The Bhutan women's national football team represents Bhutan in international women's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. The team is controlled by the governing body for

football in Bhutan Football is a sport with a comparatively brief history in Bhutan, having had an initial period of favour in the mid-twentieth century, when it was first introduced to the country by visiting teachers from India and Europe. It has only achieved ...

, the

Bhutan Football Federation The Bhutan Football Federation (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་རྐང་རིལ་ཚོགས་སྡེ) is the governing body of football in Bhutan, controlling Bhutan national football team, Bhutan women's national football team and Bhutan ...

, which is currently a member of the

Asian Football Federation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation (A ...

and the regional body the

South Asian Football Federation South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) is an association of the football playing nations in South Asia. Incorporated in 1997, it is a regional subsidiary of Asian Football Confederation. The members of the association are Bangladesh, Bhutan, A ...

. Bhutan play their home games at the national stadium, Changlimithang. It is one of the younger national teams in the world having played its first match in 2010.

History

Introduction to Bhutanese Football

Bhutanese football in general came to the international stage comparatively late in the day with the men's national team only playing their first competitive international match in 1982 and the only junior team to compete internationally, the Under-17s making their debut in 2003. The women's team did not enter any form of international competition until 2010. Prior to their entry into international football, a formal women's competition was established in Bhutan for the first time, supported by a grant from

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

and run by the

. Because of the very under-developed state of women's football in Bhutan at this time, club teams did not exist and so the tournament consisted of teams representing individual

Dzongkhag The Kingdom of Bhutan is divided into 20 districts (Dzongkha: ). Bhutan is located between the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and India on the eastern slopes of the Himalayas in South Asia. are the primary subdivisions of Bhutan. They pos ...

s. This competition was used not only to increase the popularity of football amongst women in the country, but also to act as means of identifying and coaching players who would form the first ever Bhutan women's national football squad.

Competitive debut

Their first ever competitive game was a friendly match against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

on 6 December 2010 as a warm up for their appearance at the inaugural SAFF Women's Championships a week later. Unfortunately, their debut was one to forget as, having travelled to

Cox's Bazar Cox's Bazar (; ; ) is a city, fishing port, tourism centre, and Cox's Bazar District, district headquarters in south-eastern Bangladesh. Cox's Bazar Beach, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bangladesh, is the longest uninterrupte ...

where all of the group matches were scheduled to take place, they succumbed 7–0 to their hosts. Their competition proper got off to an even worse start as they lost 18–0 to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, one of the strongest teams in the region. Bangladesh then repeated their performance in the pre-competition friendly running out 9–0 victors and eliminating Bhutan from the competition. The team were able to salvage some pride in their final game, drawing 1–1 with

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, which marks their only positive result of any kind as well as their first competitive goal (one of two times they have scored a goal in a competitive match). Their performance at the SAFF Championships saw them gain 889 ranking points. Although they were at this stage only provisionally ranked in 127th and last place as they had not played the required number of five competitive matches against officially ranked teams, their performance saw them achieve a higher points total than four other provisionally ranked teams: the

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. Had they been officially ranked, their points tally would have placed them in 122nd place ahead of ranked nations

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda is a Sovereign state, sovereign archipelagic country composed of Antigua, Barbuda, and List of islands of Antigua and Barbuda, numerous other small islands. Antigua and Barbuda has a total area of 440 km2 (170 sq mi), ...

and

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

Withdrawal and return to international football

The women's team then withdrew from international football for the next two years, re-emerging to play in the

2012 SAFF Women's Championship The 2012 SAFF Women's Championship is the 2nd SAFF Women's Championship since the first one in 2010. The competition is contested by the eight South Asian women football teams. India defended their 2010 title by defeating Nepal 3–1 in the final ...

. Prior to the tournament in Sri Lanka, the team of twenty five, including two referees and physiotherapists, but with the playing squad consisting entirely of students, flew to

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

for two weeks training to get accustomed to warmer weather. They entered the tournament provisionally ranked 34th out of 35 in the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

, with only

ranked below them, and unranked on the global listing because they had been inactive for more than eighteen months. At this point, with their points total of 889, they had a higher technical rating than twelve teams who were either unranked due to inactivity or provisionally ranked in last place due to insufficient competition and had more ranking points than five officially ranked teams:

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

, Antigua and Barbuda and Botswana. The team travelled to

to play their fixtures at the Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club Grounds and were drawn in a group with the same teams as the previous edition of the tournament. Sri Lanka took advantage of their status as hosts in the first match, beating Bhutan 4–0, taking the lead after just four minutes through Nilushika Kumari, with Praveena Perera wrapping up the scoring at the end of the game following two goals either side of half time from Erandi Kumudumala. Bhutan performed better in their next game, a narrow 1–0 loss to Bangladesh, but this eliminated them from the tournament. Their final match against India was very one-sided, though not as great a defeat as last time, India still ran out victors 11–0 sending Bhutan home without a point or a goal.

Rankings, performance, and current status

Having now played the required five games against already ranked teams, Bhutan received their first official ranking position: 128th, ahead of Antigua and Barbuda and Botswana. Bhutan have not played a competitive match since the 2014 SAFF Championships, but due to movements around them, did climb to a high ranking of 115th in December 2013. Bhutan took part in the

2014 SAFF Women's Championship The 2014 SAFF Women's Championship was an association football tournament for women's national teams organised by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). It was the third edition of the tournament since the first one in 2010. The competition ...

in Pakistan, losing all three games, including a 4–1 loss to host

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in which Tshering Yangdon scored just the second official goal in the team's history. On 24 October 2024, Bhutan trashed

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

with the score of 13-0,which record their biggest victory ever in the history.

Team image

Home stadium

The Bhutan women's national football team plays their home matches on the

Changlimithang Stadium Changlimithang Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan, which serves as the national stadium of Bhutan. It is predominantly used for association football, football matches and is the home of the Bhutan national football team, other ...

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled. ;Legend

2024

2025

Head-to-head record

''As of 3 June 2025 after match against .'': ;Key The following table shows Bhutan' all-time official international record per opponent:

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Manager history

Players

Current squad

*The following players were called up for 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗧𝗿𝗶-𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝘂𝗽 in May 2025. ''Caps and goals are updated as of 28 May 2025 after the match against

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

.''

Recent call-ups

* The following players have been called up to a Bhutan squad in the past 12 months.

Records

''Active players in bold, statistics correct as of 2020.''

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

AFC Women's Asian Cup

SAFF Women's Championship

:''*Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. Red border indicates that the tournament was hosted on home soil. Gold, silver, bronze backgrounds indicates 1st, 2nd and 3rd finishes respectively. Bold text indicates best finish in tournament.''

References

External links

* (BhutanFootball.org)
BhutaneseGalsFootball
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhutan women's national football team Bhutan women's national football team, Asian women's national association football teams