Myanmar National Football Team - History

History

Burma sent players to the Philippines in 1954 Asian Games and captured a bronze medal, behind Taiwan (gold) and South Korea (silver); this fact marked the beginning of the golden age. On the other hand, the nation was not expected to contend for a medal in the Olympic-type Asian Games. In the meantime, this delegation became the first male Burmese team to win a continental medal. But this was only the beginning. Then, against all odds, the team of Burma bettered their 1954 effort by winning the gold medal in the Asian Games, which were held at Bangkok in the mid-1960s. In that tournament, Burma beat Iran in the gold-medal game.

The 1966 Asian Games gold medal winning squad established itself as one of the two best teams in the region as it finished as runner-up to Iran at the 1968 Asian Cup. After claiming silver in 1968, the men's soccer team had a strong performance in the early 1970s as it won the right to compete in the 1972 Summer Olympics, which were held at Munich (West Germany), upon being one of the three finalists in the Asian tournament. Despite losing almost all their matches, the Burmese players captured the Fair Play Award. The following year, the nation earned its fifth consecutive Southeast Asian Games gold medal at Singapore City (Kuala Lumpur'65, Bangkok'67, Rangoon'69, and Kuala Lumpur '71).

Three years before that, the national team wrote perhaps their most important chapter: they captured the continental title for the second time in a row, after the Burmese Olympic Committee sent footballers to Thailand for the 1970 Asian Games. Burma thus became the second soccer squad to win the Asian tournament twice. Certainly, they were declared national heroes in Rangoon, then capital of Myanmar, with their second consecutive gold medal in men's soccer.

During this golden era, Myanmar produced many talented footballers. One of them is Suk Bahadur who is now considered as the greatest burmese footballer of all times for his outstanding contribution to burmese football.

Over the following years, due in large part to several problems in the country, the national side was not able to successfully defend its Asian title. Despite all the work that had been done by the national squads in the period 1954-1973, sadly Burma does not appear to emerge from its nightmare.