Timor Leste

Early history (2003–2017)

Football was established in East Timor during the Portuguese colonial era, when many of the locals and the Portuguese officials played amateur football. After Portugal ended its colonial rule, Indonesia invaded and occupied the island, East Timor eventually gained independence from Indonesia in 2002, which resulted in a long running battle against Jakarta-led forces.

The East Timor Football Federation was accepted as an associate member of AFC at the 20th AFC Congress in 2002. Their international debut came in March 2003 when they participated in the 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification campaign for the 2004 AFC Asian Cup in China. Given their history, it was no surprise that they crashed out with defeats against the likes of Sri Lanka and Chinese Taipei. They then entered the regional competition for the first time in 2004 as they played in the 2004 AFF Championship as an invited member. They finished in last place, showing that they had a long way to go before they could compete even on the regional stage.

They again had no success in the 2007 AFF Championship qualification, with four heavy losses, including a 7–0 trouncing by the Philippines. The following year in the 2008 AFF Championship qualification, Timor-Leste surprisingly drew against Cambodia; this feat was reported in international news.

First win

In the 2012 AFF Championship qualification, the country's football federation (FFTL) reportedly selected their foreign based players, who played in Brazil, Portugal, Australia and elsewhere, to fortify the team as they also did at the 2011 SEA Games.

On 5 October 2012, Timor-Leste won their first international match in a 5–1 victory against Cambodia with goals coming from Murilo de Almeida who scored a brace, Adelino Trindade and Alan Leandro. On 9 October 2012, the team won another match against Laos in the qualification round as Murilo de Almeida scored a penalty at 43' minutes of the first half of the match. Later Adelino Trindade extended the Timorese advantage with a header early in the second half and then Alan Leandro added the third goal on the 83rd minute. After winning the second match against Laos, head coach Emerson Alcântara stated "This is a win for the people of East Timor. They had to wait a long time for our team to win their first match in this competition but now we have two wins and this was an important victory for Timor-Leste. "I think that about 70 percent of people in Timor Leste are poor so it is very important to get this result for them because they love football and the people can get confidence and take pride in this result. It is very important for us to motivate our people and to help to change their lives." With a win needed in the final fixture, Timor-Leste subsequently lost to Brunei 2–1 and finished in third place in the group, one point away from runners-up of the group, Laos as they went on to qualify for the 2012 AFF Championship. In the 2014 AFF Championship qualification, Timor-Leste secured a victory against Brunei winning them 4–2 in the process. In the next match, they caused an upset to Myanmar on 14 October 2014 which ended up in a goalless draw but that wasn't enough as Timor-Leste didn't make it to the 2014 AFC Championship.

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round

Timor-Leste then participated in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification first round facing Mongolia where on 12 March 2015, they secured their first ever win against a country outside of Southeast Asia in a 4–1 win at the National Stadium of East Timor. In the second leg, Timor-Leste travelled to Ulaanbaatar where they won 1–0 putting them on an aggregate of 5–2 seeing them advancing to the second round however on 12 December 2017, FIFA awarded both matches 3–0 to Mongolia due to Timor-Leste fielding numerous ineligible players. However, this was long after the Second round had been played, so Timor-Leste advanced and Mongolia were not reinstated. Timor-Leste were then grouped with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Palestine and Malaysia in Group A. On 11 June 2015, Ramon Saro scored in the 90+3' minute stoppage time which cause a huge upsets to Malaysia in a 1–1 draw at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium which Timor-Leste got their first ever point in the campaign. On 8 October 2015 while playing at home, Ramon Saro break the deadlock as they lead against Palestine however in the dying minute of the match, Ahmad Abu Nahyeh equalise for Palestine in 1–1 draw as it gains media attention from the Southeast Asia region. However, Timor-Leste has to forfeited five of their group matches due to fielding numerous ineligible players. Since their last match against Saudi Arabia on 17 November 2015, Timor-Leste has been playing their home match overboard as their National Stadium of East Timor in Dili failed to meet FIFA standards which also see them finishing at the bottom of the table. During the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification match, Timor-Leste played their home match at the Tan Sri Dato Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium in Johor Bahru playing against Malaysia.

Timor-Leste then participated in the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup held in Kuching where they snatched a goalless draw against Nepal. They were also invited to the 2017 CTFA International Tournament where in the match against the Philippines, Silveiro Garcia scored the only goal in the match as Timor-Leste gains a win in the tournament.

Back-to-back AFF Championship tournament (2018–present)

Timor-Leste then qualified to the 2018 AFF Championship for the first time in 14 years winning the 2018 AFF Championship qualification against Brunei on an aggregate of 3–2. They will play their designated "home" match against Thailand at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, while their home tie against the Philippines will be played at the Kuala Lumpur Stadium in Malaysia due to the incomplete floodlighting of the National Stadium of East Timor. Timor-Leste then qualified to the 2020 AFF Championship automatically after the withdrawal of Brunei in the qualification play-off.