Tibet national football team

Tibet

Nickname(s)	The Forbiddens
Association	Tibetan National Football Association
Confederation	CONIFA
Head coach	Penpa Tsering
Most caps	Tenzin Samdup BK Narayan (7)
Top scorer	Tashi Samphel (5)
First colours Second colours
First international
Unofficial Shanghai 4–1 Tibet (China; unknown date 1956) Official Greenland 4–1 Tibet (Copenhagen, Denmark; 30 June 2001)
Biggest win
Tibet 12–2 Western Sahara (Marseille, France; 28 June 2013)
Biggest defeat
Provence 22–0 Tibet (Marseille, France; 23 June 2013)
CONIFA World Football Cup
Appearances	1 (first in 2018)
Best result	12th, 2018

The Tibet national football team is a football team that represents the cultural region of Tibet in non-FIFA international tournaments, and is organised by the Tibetan National Football Association (TNFA), an organisation of exiled Tibetans.

Many of the players are in exile and are represented by the Tibetan Government in Exile. The team is part of neither FIFA nor the AFC and does not participate in international tournaments. The TNFA was founded in 2001 and its goal is to gain an official status.

History

The Forbidden Team

The first Tibet team, c. 1936

The first international game against a non-Asian team was versus Greenland, which took place in Denmark. The team was followed by a documentary film crew during the process of forming the team, practicing, playing the match, and events in between. The documentary was titled 'The Forbidden Team'. To form the team, a selective tournament was held in Dehradun, India, featuring all the various Tibetan football teams around India.

After the team was selected, Team Tibet headed to Dharamsala to begin practice sessions. Jens Espense was hired by the Tibetan Football Association to coach the team for the match. He had only a month to get the players conditioned and ready to play, despite the team not yet playing at even a minor league level. Moreover, the pitch was in poor condition and only half of it could be used, as it was located on a public road. During practice, Karma Nyodup was working to complete all documentation for the flight to Greenland. A number of players were subsequently dropped due to improper travel documents.

After a month, the team flew to Denmark for their first international game, which was organised by Michael Nybrandt. He was also advocating Tibet at a time when the Chinese government had made it clear that they did not want this match to happen as they believed Tibet belonged to China. It threatened to cut off all its trade with Denmark if the match went ahead as planned. Denmark however, did not back down and allowed the game to take place. On 30 June 2001 the Tibetan National Football Team played its first international match where it lost 1– 4 against Greenland.

FIFI Wild Cup (Hamburg, Germany) and ELF Cup (Northern Cyprus)

The 2006 FIFI Wild Cup took place in Hamburg, Germany. The first match they played was against St. Pauli on 30 May 2006. They lost this game 7–0. The second and final match of Tibet in this tournament was against Gibraltar on 31 May 2006. They lost this game 5–0. During the ELF Cup Tibet did not win any games. The first game was against Tajikistan on 19 November 2006 where they lost 3–0. On 20 November, Tibet played the Crimean Tatars, which they lost 1–0. Finally, on 21 November the biggest loss came when Tibet played Northern Cyprus, who beat them 10–0.

International Tournament of Peoples, Cultures and Tribes

From 22 to 29 June 2013, Tibet was invited to Marseille in France to participate in the first edition of the International Tournament of Peoples, Cultures and Tribes.

The Tibetan team finished the competition in fifth place.

2018 ConIFA World Football Cup

For the first time in its history, the Tibetan selection participated in the ConIFA World Football Cup in 2018 by qualifying with the wild card.

Current squad

The following players were called up to the squad for the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup in London.

