Football in Myanmar

Football was introduced to Myanmar, then named Burma, by the British colonialists in the 1880s, when explorer James George Scott organised a match between the British and the Burmese in Lanmadaw Township.{{cite web |url=https://www.myanmore.com/2020/02/did-you-know-there-was-a-golden-age-of-myanmar-soccer/ |title=Did you know there was a golden age of Myanmar soccer? |author= Christian Gilberti |website=www.myanmor.org |date=10 February 2020 |publisher=MyanMore |access-date=2022-08-12}} Football quickly became extremely popular across the country. So much so, that by the 1920s, Burmese started to spread the sport across East Asia. U Kyaw Din, a Burmese born in 1900, wrote one of the earliest books about the sport and promoted it so successfully in Japan that he became a member of the Japanese Football hall of fame posthumously in 2007.

In September 1926, the reportedly first women's football match was organised to raise funds for a charity.{{cite news |author= |title=First Ladies' Football Match In The East. |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19260914-1.2.58 |work=The Straits Times |date=1926-09-14 |access-date=2022-08-12}}

The highest men's football league is the Myanmar National League. The second division is called the MNL-2. The highest women's football league in the country is the Myanmar Women League.

• Kyaukse Premier League
• Manaw League
• Minbu League
• Yangon Premier League
• Pyinmana League

{{main|Myanmar national football team}}

The Myanmar national team used to be among the top teams in Asia until the early 1970s. They won five consecutive editions of the Southeast Asian Games between 1965 and 1973 and the Asian Games in 1966 and 1970.{{Cite web |date=6 Apr 2023 |title=Myanmar's football journey: From the streets of Yangon to international success |url=https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/myanmars-football-journey-from-the-streets-of-yangon-to-international-success |website=FIFA}} In 1968, the team finished runners-up at the AFC Asian Cup, only losing to Iran in the final.{{Cite web |date=6 Apr 2023 |title=Remembering Myanmar's Golden Age of football: The story of the White Angels |url=https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/remembering-myanmars-golden-age-of-football-the-story-of-the-white-angels |website=FIFA}} Most notably, the Burmese national team, as it was called at the time, finished 9th at the 1972 Olympics in Munich after beating Sudan 2:0 and losing just 0:1 to later Bronze medalist Soviet Union. They did win the Fair Play Award at the Games.{{cite web |url=https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/after-40-years-of-pain-hope-for-myanmar-football |title=After 40 years of pain, hope for Myanmar football |author= |website=www.sportskeeda.com |date=22 November 2012 |publisher=Sportskeeda via AFP |access-date=2022-08-12}} The national team never qualified for a FIFA World Cup.

{{main|Myanmar women's national football team}}

The national team is one of the most successful in South East Asia, sitting in the third place of the All-Time Table of the AFF Women's Championship, which they won twice (2004 and 2007). They qualified for the AFC Women's Asian Cup on five occasions, missing only three tournaments, but never made it past the group stages.

{{main|List of football clubs in Myanmar}}

There are many football clubs in Myanmar, including a few professional clubs and a large number of amateur ones. Each state and division also has its own team organized by the respective local governments. In addition, several football teams were operated under various ministries of the Myanmar government. The state and division teams are still active, while the ministry teams competed from 1996 to 2009 in the Myanmar Premier League—also known as the Myanmar League—before it transitioned to a professional competition, now known as the Myanmar National League.

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• Lists of stadiums

{{Reflist}}

• [https://the-mff.org Myanmar Football Federation]

{{Football in Myanmar}}

{{Football in Asia}}

Category:Football in Myanmar