Thimphu City Football Club is a

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

ese professional

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 ...

club based in

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 ...

that competes 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 ...

, the top level of

football in Bhutan 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 ...

. Founded in 2012, they qualified for the

inaugural In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

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 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. They also have a

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

section.

History

The club was founded in 2012 as formal successor of Zimdra FC, which first recorded involvement in top-flight football in Bhutan in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, when they finished as runners-up to eventual winners Yeedzin in a truncated season consisting of a single round-robin set of matches in anticipation of the commencement of a new

Bhutan National 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 ...

. The following season was also reasonably successful. Zimdra again finished as runners-up in the A-Division, this time being beaten to the title by Drukpol, despite beating Drukpol in the final game of the season. During that campaign, they went through the whole competition unbeaten, dropping points only in a draw with Drukpol and two draws with Yeedzin. In finishing second in the A-Division, they qualified for the inaugural

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

, though did not fare quite so well in this competition, finishing fifth out of six competing teams, winning five and drawing one of their ten games. Zimdra kept the name in various veteran tournaments. For a third season in a row, Thimphu City, as senior team had now been renamed, finished as runners-up in the A-Division, winning five and drawing one of their eight games, but finishing five points behind champions Yeedzin. they performed better than the previous season in the National League finishing in third place, comfortably ahead of Drukpol, with five wins and three draws from their eight games, but three points behind champions Ugyen Academy. Prior to 2013, Thimphu City had been in a difficult financial situation. Owner Hishey Tshering was spending a lot of his own money at the time, paying salaries and covering school fees for younger players in a football league where no money is generated from gate receipts and sponsorship is thin on the ground. A friend of Tshering's and some other private sponsors contributed money so that the club was able to pay between 20 and 40 thousand

Ngultrum The ngultrum ( or ; , , ; symbol: Nu., code: BTN) is the currency of the Kingdom of Bhutan. It is subdivided into 100 chhertum (, , ; spelled as ''chetrums'' on coins until 1979). The Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan, the central bank of Bh ...

to its players. At the halfway point of the 2014 season, Thimphu looked like they might finally be able to go that step further and claim a first A-Division title, as they led by three points from Drukpol with five wins and a draw from six matches, dropping points only against

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 ...

. However, they slipped up in the penultimate round of matches, losing 5–1 to

Druk United Druk United Football Club was a Bhutanese football club based in Thimphu that competed in the Bhutan Premier League, the top division of Bhutanese football. They played their home games at the Changlimithang Stadium. History 2002 to 2012 ...

. Thimphu had played all their matches and led the league by a point. However, that loss to Druk United meant they were now only a point behind with a game still to play. Druk United thumped Druk Star 8–3 in this final game to take the A-Division title and consign Thimphu to a fourth-straight second place, though they could take consolation in the fact that they had again qualified for the National League. Thimphu City enjoyed a strong start to the 2014 National League season, leading the league at the halfway point, having dropped points only in an opening-day 4–0 defeat to eventual winners Druk United. The second half of the season was less successful. Although they achieved a season-high victory 16–0 against bottom-placed Bhutan Clearing, they only won one other game and slipped to a final position of third, behind Druk United and Ugyen Academy.

Honours

* Thimphu League/A-Division **Winners:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

**Runners-up:

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 ...

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 ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

* Bhutan National/Premier League **Winners:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

**Runners-up:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, 2023 *BFF President's Cup **Runners-up:

*National Futsal League **Winners: 2016, 2018

Continental record

All results list Thimphu City's goal tally first.

References

External links

* {{Thimphu League Football clubs in Bhutan 2012 establishments in Bhutan Association football clubs established in 2012 Sport in Thimphu