The Laos national football team ( lo, ທິມຊາດ ບານເຕະ ແຫ່ງຊາດ ລາວ; french: Équipe du Laos de football) is the men's national

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

team that represents the

Lao People's Democratic Republic Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist s ...

. It is affiliated with the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly ...

(AFC) and the regional

ASEAN Football Federation The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) is an organisation within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and is an international governing body of association football in Southeast Asia. It consists of the federations of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia ...

(AFF).

History

Laos established their national football association in 1951. The South East Asian nation is still waiting to make its entrance into a major international competition. Laos have never qualified for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

and as an international side, their appearances have been restricted to regional tournaments such as the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

and the

AFF Suzuki Cup The ASEAN Football Federation Championship (less formally the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup for sponsorship reason, is the primary association football tournament organized by the ASEAN Footbal ...

. After years of internal strife, Laos focused on economic and political recovery. With the country achieving political stability, football has made an impact on Laotians. Since making their appearance at the

1995 Southeast Asian Games The 1995 Southeast Asian Games ( th, กีฬาแห่งเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ 1995, Kila haeng echeiy tawan oak cheing tai 1995), officially known as the 18th Southeast Asian Games, was a Southe ...

, Laos has competed in the ASEAN Football Championship (formerly known as the Tiger Cup). Although new to the regional tournaments, Laos has displayed passion and talent. In 1995, they beat

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by th ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and two years later in the Jakarta SEA Games, they also beat

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

. Domestic competitions are also active with over 60 clubs competing at various levels. Domestic football is amateur although most of the top teams are drawn from government ministries and public services. In the qualifying preliminary rounds for the

2004 Asian Cup The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. The defending champi ...

, they beat

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

2–1. In the Asian zone qualifiers for the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, they qualified for the

second round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

as a lucky loser after

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

and

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

both withdrew from the competition, but proceeded to lose all its games (with

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

). They also advanced to the

of the Asian qualifiers for the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

, after defeating

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...

8–6 on aggregate. In the second round, they lost to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

13–3 on aggregate. Laos has defeated their much more established counterparts such as Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and Malaysia. Laos' first appearance in a continental tournament was in 2014, when they played at the

2014 Challenge Cup The 2014 Challenge Cup (also known as the Tetley's Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 113th staging of the rugby league tournament. The defending champions Wigan Warriors were knocked out in the quarter finals 4 - 16 at home to the C ...

. In 2017, the

AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...

announced it had been investigating the Laos national team, as well as football club

Lao Toyota FC FC Chanthabouly, previously known as Lao Toyota F.C. for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football club based in Vientiane, Laos, competing in the Lao League 1. History FC Chanthabouly was founded in 2013 as Lao Toyota F.C. by Toyot ...

, since 2014 on suspicions of

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

. As a result, many players and officials were banned for life, 15 of which were banned all at once. The players receiving the bans included star players

Khampheng Sayavutthi Khampheng Sayavutthi (ຄໍາແພງ ໄຊຍະວຸດທິ; born 19 July 1986 in Vientiane), is a Laotian former football player who played for the Laos national team. In Laos' first ever game at the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, Sayavutth ...

and

Maitee Hatsady Maitee Hatsady (born as Maitee Sihalart on 10 June 1998 and simply known by his first name) is a Laotian footballer who played as an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder. He was banned for life from all football-related activitie ...

, goalkeeper Vathana Keodouangdeth and former captain

Saynakhonevieng Phommapanya Saynakhonevieng Phommapanya (born 28 October 1987 in Vientiane) is a Laotian professional footballer. He played for Vientiane FC Vientiane Capital F.C. was a Laotian professional football club based in Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ...

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2022

Coaching staff

Coaching history

Players

Current squad

The following players were selected for the

2022 AFF Championship The 2022 AFF Championship (officially AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022 due to sponsorship reasons) was the 14th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and was the 1 ...

and for the

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against Thailand U-23.

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Laos squad within the last twelve months.

Records

:''Players in bold are still active with Laos.''

Most appearances

Top goalscorers

Competition records

World Cup

Asian Cup

Asian Games

AFC Challenge Cup

AFC Solidarity Cup record

ASEAN Championship

''This competition was formerly known as the

Tiger Cup The ASEAN Football Federation Championship (less formally the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup for sponsorship reason, is the primary association football tournament organized by the ASEAN Footbal ...

Head-to-head record

''Last match updated was against on 27 September 2022'' ^{^} Includes the result of and

Honours

* AFC Solidarity Cup ** Third place (1): 2016

Kit suppliers

References

External links

Laos
at FIFA.com
Laos Football Fanclub

Lao Football's Forum
* Laos 2012/1

at FIFA.com {{Football head to head Laos national football team, Asian national association football teams