Tibet national football team

National men's association football team representing Tibet

The Tibet national football team is a football team that represents the cultural region of Tibet in non FIFA international tournaments, and is organized by the Tibetan National Football Association (TNFA), an organization of exiled Tibetans. Many of the players are in exile and represent 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.

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 or 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 its first international game, which was organized by Michael Nybrandt. He was also advocating for Tibet at a time when the Chinese government officials had made it clear that they did not want this match to happen as they believed Tibet belonged to China. They threatened to cut off all of China's trade with Denmark if the match went ahead as planned. Denmark, despite all of this, allowed the game to take place. And on June 30, 2001, the Tibetan National Football Team played its first international match in which it lost 1– 4 against Greenland.

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 and lost the game 5–0. During the ELF Cup Tibet played three games, the first game was against Tajikistan on 19, November 2006 in which they lost 3–0. And on the 20th of November, Tibet played the Crimean Tatars, and lost 1–0. In their final match, Tibet played Northern Cyprus, and lost 10–0.

During 2013, Tibet was invited to Marseille, France from June 22 to June 29 in order to take part in the inaugural World Tournament of Peoples, Cultures, and Tribes. The Tibetan team came in fifth place when the competition was over.

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.

Tibet participated in the CONIFA Asia Cup in 2023. They lost 5 4 to Hmong FF in their first match, and then lost 3 1 to Tamil Eelam in their next match, which would get them eliminated. However, they qualified for the CONIFA World Cup 2024.

DateVenueOpponentCompetitionResult 28 June 2013 Marseille, France International Tournament of Peoples, Cultures and Tribes 12–2 24 June 2013 Marseille, France International Tournament of Peoples, Cultures and Tribes 0–22 23 June 2013 Marseille, France International Tournament of Peoples, Cultures and Tribes 0–21 7 May 2008 Milan 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 0–3 31 October 2007 Paljor Stadium, Gangtok, Sikkim 2–2 4 August 2007 Kirori Mal College, New Delhi Delhi XI 6–0 21 November 2006 Dr. Fazil Kucuk Stadium, Famagusta ELF Cup 2006 0–10 20 November 2006 Zafer Stadium, Güzelyurt ELF Cup 2006 0–1 19 November 2006 Zafer Stadium, Güzelyurt (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 2006 FIFI Wild Cup 0–5 10 October 2003 Paljor Stadium, Gangtok, Sikkim Sikkim 1–2