The Timor-Leste national Under-23 football team (also known as Timor-Leste U-23 or Seleção U-23) represents the

Timor-Leste East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

in international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

competitions in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

and any other under-23 international football tournaments. It is controlled by the

Federação de Futebol de Timor-Leste The East Timor Football Federation ( pt, Federação de Futebol de Timor-Leste - FFTL) is the governing body of football in East Timor. In 2016 Timor-Leste run their own league under supervision of and Secretary of State for Youth and Sport. ...

, the governing body of football in the country. Timor Leste is currently one of the weakest teams in the world. They won their first match on 5 November 2011 against

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

, scoring 2–1.Brunei U23 Vs East Timor U23 Result , World Sportsholic
/ref>

History

Football was firstly introduced during

Portuguese Timor Portuguese Timor ( pt, Timor Português) was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the ...

era where many local and the Portuguese colonial official played the sport for enjoyment. After the Portuguese leave the eastern part of the island of

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is East Timor–Indonesia border, divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western p ...

, neighbouring Indonesia

invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

and change their culture and identity. East Timor gained full independence in 2002 after more than 20 years of occupation which resulted in a long running battle against

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

-led forces. The Timor-Leste U-23 team was invited to the

2005 AFF U-23 Youth Championship The 2005 AFF U-23 Youth Championship was the first ever edition of the AFF U-23 Youth Championship, organised by ASEAN Football Federation. The tournament was held from 29 August to 7 September in Bangkok, Thailand. This tournament was also known ...

without any success, which is the first time that the team played in an international tournament. In 2009, the team entered the first

. Once again, they lost every match, including a 0–11 loss to

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Timor-Leste had major improvements at the

2011 SEA Games The 2011 Southeast Asian Games, ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia Tenggara 2011) officially known as the 26th Southeast Asian Games, or the 26th SEA Games, and commonly known as Jakarta-Palembang 2011, was a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held from ...

, when they used overseas players of Timorese descent from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. These players contributed a lot to their successful run; especially from Murilo de Almeida who managed to score three goals. The team finished third in their group by recording their first win in their history, finishing above Laos, Brunei and the Philippines and had a goal difference of –4, which was a big improvement compared to their previous participation where the team finished last in their group with no wins from four games, scoring only once and having a goal difference of –28.

Kits

Timor-Leste's traditional home kit includes a red shirt, black shorts and red or black socks. The away kits feature white or yellow shirts. At the 2009 SEA Games, their home kit resemble the one worn by the Belgium national team.

Kit evolution

Stadium

* East Timor National Stadium (2002–present)

Competitive record

Olympic Games

Asian Games Record

''(Under-23 Team since 2002)''

AFC U-23 Asian Cup Record

SEA Games Record

''(Under-23 Team since 2001)''

AFF U-23 Youth Championship record

Coaching staff

Players

Current squad

* The following players were selected for the 2021 SEA Games.

Recent results

31st Southeast Asian Games

List of coaches

References

External links

Profile at FIFA.com

Profile at the-AFC.com

Profile at AFF Site
{{National sports teams of East Timor u23 Asian national under-23 association football teams