Brunei national football team

History

Early days

The national team's first appearance took place during the 1972 AFC Asian Cup qualification, where they were unable to qualify after all three heavy defeats. The following two championships (1976 and 1977) were no different from the first, with their first and second victory during the 1980 Summer Olympics. In 1979, Brunei entered a team to compete in the professional Malaysian league and despite competing against Malaysian clubs, Brunei had previously never made an impact. However, in 1999, they shocked everyone by lifting the Malaysia Cup.

Brunei became the runners-up of the Brunei Merdeka Games trophy in 1985. Since then, team was not able to qualify into or win any major tournaments. Coming the closest was the 1993 Philippines International Cup, where they came in third position after a 1–0 victory against the Philippines. Brunei was then invited for the inaugural 2006 AFC Challenge Cup held in Bangladesh being grouped with Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal. Brunei narrowly lost to Sri Lanka 1–0 before bouncing back from their defeat in the second match winning against Nepal 2–1 however with them needing the win in the last fixture, Brunei ended up in a goalless draw crashing out from the cup splitting the same points as Nepal but on goal differences.

Suspension

In September 2009, the Brunei Football Association (BAFA) was suspended due to governmental interference in its affairs, which started with a decision by the Brunei authorities to dissolve BAFA and to replace it with a new federation in December 2008. The suspension was applied with immediate effect and meant that the Brunei club DPMM were no longer permitted to play in the Singapore S.League until it was resolved. DPMM has confirmed to Football Association of Singapore (FAS) that they are unable to finish their S.League season because of the issue with its association. FIFA rejected FAS's final request on 17 October 2009 to permit DPMM to compete in the current S.League season while BAFA's suspension persisted.

On 19 March 2010, the FIFA Executive Committee agreed to submit to the next FIFA Congress the expulsion of the association if the BAFA has not been reinstated by then, after noting that no major progress had been made since the BAFA was suspended in September 2009. FIFA warned that unless BAFA came to FIFA's Congress on 9 and 10 June in South Africa having met the conditions for reinstatement it would be expelled. Brunei were re-instated on 31 May 2011 and the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) was formed that same year.

Reform

Upon returning to the football action, the Wasps were unable to qualify for both the 2012 and 2014 AFF Championship following several losses. Brunei was again defeated 2–1 in aggregate against the Chinese Taipei during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification in March 2015. The wasps failed to qualify for the 2016 AFF Championship after suffering defeats from Cambodia and Laos. Brunei was then invited to the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup where they finished in fourth place after losing 3–2 to Laos. Despite the disappointment, Shah Razen Said from the Bruneian side managed to become the tournament's top scorer, finishing with a total of 4 goals.

Timor-Leste defeated Brunei in the second leg 2018 AFF Championship qualifying match at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium on 8 September 2018, securing their spot in the 2018 AFF Championship final round group action for the first time in 14 years. Despite having a two-goal advantage from the first leg, Timor-Leste fell 1–0 but still advanced with a 3–2 aggregate score. Brunei defeated Mongolia 2–1 on 11 June 2019, but were unable to advance to the next stage of the preliminary joint qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.

Return to the AFF Championship

Under new coach Mario Rivera, Brunei managed to qualify to the 2022 AFF Championship for the first time in 26 years since its inaugural edition in 1996, by defeating Timor-Leste 6–3 on aggregate. The Wasps were grouped with Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Cambodia. They finished the group stage without gaining a single point, conceding at least 5 goals in every game with Razimie Ramlli scoring against the Philippines and Nur Ikhwan Othman scoring against Cambodia.

On 17 October 2023, Brunei returned to the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium after four years since their last match against Mongolia in 2019 for their fixture against Indonesia in the first round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification. The Wasps were beaten 0–12 on aggregate, knocking them out of the qualification in the first round.

2024 win streak

In 2024, FIFA invited Brunei to the 2024 FIFA Series held in March in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where they would face their first ever opponents outside of their confederation. On 22 March, Brunei faced off against CONCACAF opponent Bermuda but conceded two late goals, losing 2–0. Four days later, Brunei came against Vanuatu and won the match 3–2, when three minutes into stoppage time Hakeme Yazid Said's direct free kick sealed the victory against their opponents from Oceania.

