Full name | Thimphu Football Club |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Thunderbolts [1] |
Dissolved | 2019 |
Ground | Changlimithang Stadium |
Capacity | 15,000 |
Thimphu Football Club was a football club from Bhutan, based at the Changlimithang Stadium.
The club finished in a qualifying position during the 2001 season [2] and were then drawn in Group A along with Paro and Drukpol. [2] They managed a win against Paro and then drew with Drukpol to top the group and qualified for the semifinals. [2] Although they lost to Samtse in the semifinals, they beat Drukpol in the third place final to finish third overall. [2] Thimpu also participated in 2002, although their final position is not known. [3] The only known result involving Thimpu is a 5–1 victory over Drukpol. [3] In 2015, Thimphu became the first Bhutanese club to hire a foreign coach when they hired Fabio Lopez. However, the Italian coach resigned from the club without coaching a single game due to difficulty in adjusting to change in life style from his native Italy. The two foreign players signed under coach Lopez remained in the squad for the 2015 season. [4]
The Bhutan Super League, previously known as the Thimphu League and Bhutan A-Division, was the men's football league in Bhutan. Until 2012, it was the lone national top division. Between 2013 and 2020, it was played as the second division and the qualifier for the Bhutan Premier League.
Transport United Football Club is a Bhutanese professional football club based in Thimphu that competes in the Bhutan Premier League, the top level of Bhutanese football. The club was founded in 2001 and plays at the Changlimithang Stadium. Transport United has won five national championships, and was a dominant force in Bhutanese football throughout much of the first decade of the 21st century.
The 2001 season of the Bhutanese A-Division was the seventh recorded season of top-flight football in Bhutan. The league was won by Druk Star, their first title and the first time a Bhutanese team other than Druk Pol had won in the last six years. The league was preceded by a qualifying tournament known as the Thimpu League. Qualifiers from this league joined other teams in a round robin group stage to determine the four teams who would proceed to the knock out stage.
Yeedzin Football Club was a football club from Thimphu, Bhutan. Founded in 2002, they were promoted from the B-Division to the A-Division in the same year. They won their first A-Division title in 2008 and have won a total of four A-Division championships. They also qualified for the National League in 2012 and 2013, winning the inaugural national competition in 2012. They have been Bhutan's representative in the AFC President's Cup on four occasions, and lost all of their twelve games played in the competition with a goal difference of –75.
Druk Stars FC, sometimes referred to as Druk Star FC, was a Bhutanese football club from Thimphu. The team have won the national championship twice and competed in the A-Division from 2002, when they won their first title, through to 2010, having won a second title in 2009. They were absent from the A-Division in 2011, but played and won the 2012 B-Division. Returning to the top flight, they qualified for the National League for the first time in 2014. In addition to their two A-Division and one B-Division title, they have also represented Bhutan in the AFC President's Cup in 2010.
Drukpol FC, sometimes referred to as Druk Pol FC, was a football club from Thimphu, Bhutan. Until 1996, the team was called Royal Bhutan Police FC. Drukpol FC has won the A-Division championship a record eight times, more than any other team in Bhutan. The team's home ground was Changlimithang Stadium.
Football is a sport with a comparatively brief history in Bhutan, having had an initial period of favour in the mid-twentieth century, when it was first introduced to the country by visiting teachers from India and Europe. It has only achieved significantly renewed popularity in the early 2000s, following the advent of satellite television broadcasting, with historically national sport being archery. Consequently, the domestic game was underdeveloped. After the establishment of an initial league in the late 1980s, little in the way of recorded competition took place until the mid-1990s when a formal championship, the A-Division, was created. Football became the most popular sport in Bhutan.
Thimphu City FC is a Bhutanese professional football club based in Thimphu that competes in the Bhutan Premier League, the top level of football in Bhutan. Founded in 2012, they qualified for the inaugural Bhutan National League in the same year. Formerly known as Zimdra FC, the club was refounded as Thimphu City FC in 2012 and again qualified for the 2013 Bhutan National League, finishing second behind eventual winners Yeedzin. They have won the Thimphu League and the first National League title in 2016. They also have a futsal section.
Hemlal Bhattrai is a Bhutanese international footballer who plays for Thimphu City in the Bhutan A-Division. He made his first appearance for the Bhutan national football team in 2013.
Dzongree Football Club is a professional football club from Thimphu, Bhutan. They finished as the runners-up of the A-Division in 2003, but have spent most of their history either in mid-table in the A-Division or playing in the B-Division.
Royal Bhutan Army Football Club was a Bhutanese professional football club based in Thimphu, that competed in the A Division. They won the inaugural season of top-flight football in Bhutan and competed regularly in the A-Division between 2002 and 2009 when they withdrew halfway through the season. They were, as the name suggests, the football team of the Royal Bhutan Army, which later joined Tensung FC.
The 2012–13 Bhutan National League was the first season of the Bhutan National League. It was organized by the Bhutan Football Federation and sponsored by Coca-Cola. The National League replaced the A-Division as the country's premier football competition and would provide Bhutan's entrant to the 2013 AFC President's Cup. the A-Division continues as a football competition, but is now merely a qualifying round for Thimpu-based teams. The top three teams in the A-Division progressed to the national league where they were joined by three other teams representing other districts within Bhutan. The A-Division was won by Druk Pol, but were beaten to the national title by fellow A-Division competitors Yeedzin who won the inaugural competition, their fifth top flight title overall.
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Gomtu was a football club from Gomtu, Bhutan, based at Changlimithang, who played in the Bhutan A-Division, then the top level of football in Bhutan, but since replaced by a full national league.
Rigzhung Football Club was a football club from Thimphu, Bhutan, based at Changlimithang. Having won the B-Division in 2002, they spent a number of seasons struggling in the A-Division and regularly finished bottom or second from bottom only to gain a reprieve whether through relegation playoffs or because there was no relegation that season. After several years, they were finally sent down to the B-Division, where they were last recorded playing in 2013.
Druk United FC was a Bhutanese football club from Thimphu and based at the Changlimithang Stadium, which played in the Bhutan Premier League, the top division of Bhutanese football.
The Bhutan Premier League, currently known as the Bank of Bhutan Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the men's highest division of professional football in Bhutan. It also provides Bhutan's entrant for continental competition, the AFC Cup.
Bhutan Clearing were an Association football club from Phuentsholing, Bhutan, which competed in the Bhutan National League, the top flight of football in Bhutan.
Druk Athletic was a football club from Thimphu, Bhutan, that competed in the A-Division, the highest level of football in Bhutan. They originally competed in the second tier of football, but eventually won promotion to the A-Division, there they remained for a number of seasons, although they almost perennially struggled against relegation, before finally succumbing in 2011.
The 2019 Bhutan Premier League was the eighth season of unified league, rebranded as the Bhutan Premier League, the top national football competition in Bhutan, having replaced the A-Division in 2013.