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Dasho Ugen Tsechup has been elected as Vice President of AFC. Congratulations Dasho. History has been made for Bhutan football federation and Bhutan. Tashi Delek la.

—The Third Title Success In The Last Four Seasons. The dramatic 2-1 win over Thimphu City FC in the final game for both teams sealed the title for Paro FC. The defending champions Paro FC defended their title after crushing title contender Thimphu City FC in a 2–1 victory. At the end of the season we have seen the Champions finish five points ahead of second-place Thimphu City FC at the grueling battle for supremacy. Paro FC has lifted three BoB Bhutan Premier League titles, while the citizens have won the title once in the last four years. Paro FC have once again shown remarkable consistency this term, with the squad being regularly rotated throughout the season and every player contributing significantly to the success. Winning this year’s title marks Puspalal Sharma’s third major trophy after joining the Tigers. He also begged for the President’s Coach of the Year award in this season’s BoB Bhutan Premier League. “It’s definitely a proud moment for us because you know the life of a coach is cyclical. You win the title today, and tomorrow you start working. So now that 2023 has already started, we definitely have to participate in the AFC, which will happen on August 11 as per the calendar. It’s a great feeling, a moment of celebration, and I am already having to think about our participation to better represent our country at a greater level and with a better performance.” Puspalal Sharma. Paro FC had exceptional form this season, continuing a trend seen over the past four campaigns. In the 68 Bhutan Premier League matches the Tigers have played during the last 4 years, they have won 55 matches, taken 187 points (at an average of 2.61 points per game), and scored a remarkable 270 goals (at an average of 3.97 goals per game). The Tigers have also conceded the fewest goals and boasted the best goal difference during that period. This season, Paro FC are unbeaten and accumulated 48 points at the end of the season with 15 wins and three draws. They are only the team who have scored the most goals and conceded a single digit goal in the entire season. Their super striker, the Japanese international of Paro FC Kazuo Homma, won the golden boot award and was named the most valuable player of the season after helping Paro FC clinch their third title in four years. He scored 34 goals in his debut season. The golden glove was awarded to the goalkeeper of Thimphu City FC, “Yuya Kuriyama,” for his effortless saves and heroics in keeping the Citizens as a title contender till the last match of the season. On the other hand, the young emerging player was awarded to the pacey striker of Ugyen Academy FC, Mr. Santa Kumar Limbu.

Paro Women’s FC are the champions of the Kelme Women’s National League, 2022 after nailing RTC WFC at Changlimithang Stadium on New Year’s Day. The Tigress took on the newcomer, RTC WFC in their title decider match on a much colder evening at Changlimithang Stadium. It was a must-win match for the tigress to clinch the trophy. RTC WFC, on the other hand, have improved in the second leg of the league, drawing all of their games against big teams and winning from the bottom tables. The champions didn’t take it easy, as they scored an early goal through Tshering Yangden right after 2 minutes of kickoff. Although it was a quiet evening at Changlimithang Stadium, both teams came close a few times. However, the top scorer of the tigress, “Yeshi Bidha” scored in the 20th minute to double the lead, and Karma Wangmo scored in the dying minutes of the first half to go three up at the break. In the opening of the second half, the head coach of RTC WFC brought on a double substitution to create a compact midfield area and a compact defense line. The second half was more of a midfield battle for both teams as they attempted to build the game in that area. However, Sonam Lhamo sealed the game in the 60th minute of the actual game time from close range In the post-match press conference, the head coach of Paro Women’s FC, Ms. Tandin Bidha, stated that the team is overjoyed to be the champions and that they have been waiting for this moment quite so long. She eventually looked forward to this game because RTC WFC are a good team with lots of quality players in their squad, and it was the title decider match for them. When asked about the performance of the team, she stated that the girls were energetic; they gave 100% in the match, and she also did some homework regarding the tactics of the RTC WFC head coach, and it worked well. On the other hand, the head coach of RTC WFC, Mr. Kinley Tobden stated that they made some blunders in the opening minutes that caused them a lot of trouble, giving the opponent confidence and motivation, and after they conceded two to three goals, they lost their composure. He also stated that they had limited time to prepare for the match because they had back-to-back matches. Paro WFC had a bright season with 13 wins and 1 loss from 14 matches, scoring 93 goals along the way and conceding 11 goals with 2 matches to go. The Tigress’ only loss came at Ugyen Academy Ground at the hands of Ugyen Academy WFC on a single goal from Sunita Rai in the 19th minute. However, they are going to face off again in the final match of the Kelme Women’s National League on January 15, 2023, at Woochu Sports Arena.   In the top scoring chart, Tshering Yangden tops the chart with 56 goals in 14 games for Ugyen Academy WFC, followed by Yeshi Bidha of the Paro WFC with 27 goals and Sonam Wangmo of RTC WFC with 22 goals. Paro WFC are crowned the champions of the Kelme Women’s National League, 2022, with two games in hand, while the defending champions Thimphu Women’s FC are behind with 33 points with one game left, followed by Ugyen Academy WFC, BFF Academy Girls, and RTC WFC.

