Bhutan

I've always had a soft spot for the Bhutan football team. Ever since their appearance in The Other Final in 2002 I've kept an out of for their progress. For those that don't know the story, on the same day as the 2002 World Cup Final between Brazil and Germany a friendly was played between the two bottom ranked sides in FIFA. At the time Bhutan and Montserrat occupied the bottom two places. Bhutan came out of the match 4-0 winners and recorded their first win since joinging FIFA in 2000. Since then Bhutan have gone on to thrash Guam 6-0 in 2003 and knock Afghanistan out of the 2008 South Asian Championships. It has to be remembered that Bhutan were only at the bottom of the rankings because of  their lack of history.

Unfortunately Bhutan are one of four teams who will not be competing to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Due to the size of Asia the distances involved for countries the size of Bhutan it is extrememly hard to justify the cost. In my opinion they need to organise a one off qualifying tournament involving the smaller nations along the same lines as the South pacific games in the OFC region. 

Bhutan - Away -2010

When I started out this project to collect a shirt from every nation I never imgained that I would be able to get hold of a Bhutan shirt. Fortunately I was put in contact with a very helpful former national team player. He went out of his way to help me, and I'm exetremely grateful.

Not only did I get the shorts included, but I also got a collection of postcards showing off the beautiful Bhutanese landscape.