The Myanmar Football Federation ( MFF; ) is the governing body of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. The MFF oversees the Burmese men's national team, the women's national team, and youth national teams as well as national football championships and professional club competitions. Headquater of MFF

History

Reportedly introduced during the British colonial era by James George Scott, a British colonial administrator, football has been the most popular sport in the country. The Burma Football Federation was founded in 1947, a year before the country's independence from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The BFF joined

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

in 1952, and the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

in 1954.

The federation launched the first States and Divisions Football Championship in 1952. The highly popular annual competition became the main avenue for attracting talented players from around the country. This rudimentary level of talent development seemed sufficient for a while. Burma was a top Asian football power, along with

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, in the 1960s and early 1970s, winning two

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

tournaments (1966, 1970) and then unprecedented five South East Asian Games tournaments (1965–1973) as well as coming in second in the 1968

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the contin ...

tournament. During a ten-year span between 1961 and 1970, Burma thoroughly dominated the U-19/U-20 Asian Cup, reaching the finals nine times and winning the tournament seven times. Starting from the mid-1970s, the country's football success—a source of much national pride—also declined rapidly, along with the country's precipitous economic decline. (Aside from a few regional tournament wins, the Burmese men's national team has not won any major football competition since 1973.) The federation did (or could do) little to promote development of football, nor nurture the talent through professional league competitions. Until 1996, the country's main football league consisted of

Yangon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

-based clubs run by government ministries and known for corruption. Although private football clubs were allowed to join the Myanmar Premier League in 1996, the league still did not attract much following by Burmese public. In December 2008, the MFF announced the formation a new national professional league, the Myanmar National League, which will start its first full season in 2010. In accordance with FIFA regulations, the MFF reportedly became an independent organization, free of government control, in March 2009.

Competitions run by the MFF

* Myanmar National League * MNL-2 * MNL-2 Promotion Amateur Club Tournament * General Aung San Shield * MNL Cup * Myanmar U21/20 Youth League * Myanmar U17 Youth League * Myanmar U15 Youth League *

Myanmar Women League The Women's League (WL) () is a Myanmar professional league for women's association football, football clubs. At the top of the Myanmar Football Federation, Myanmar football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contest ...

* MFF Futsal League I * MFF Futsal League II * MFF Futsal Championship * MFF U-19 Youth Futsal League * MFF U-16 Youth Futsal League * MFF Women's Futsal League * MFF Women's Futsal Championship

Programmes

The MFF has launched the FIFA Football for Schools project with the support of the FIFA Foundation on 31 January 2020. The event, hosted by MFF President Zaw Zaw, was attended by the State Counsellor H. E.

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Myanmar), Ministe ...

, Union Minister for the Health and Sports Dr. Myint Htwe, Union Minister for Education Dr. Myo Thein Gyi, FIFA Foundation CEO Youri Djorkaeff, together with guests, presidents and secretaries from local township football associations.

Association staff

References

External links

Official website

Soccer Myanmar Website

Myanmar National League

at the FIFA website.

at AFC site {{AFC associations Football in Myanmar

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...