The Myanmar national football team has a rich history in Asian football. Despite this, Myanmar has never qualified for a world cup. The team first entered qualifying for the 2010 competition. This was due to withdrawals from the 1950, 1994 and 2002 competitions and disqualification from the 2006 tournament.
In that world cup début Myanmar lost twice to China. The team conceded 11 goals without reply.
Though officially called Myanmar, the country is commonly known as Burma. Bordering heavyweights India and China, Burma has struggled with internal conflict for many years. It had one of the longest running civil wars with troubles stretching back over 60 years.
Though resource rich, Burma is one of the least developed economies in the world. Life is hard for the people who live there. The World Health Organisation ranked Burma’s healthcare system as the worst in the world. With all these issues it is no surprise that the football team has little financial support. Despite this, Burma rank above many more developed nations.