The winner and Runner up of BoB Bhutan Premier League, 2021 will meet again in the clash of title deciders at Changlimithang Stadium on 5th January 2023. Match Update The final match of the year 2022 between FC Takin and Tensung FC went in favor of Tensung FC from the brace of Tshering Tashi in the second half, a towering header from the caption Sonam Phuntsho and an own goal from the captain of FC Takin in the opening half without a reply from the home team in the whole game. Although both teams couldn’t reach the top 5 spots, they gave their best to earn 3 points. FC Takin dominated the possession of the game, the team lacked in the final third with nine shots in total and hit the target just four times in the whole 90 min. In the post match press conference, the head coach of FC Takin stated that he is happy and the boys are happy because they gave 100%, so even if they lose, they get satisfaction. Every player on the pitch did very well, and he is satisfied with today’s performance against Tensung FC. When asked about the goals that the team conceded, he stated that he has a very limited number of players, and after an hour on the pitch, the players get injured and tired, and he doesn’t have many substitutions on the bench.   Mr. Namgay, the head coach of Tensung FC, on the other hand, stated that he is very pleased with his team’s performance and happy to take home three points.However, he also stated that in the first half the boys lost focus and were taking the opponents very lightly, which nearly led to a goal conceded, but overall they fought well and he is happy. Tensung FC is eighth in the standings, one point behind BFF Academy with two games remaining, while FC Takin is below them with two wins in 17 games. FC Takin will face RTC FC in their final match of the season. Top 5 dreams for Transport United FC and Ugyen Academy FC RTC FC, a newcomer to the BoB Bhutan Premier League 2022, has escaped relegation after defeating the BFF Academy. The pacy attacker Karma Sonam handed them the crucial goal in the 87th minute to take the lead after a silent second half at Changlimithang Stadium. Out of the five newcomers from the BPL qualifiers, RTC FC is the only team that has secured a top-5 spot with a game in hand.   The President Cup champion Transport United FC had a rough campaign this season, losing to all the big teams and drawing against the Citizens, and the Top 5 dream seemed impossible if Ugyen Academy FC had won against BFF Academy and FC Takin. The Mighty, on the other hand, were dealt a cruel blow when BFF Academy and FC Takin snatched 3 points from them, dropping 6 points in two points. The Mighties will play against Paro Rinpung FC in their final match of the season. It’s a must-win game for the mightiest to have some hope of being in the top 5. However, their hopes will lie in the hands of Druk Lhayul FC and Tensung FC. On the other hand, Transport United FC has two games in hand. They need a point or a win in their final two games to make the top five. BoB Bhutan Premier League Title Deciders Match Paro FC still tops the points table after their title decider collapsed at Changlimithang Stadium against Druk Lhayul FC. while Thimphu City FC are a point behind them. The winner and runner-up of the BoB Bhutan Premier League in 2021 will meet again in the clash for the title decider at Changlimithang Stadium on 5th January 2023. Both teams are unbeaten this season. In their last 5 clashes between the two, the Citizens have won 2 matches in the 2020 season, at home and away, with score lines of 4 – 2 and 3-4. They were, however, inseparable in the 2021 season and the 2022 first leg, drawing all three times with a goal each. For Paro FC to defend the title, either a draw or a win will leave them with their hands on the BoB Bhutan Premier League title. However, it’s a must-win game for the citizens not to repeat the history of 2021.

