Biren Basnet (born 20 October 1994) is a Bhutanese professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, currently playing as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Thimphu City in the

Bhutan Premier League 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 ...

, and the

Bhutan national football team The Bhutan national football team () represents Bhutan in men's international Association football, football. The team is controlled by the governing body for football in Bhutan, the Bhutan Football Federation, which is a member of the Asian F ...

Club career

Basnet began his career at

Druk Star Druk Stars Football Club, sometimes referred to as Druk Star, was a Bhutanese association football, football club from Thimphu. The team have won the national championship twice and competed in the Thimphu League, A-Division from 2002, when they ...

, though given that they were not relegated from the A-Division in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

but did not partake in the 2011 season, it is unclear what level of football he was playing. He moved from

Thimphu Thimphu (; ) is the capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's '' dzongkhags'', the Thimphu District. The ancient capital city of Punakha was replac ...

to Ugyen Academy in

Punakha Punakha () is the administrative centre of Punakha dzongkhag, one of the 20 districts of Bhutan. Punakha was the capital of Bhutan and the seat of government until 1955, when the capital was moved to Thimphu. It is about 72 km away from Thim ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and won the National League in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. Following the national title, he played in the

2014 AFC President's Cup The 2014 AFC President's Cup was the tenth edition of the AFC President's Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "emerging countries" in Asia, and the final edition under the AFC President's ...

, taking part in the 1–0 loss to Sri Lanka's

Air Force SC Air Force Sports Club is a Sri Lankan professional football club based in Colombo, that competes in the top-tier competition Sri Lanka Super League. The team is under the patronage of the Sri Lanka Air Force. Honours *Sri Lanka Football Premier ...

, the 3–0 loss to Pakistan's KRL F.C. and the 4–0 loss to Bangladesh's

Sheikh Russel KC Sheikh Russel KC ( Bengali: শেখ রাসেল ক্রীড়া চক্র) is a professional football club based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Founded in 1995, the club currently competes in the Bangladesh Premier League. They won Feder ...

International career

He made his first appearance for the Bhutan national football team in 2012, in the 5–0 friendly defeat to

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. He next played for Bhutan in their 3–0 loss to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

in the

2013 SAFF Championship The 2013 South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly referred to as 2013 SAFF Championship, was the 10th SAFF Championship for List of men's national association football teams#AFC (Asia), men's national football teams organized by the ...

group stage. He was also an unused substitute in the other two group matches, the 8–2 loss to the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

and the 5–2 loss to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list the Bhutan's goal tally first.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basnet, Biran Bhutanese men's footballers Bhutan men's international footballers Bhutanese people of Nepalese descent Living people 1994 births Men's association football midfielders Thimphu City FC players Bhutan Premier League players Bhutanese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in India Bhutanese expatriate sportspeople in India