The 2014 Bhutan National League was the third season of national football competition in Bhutan, having replaced the

A-Division (Bhutan) The Bhutan Super League, previously known as the Thimphu League and Bhutan A-Division, was the men's football league in Bhutan. Until 2012, it was the lone national top division. Between 2013 and 2020, it was played as the second division and th ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. Again, the A-Division provided the qualifiers, with the top four teams in that competition being awarded places in the National League alongside regional teams. The league was sponsored by Coca-Cola.

Druk United Druk United FC was a Bhutanese football club from Thimphu and based at the Changlimithang Stadium, which played in the Bhutan Premier League, the top division of Bhutanese football. History 2002 to 2012 Druk United's first recorded instan ...

won the Championship on goal difference from Ugyen Academy and, as a result of the abolition of the AFC President's Cup, will be the first team from Bhutan to take part in the

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

A-Division

The 2014 season started on 8 March 2014 and ended on 4 May 2014. Druk United won the A-Division and were joined in the National League by Thimpu City, Druk Pol and Druk Star.

League table

Results

National League

This season, the federation increased the prize money from Nu 400,000 to 700,000 for the winners. First runners up would be given Nu 400,000, up by 200,000 from last year and the second runners up would be awarded Nu 200,000, double from last year’s prize. No place is awarded to the team finishing in first place this season for the AFC President's Cup. This is because

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

is the final edition of the cup to be held. Instead, the six teams which qualify for the 2014 AFC President's Cup final stage will enter the

2015 AFC Cup Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album ...

play-offs, and from 2015 onwards, centralized qualifiers will determine six teams which enter the AFC Cup play-offs. Since Ugyen Academy lost all three of their games in the 2014 competition, there will be no Bhutanese representative in the

until at least 2016. The national league has struggled to attract spectators though, with only around fifty people attending matches, even when top teams are involved. This is in contrast to prior years when large crowds would come to

Changlimithang Changlimithang Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Thimphu Thimphu (; dz, ཐིམ་ཕུག ) is the capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's ...

even for inter-school tournaments and this downturn in spectator numbers has been attributed to the widespread availability of foreign leagues on television providing a much greater level of entertainment. Additionally, difficulties in obtaining visa's for foreign players to play in the National League inhibit its attraction to local spectators. Thimphu City attempted to bring a player in from the

English Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

, but were unable to do so because of visa issues.

Teams

A total of six teams competed in the league: four teams representing

Thimphu Thimphu (; dz, ཐིམ་ཕུག ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's ''dzongkhags'', the Thimphu District. The ancient ...

, who qualified as a result of their final positions in the 2014 A-Division, and two teams representing other districts. * Bhutan Clearing (representing Chukha District) * Druk Pol (third place in the 2014 A-Division) * Druk Star (fourth place in the 2014 A-Division) *

(winners of the 2014 A-Division) * Thimphu City (runners-up in the 2014 A-Division) * Ugyen Academy (representing

Punakha District Punakha District ( Dzongkha: སྤུ་ན་ཁ་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: ''Spu-na-kha rdzong-khag'') is one of the 20 dzongkhags (districts) comprising Bhutan. It is bordered by Thimphu, Gasa, and Wangdue Phodrang Districts. The do ...

)

League table

Results

A number of the results above are disputed. Druk United v Thimphu City was also reported as a 5–0 win for Druk United, not 4–0. Druk Pol were reported to have beaten Bhutan Clearing 6–1, not 6–0. The match between Druk United and Bhutan Clearing may have finished 4–0 to Druk United, not 4–1. Some reports indicate that Thimphu City in fact scored two goals in their away match against Ugyen Academy and lost 4–2 not 4–0 and Bhutan Clearing have been reported as losing 5–1 not 5–0 in their home fixture against Druk United.

References

{{2014 in Asian Football (AFC) Bhutan National League seasons

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...