Tibet national football team

Tibet national football team
Nickname(s)	The Forbiddens
Association	TNFA
Confederation	ConIFA
Head coach	Penpa Tsering
Most caps	Tsering Wangchuk
Top scorer	Tashi Samphel (5)
First colours	Second colours
First international
	Tibet 1–4 Greenland ; (Copenhagen, Denmark; 30 June 2001)
Biggest win
	Tibet 12–2 Western Sahara ; (Marseille, France; 28 June 2013)
Biggest defeat
	Tibet 0–22 Provence ; (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 represents the cultural region of Tibet in non-FIFA international tournaments, and is organised by the Tibetan National Football Association (TNFA), an organization of exiled Tibetans. Its current team manager is Kelsang Dhondup.

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 first Tibet team, c. 1936

The Forbidden Team

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

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

After a month had passed, the team flew to Denmark for their first international game, which was organized by Michael Nybrandt. He was also advocating Tibet when the Chinese government raised their cause for concern. China 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 on 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.^[2]

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 and they suffered their biggest defeat. 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 selection will finish the competition in fifth place.

2018 ConIFA World Football Cup

For the first time in its history the Tibetan selection participates in the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup by qualifying with the wild card.^[3]

Current squad

The following players were called up to the squad for the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup in London.^[4]

Head Coach: Penpa Tsering

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Tenzin Samdup	23 December 1992	7	0	Real Kashmir
21	GK	Sangye Gyatso	6 May 1987	2	0

23	DF	Dawa Tashi	16 April 1987	6	0	Unattached
3	DF	Tenzin Bhakdo	5 August 1996	3	1	DYSA Mundgod
5	DF	Gelek Wangchuk	15 September 1992	3	0	Unattached
13	DF	Tenzingh Dhondhen	13 December 1994	2	1	Unattached
15	DF	Tenzin Gelek	10 May 1989	2	0	Unattached
8	DF	Tenzin Dhondup	17 September 1986	0	0	Shillong United
18		Tenzin Yougyal	12 August 1993	5	2	CSV Bochum
19	DF	Tenzin Choepak	7 January 1996	0	0	Unattached

6	MF	BK Narayan	25 November 1991	7	0	Unattached
14	MF	Karma Tsewang	10 January 1988	2	1	Unattached
4	MF	Tenzin Loedup	21 December 1991	2	0	Unattached
2	MF	Thupten Tsering	17 January 1994	0	0	Unattached
12	MF	Kelsang Lungkara	9 May 1995	0	0	George Brown Huskies
17	MF	Ruden Tshering Tashi Dorjee Bhutia	12 November 1991	0	0	Unattached

11	FW	Kalsang Topgyal	24 December 1996	3	1	Gulladhalla FC
7	FW	Tsering Chomphel	18 November 1991	2	0	Unattached
9	FW	Pema Lhundup	11 February 1996	2	0	Gangtok FC
10	FW	Tenzin Thardoe	15 March 1998	2	0	TDL FC
22	FW	Tenzin Tsering	16 November 1995	2	0	Rabgayling FC
20	FW	Tashi Samphel	6 May 1987	1	5	Gangtok FC
16	FW	Tenzin Norbu Tekhang	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