Head Coach: Penpa Tsering

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Tenzin Samdup	(1992-12-23) 23 December 1992	7	0	Kenkre
21	1GK	Sangye Gyatso	(1987-05-06) 6 May 1987	2	0	German Football Academy
23	2DF	Dawa Tashi	(1987-04-16) 16 April 1987	6	0	Unattached
3	2DF	Tenzin Bhakdo	(1996-08-05) 5 August 1996	3	1	DYSA Mundgod
5	2DF	Gelek Wangchuk	(1992-09-15) 15 September 1992	3	0	Unattached
13	2DF	Tenzingh Dhondhen	(1994-12-13) 13 December 1994	2	1	Unattached
15	2DF	Tenzin Gelek	(1989-05-10) 10 May 1989	2	0	Unattached
8	2DF	Tenzin Dhondup	(1986-09-17) 17 September 1986	0	0	Shillong United
18	2DF	Tenzin Yougyal	(1993-08-12) 12 August 1993	5	2	CSV Bochum
19	2DF	Tenzin Choepak	(1996-01-07) 7 January 1996	0	0	Unattached
6	3MF	BK Narayan	(1991-11-25) 25 November 1991	7	0	Unattached
14	3MF	Karma Tsewang	(1988-01-10) 10 January 1988	2	1	Unattached
4	3MF	Tenzin Loedup	(1991-12-21) 21 December 1991	2	0	Unattached
2	3MF	Thupten Tsering	(1994-01-17) 17 January 1994	0	0	Unattached
12	3MF	Kelsang Lungkara	(1995-05-09) 9 May 1995	0	0	George Brown Huskies
17	3MF	Ruden Tshering Tashi Dorjee Bhutia	(1991-11-12) 12 November 1991	0	0	Unattached
11	4FW	Kalsang Topgyal	(1996-12-24) 24 December 1996	3	1	Gulladhalla FC
7	4FW	Tsering Chomphel	(1991-11-18) 18 November 1991	2	0	Unattached
9	4FW	Pema Lhundup	(1996-02-11) 11 February 1996	2	0	Gangtok FC
10	4FW	Tenzin Thardoe	(1998-03-15) 15 March 1998	2	0	TDL FC
22	4FW	Tenzin Tsering	(1995-11-16) 16 November 1995	2	0	Rabgayling FC
20	4FW	Tashi Samphel	(1987-05-06) 6 May 1987	1	5	Gangtok FC
16	4FW	Tenzin Norbu Tekhang	(1996-06-13) 13 June 1996	0	0	Dhondupling FC

Selected internationals

Date	Venue	Opponent	Competition	Result
28 June 2013	Marseille, France	Western Sahara	International Tournament of Peoples, Cultures and Tribes	12–2
24 June 2013	Marseille, France	Provence	International Tournament of Peoples, Cultures and Tribes	0–22
23 June 2013	Marseille, France	Quebec	International Tournament of Peoples, Cultures and Tribes	0–21
7 May 2008	Milan	Padania		2–13
19 April 2008	Breda, North Brabant	JEKA Breda		1–1
17 April 2008	Maassluis, South Holland	VDL-Maassluis		0–5
2 November 2007	Paljor Stadium, Gangtok, Sikkim	Bhutan		0–3
31 October 2007	Paljor Stadium, Gangtok, Sikkim	Bhutan		2–2
4 August 2007	Kirori Mal College, New Delhi	Delhi XI		6–0
21 November 2006	Dr. Fazil Kucuk Stadium, Famagusta	Northern Cyprus	ELF Cup 2006	0–10
20 November 2006	Zafer Stadium, Güzelyurt	Crimea	ELF Cup 2006	0–1
19 November 2006	Zafer Stadium, Güzelyurt	Tajikistan (futsal team)	ELF Cup 2006	0–3
30 May 2006	Millerntor-Stadion, Hamburg	FC St. Pauli	2006 FIFI Wild Cup	0–7
31 May 2006	Millerntor-Stadion, Hamburg	Gibraltar	2006 FIFI Wild Cup	0–5
10 October 2003	Paljor Stadium, Gangtok, Sikkim	Sikkim		1–2
14 July 2001	Germany	Monaco		1–2
30 Jun 2001	Copenhagen, Denmark	Greenland		1–4

General Secretaries of the TNFA

Name	period
Kelsang Dhondup	2001–2017
Passang Dorjee	2017–In progress

Honours

• ANFA Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 1985

External links

• Official website (TNFA)
• Official website (ConIFA)