to wait a long time for our team to win their first match in this competition but now we have two wins and this was an important victory for Timor Leste. "I think that about 70 percent of people in Timor Leste are poor so it is very important to get this result for them because they love football and the people can get confidence and take pride in this result. It is very important for us to motivate our people and to help to change their lives."
In 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification of Asian zone, Timor-Leste wrote history for being the first country to win 4–1 over Mongolia.

Naturalised players controversy

Since 2012 several Brazilian-born footballers, who are not of East Timorese descent and had not necessarily played in the East Timorese League, were expressly naturalised to raise the level of "Sol Nascente".
The country's recent history of naturalizing foreign players, mainly from Brazil such as Murilo de Almeida, Fellipe Bertoldo, and Diogo Santos Rangel has been criticized by many, including native East Timorese players and fans.
In a match on 8 October 2015 against Palestine seven of the starting eleven for the Timorese line-up were naturalized Brazilians. Following the match the Palestinian Football Association made a complaint to FIFA stating that the naturalized Timorese players were not eligible to represent Timor-Leste under FIFA rules.
Following a concern from some Timorese who complained to the prime minister, the prosecutor general and the minister for justice regarding the naturalisation program, Timor Leste Football Federation decided to drop their oversea-born legion. It meant Timor Leste would be without seven naturalised Brazilian players for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 AFC Asian Cup joint qualifiers match against United Arab Emirates on 12 November 2015. In that match coach Fernando Alcântara played an all national line up including six who were under twenty, including Ervino Soares who was 16. Timor Leste ended up losing the match 8–0. Alcântara took responsibility for the defeat although he also added that he had been forced to play such an inexperienced line-up by the FFTL.
The next match, Timor-Leste did even worse, suffering a record 0–10 home defeat to a strong Saudi Arabia side, who eventually qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Jesse Pinto, an Australian-Timorese footballer, told reporters that the FFTL gives Brazilian players Timorese passports so that they can be registered as "Asian" players and meet the quotas of teams. Pinto also added that the FFTL often takes advantage of players from poor backgrounds, but that it often did not meet its promises of allowing players to travel back to Brazil to meet their families.
In December 2016, the FFTL was charged with using forged and falsified documents, fielding ineligible players and bringing the game into disrepute.
A decision was made on the 20 January 2017 that Timor-Leste is barred from participating in the qualification tournament for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup after being found to have fielded a total of twelve ineligible players in 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification matches and among other competitions.

Kits

Kit Manufacturers

The team's kit manufacturer was Kubba Sportswear from June 2014 to February 2017.
Since 2018, the kits are made by Narrow, an Indonesian apparel. The home kit is red shirts, black shorts, and red socks, with black as a secondary color. The away kit all white. From 2008 to 2010, their away kits were yellow but at 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup qualification, the away kits changed back into all whites. Their kits were made by Nike in 2012. Previous kit makers include mitre, Joma, Nike and Tiger.

Stadium

Timor Leste's home stadium is the East Timor National Stadium in Dili. The stadium capacity is 5,000. The first official match played in the stadium was a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Mongolia on 12 March 2015.

Competition records

World Cup record

Lusofonia Games

Asian Cup record

AFC Challenge Cup record

2006 – Was originally selected to take part, but was then replaced
2008 – Was selected to take part, but withdrew
AFC Solidarity Cup record

AFF Championship

Finals Records Only
AFF Championship Cup qualification history

Results and fixtures

2019

International match records

As of 11 June 2019

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Conf.
	8	2	0	6	12	19	−7	AFC
	8	1	2	5	16	21	−5	AFC
	4	0	0	4	3	10	−7	AFC
	2	0	0	2	3	11	−8	AFC
	4	0	0	4	1	14	−13	AFC
	7	1	0	6	9	18	−9	AFC
	7	0	1	6	3	25	−18	AFC
	2	2	0	0	5	1	+4	AFC
	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	AFC
	3	0	1	2	1	7	−6	AFC
	2	0	1	1	1	8	−7	AFC
	6	1	0	5	4	18	−14	AFC
	2	0	0	2	0	17	−17	AFC
	1	0	0	1	1	6	−5	AFC
	1	0	0	1	2	3	−1	AFC
	2	0	0	2	0	15	−15	AFC
	2	0	0	2	0	9	−9	AFC
Total	64	7	6	51	65	206	−131

Players

Current Squad

The following players were call-up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC First Round matches against Malaysia on 7 and 11 June 2019.
Caps and goals are correct as of 11 June 2019, after the match against.

Previous squads

As of match against on 11 June 2019.

#	Player	Goals	Caps	Goals average	Years
1.	Rufino Gama	7	18	0.39	2016–
2.	Murilo de Almeida	6	7	0.85	2012–2014
3.	Quito	4	15	0.27	2010–2016
3.	Anggisu Barbosa	4	30	0.13	2008–
5.	Alan Leandro	3	4	0.75	2012–2014
5.	Adelio Maria Costa	3	5	0.6	2005–2007
5.	Ary	3	18	0.17	2004–2012
5.	Ade	3	24	0.125	2010–
5.	Henrique Cruz	3	25	0.12	2015–
10.	João Pedro	2	8	0.25	2017–
10.	Patrick Fabiano	2	8	0.25	2014–2016
10.	Silveiro Garcia	2	12	0.17	2016–
10.	Ramon Saro	2	12	0.17	2012–2016
10.	João Kik	2	13	0.15	2003–2011

#	Player	Caps	Goals	Years
1.	Anggisu Barbosa	30	4	2008–
2.	Henrique Cruz	25	3	2015–
3.	Ade	24	3	2010–
3.	José Fonseca	24	0	2010–
5.	Nataniel Reis	22	1	2014–
6.	Ramos Maxanches	19	0	2012–
6.	Filipe	19	0	2015–
7.	Ary	18	3	2004–2012
7.	Rufino Gama	18	7	2016–
9.	Ebi	16	0	2007–2016
9.	Diogo Rangel	16	0	2012–2016
11.	Quito	15	4	2010–2016
11.	Boavida Olegario	15	0	2010–
11.	Avigmas	15	1	2016–
11.	Victor	15	0	2015–
15.	Adi	14	0	2003–2016
15.	Eric	14	0	2003–2011
15.	Alfredo Esteves	14	1	2004–2008

#	Player	Age	Debut date	Opponent	Tournament
1.	Ade		21 November 2010		Friendly Match
2.	Anggisu Barbosa		19 October 2008		2008 AFF Suzuki Cup qualification
3.	Nelson Sing		21 November 2010		Friendly Match
4.	Olegario		21 November 2010		Friendly Match
5.	Gumario		4 December 2017		2017 CTFA International Tournament
6.	José Fonseca		21 November 2010		Friendly Match
7.	Nelson		29 May 2016		Friendly Match
8.	Adi		21 March 2003		2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification
=	Efrem Almeida		21 November 2010		Friendly Match
10.	Ervino		12 November 2015		2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Current Staff

Position	Name
Manager	Gaspar Quintao da Silva
Assistant Manager	Jose Carlos da Fonseca
Head Coach	Norio Tsukitate
Assistant Coach	Eduardo Pereira
Goalkeeping Coach	Juliao Monteiro
Physiotherapist	Richa Arun Kulkarni
Media Officer	Zelfa Beatvi Borges Soares
Administrator	Frederico Pereira Martins
Official	Joao Pedro Ribeiro
Kitman	Mateus de Oliveira Soares

List of Coaches