For the tender documents please visit Bhutan Football Federation office at Changlimithang Stadium from 9th – 15th December and 18th -21st December, 2022. THE LAST DATE OF SUBMISSION OF THE TENDER DOCUMENT IS ON 22ND DECEMCER, 2022.

The FIFA/Bhutan Football Federation Women’s Coaches Fitness Workshop kicked off on 21st November and ended on 24th November, 2022 which was held at Changjiji Football Ground. A three-day workshop is led by the FIFA consultant Mark Arnot. The workshop is part of the coach capacity building support from FIFA under the League Development project in their women’s development programs under the LD Project for building the capacity of coaches. A total of 23 participants attended the workshop who were the head coaches of the women’s clubs in the country and academy coaches of Thimphu and Gelephu. The workshop focused on women’s health, attitude, the importance of player profiling and long term athlete development. This workshop also laid the foundation for the coaches to further explore various fitness training specific to football in the country. “Fitness is an important competent and likewise it would benefit our coaches in taking the women’s game further ahead. Overall, the workshop was really great. It was very thorough for a 3-day workshop. We learned so much but also had fun.”- Physiotherapist, Gelephu Girl’s Academy “It was an absolute privilege to work with the Bhutanese coaches over the last 3 days at theFIFA workshop. We focused on some key areas, including player profiling, women’s health and the ltad model. The coaches passion for women’s football was evident in their questioning and commitment to the workshop.” – Mark Arnot, FIFA Consultant “In collaboration with the Coach of Education division, we felt that our coaches could benefit immensely from gaining insights into fitness training specific to football.We are very content with the knowledge we gained from the workshop. We must now make sure that we implement what we have gained from the workshop. I was really proud and happy to see our male counterparts take immense interest in the women’s health topic. If I am not wrong, this workshop was the first time the topic was ever discussed in coach education. It was nice to see they were very comfortable discussing the topic.” – Pema C. Tshering This workshop is the first time ever in Bhutan that the coaches were introduced to Women’s Health and its relation to athlete’s performance of which this new knowledge and understanding can only help improve the women’s game. The workshop ended with the distribution of certificates and most of the participants looking forward to a similar workshop in the future.

The Bhutan Football Federation (BFF) has embarked on a very ambitious social responsibility program ”Bridging the gap ”. BFF is reaching out to 5 most remote school Lingzi LSS, Soe ECR , Nimtola PS, Gatena PS and Barshong ECR in the country with disadvantaged youths and schools deprived of windows of opportunity and cohesion of developed competitiveness. Some schools do not have access to road and they have to walk for almost 1 days from the nearest road point to reach the school. And then to reach the capital where the program will be hosted, it will take almost 5 to 6 days of journey by bus and other means of travel. BFF believe that it is part of our core mission to utilize our role in society and, through football, change the lives of disadvantaged groups in society for the better. The main objective of the program are integration, education and development, experience , motivation and fun learning. To help disadvantaged children increase their football and communications skills in a safe and fun environment that is tailored to their special needs. Bhutan Football Federation  will be working closely with 5 most remote school in the country where we tie up with individual school to organize football coaching, grass root program, tailored made football tournaments and support with logistic, football equipment’s and planned events. This will be first of its kind program ever to be conducted by the Bhutan Football Federation, crossing the boundary to reach out to those young talented players. #bhutanff #bffsocialresponsibility #HomeOfHappiness