Later in June of that year, Brunei invited the Sri Lanka national team to two friendly matches in the country in conjunction with the FIFA calendar. Headed by interim coach Rui Capela Batista, Brunei extended their winning form to three which is the first time in their history after captain Azwan Ali Rahman scored the only goal in both games held at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium on 8 and 11 June respectively.

The following September, Brunei registered two wins against Macau with an aggregate of 4–0 during the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification play-off round to further stretch the streak to five games and thus gaining their spot at the third qualification round of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification. The following month, they failed to qualify for the 2024 ASEAN Championship, losing to Timor-Leste 0–1 on aggregate. A friendly in Russia organised by the Russian Football Union was then held in November and resulted in a 11–0 heavy defeat, with the squad marred by an indiscipline scandal that led to several suspensions meted out to offending players.

Team image

Kit

Brunei had initially worn a predominantly yellow pattern as their home kit adorned with white or black since their inception in 1956 to represent the colours of their flags. The current kit manufacturer is Puma which was incorporated since 2024.

Home stadium

Brunei's home stadium is the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Bandar Seri Begawan. The stadium capacity is 28,000. From 2021 to 2022, Brunei used the Track & Field Sports Complex as an alternative stadium as their main stadium went for a renovation works for improvement however as the Track & Field Sports Complex does not meet the required standards, Brunei chose the Kuala Lumpur Stadium in Malaysia as their home ground for their 2022 AFF Championship matches.

Results and fixtures

Main article: Brunei national football team results

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

2025

• Fakhro
• Merheg
• Chakroun
• Haidar
• Perera
• Nazirrudin
• Chetrim
• Tshering
• Al-Matari
• Al-Gahwashi
• Al-Gahwashi
• Al-Dahi
• Masnom
• Sabara
• Fakhro
• Merheg
• Bugiel

2026

Coaching staff

Coaching history

:Caretaker coaches are listed in italics.

• SIN John Then (1959–71)
• BRU Abdul Karim Pukul & BRU Ibrahim Yahya (1971)
• SCO Duncan McDowell (1976–81)
• BRU Ibrahim Damit (1982)
• BRU Idris Damit (1983)
• URU Danny Bergara (1984)
• BRA Oscar Amaro de Silva (1985–86)
• BRU Dayem Ali (1987)
• BRU Zainuddin Kassim (1988)
• BRU Dayem Ali (1989)
• SIN Hussein Aljunied (1990–1993)
• ENG Mick Lyons (1993–95)
• AUS Bobby McLachlan (1995)
• ENG David Booth (1996–98)
• ENG Mick Jones (1998–01)
• BRU Zainuddin Kassim (2001)
• ENG Mick Lyons (2002)
• MAR Karim Bencherifa (2003–04)
• BIH Amir Alagić (2005)
• CRO Ranko Buketa (2005)
• BRU Ali Mustafa (2006)
• KOR Kwon Oh-son (2008)
• CRO Vjeran Simunić (2008–09)
• BRU Ali Mustafa (2009–11)
• BRU Dayem Ali (2011)
• KOR Kwon Oh-son (2012–13)
• CRO Vjeran Simunić (2013–14)
• SCO Steve Kean (2014)
• SIN Mike Wong (2014–16)
• KOR Kwon Oh-son (2016)
• SIN Stephen Ng (2017)
• KOR Kwon Oh-son (2018)
• NED Robbie Servais (2019)
• ENG Paul Smalley (2019–20)
• BRU Ali Mustafa (2020)
• MAS K. Rajagobal (2020–22)
• BRU Rosanan Samak (2022)
• ESP Mario Rivera (2022–24)
• POR Rui Capela (2024)
• SCO Jamie McAllister (2024)
• BRA Vinícius Eutrópio (2024–25)
• BRA Fábio Maciel (2025–)

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were called up for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification match against Lebanon on 18 November 2025.

:Information correct as of 18 November 2025, after the match against Lebanon.

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Brunei squad in the last twelve months. ;Notes

• STD = On standby
• PRE = Preliminary squad
• INJ = Injured
• RET = Retired from international duty

Player records

Competition records

FIFA World Cup

AFC Asian Cup

Asian Games

AFC Challenge Cup

AFC Solidarity Cup

ASEAN Championship

This competition was formerly known as the Tiger Cup and afterwards the AFF Championship

Head-to-head record

Honours

Friendly

• Borneo Cup (3): 1968, 1981, 1987

Awards

• ASEAN Championship Fair Play Award (1): 1996

References

References

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