East Timor's international debut was in the preliminary round of the 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification in March 2003, when they lost 3–2 to Sri Lanka and 3–0 to Chinese Taipei.[6] They also participated in the 2004 AFF Championship. East Timor's participation in Southeast Asia's premier international football event in 2004 was announced after an Asian Football Confederation council meeting in Petaling Jaya. Although not yet a member of the AFC, the FFTL was invited to sit in on the meeting, where they were represented by FA president Francia Kalbuadi. East Timor won their first international match on 5 October 2012 against Cambodia with a score of 5–1.[7]
History
Early history (2003–2017)
Football was established in East Timor during the Portuguese colonial era, when many of the locals and the Portuguese officials played amateur football. After Portugal ended its colonial rule, Indonesia invaded and occupied the island. East Timor eventually gained independence from Indonesia in 2000, which resulted in a long running battle against Jakarta-led forces.
The East Timor Football Association was accepted as an associate member of AFC at the 20th AFC Congress in 2002. Their international debut came in March 2003 when they participated in the 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification campaign for the 2004 AFC Asian Cup in China. Given their history, it was no surprise that they crashed out with defeats against the likes of Sri Lanka and Chinese Taipei. They then entered the regional competition for the first time in 2004 as they played in the 2004 AFF Championship as an invited member. They finished in last place, showing that they had a long way to go before they could compete even on the regional stage.
Emerson Alcântara leads East Timor to a famous 5-1 victory over Cambodia in their first ever win in their history.
On 5 October 2012, East Timor won their first international match in a 5–1 victory against Cambodia with goals coming from Murilo de Almeida who scored a brace, Adelino Trindade and Alan Leandro.[9] On 9 October 2012, the team won another match against Laos in the qualification round as Murilo de Almeida scored a penalty at 43' minutes of the first half of the match. Later Adelino Trindade extended the Timorese advantage with a header early in the second half and then Alan Leandro added the third goal on the 83rd minute.[10] After winning the second match against Laos, head coach Emerson Alcântara stated "This is a win for the people of Timor Leste. They had to wait a long time for our team to win their first match in this competition but now we have two wins and this was an important victory for Timor Leste. "I think that about 70 percent of people in Timor Leste are poor so it is very important to get this result for them because they love football and the people can get confidence and take pride in this result. It is very important for us to motivate our people and to help to change their lives."[11] With a win needed in the final fixture, East Timor subsequently lost to Brunei 2–1 and finished in third place in the group, one point away from runners-up of the group, Laos as they went on to qualify for the 2012 AFF Championship. In the 2014 AFF Championship qualification, East Timor secured a victory against Brunei winning them 4–2 in the process. In the next match, they caused an upset to Myanmar on 14 October 2014 which ended up in a goalless draw but that wasn't enough as East Timor didn't make it to the 2014 AFC Championship.
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round
East Timor then participated in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification first round facing Mongolia where on 12 March 2015, they secured their first ever win against a country outside of Southeast Asia in a 4–1 win at the National Stadium of East Timor. In the second leg, East Timor travelled to Ulan Bator where they won 1–0 putting them on an aggregate of 5–2 seeing them advancing to the second round however on 12 December 2017, FIFA awarded both matches 3–0 to Mongolia due to East Timor fielding numerous ineligible players. However, this was long after the Second round had been played, so East Timor advanced and Mongolia were not reinstated. East Timor were then grouped with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Palestine and Malaysia in Group A. On 11 June 2015, Ramon Saro scored in the 90+3' minute stoppage time which cause a huge upsets to Malaysia in a 1–1 draw at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium which East Timor got their first ever point in the campaign. On 8 October 2015 while playing at home, Ramon Saro break the deadlock as they lead against Palestine however in the dying minute of the match, Ahmad Abu Nahyeh equalise for Palestine in 1–1 draw as it gains media attention from the Southeast Asia region. However, East Timor has to forfeited five of their group matches due to fielding numerous ineligible players. Since their last match against Saudi Arabia on 17 November 2015, East Timor has been playing their home match overboard as their National Stadium of East Timor in Dili failed to meet FIFA standards which also see them finishing at the bottom of the table. During the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification match, East Timor played their home match at the Tan Sri Dato Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium in Johor Bahru playing against Malaysia.
East Timor then qualified to the 2018 AFF Championship for the first time in 14 years winning the 2018 AFF Championship qualification against Brunei on an aggregate of 3–2. They will play their designated "home" match against Thailand at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, while their home tie against the Philippines will be played at the Kuala Lumpur Stadium in Malaysia due to the incomplete floodlighting of the National Stadium of East Timor. East Timor then qualified to the 2020 AFF Championship automatically after the withdrawal of Brunei in the qualification play-off.
Naturalised players controversy
Since 2012 several Brazilian-born footballers, who are not of East Timorese descent and had not necessarily played in the East Timorese League, were expressly naturalised to raise the level of "Sol Nascente".[12]
In a match on 8 October 2015 against Palestine seven of the starting eleven for the Timorese line-up were naturalized Brazilians.[15] Following the match the Palestinian Football Association made a complaint to FIFA stating that the naturalized Timorese players were not eligible to represent East Timor under FIFA rules.[16][17]
Following a concern from some Timorese who complained to the prime minister, the prosecutor general and the minister for justice regarding the naturalisation program, Timor Leste Football Federation (FFTL) decided to drop their overseas-born legion. It meant Timor Leste would be without seven naturalised Brazilian players for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 AFC Asian Cup joint qualifiers match against United Arab Emirates on 12 November 2015.[18] In that match, coach Fernando Alcântara played an all national line up including six who were under twenty, including Ervino Soares who was 16. Timor Leste ended up losing the match 8–0. Alcântara took responsibility for the defeat although he also added that he had been forced to play such an inexperienced line-up by the FFTL.[19]
The next match, East Timor did even worse, suffering a record 0–10 home defeat to a strong Saudi Arabia side, who eventually qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Jesse Pinto, an Australian-Timorese footballer, told reporters that the FFTL gives Brazilian players Timorese passports so that they can be registered as "Asian" players and meet the quotas of teams. Pinto also added that the FFTL often takes advantage of players from poor backgrounds, but that it often did not meet its promises of allowing players to travel back to Brazil to meet their families.[20]
In December 2016, the FFTL was charged with using forged and falsified documents, fielding ineligible players and bringing the game into disrepute.[21]
The team's kit manufacturer was Kubba Sportswear from June 2014 to February 2017.[23]
Since 2018, the kits are made by Narrow, an Indonesian apparel. The home kit is red shirts, black shorts, and red socks, with black as a secondary color. The away kit all white.[24] From 2008 to 2010, their away kits were yellow but at 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup qualification, the away kits changed back into all whites.[25] Their kits were made by Nike in 2012. Previous kit makers include Mitre, Joma, Nike and Tiger.
Home stadium
Timor Leste's home ground is the National Stadium of East Timor in Dili. The stadium capacity is 5,000. The first official match played in the stadium was a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Mongolia on 12 March 2015. East Timor played their last match at the National Stadium of East Timor against Saudi Arabia on 17 November 2015 and since then used their stadium as a neutral ground all over Asia.
Timor-Leste forfeited seven matches due to fielding numerous ineligible players and was declared as 3–0 loser in six of them. Only the 7–0 loss to Saudi Arabia remained with the original result.[30] The other original results were: Timor-Leste 4–1 Mongolia; Mongolia 0–1 Timor-Leste (first round). However, this was long after the second round had been played, so Timor-Leste advanced and Mongolia were not reinstated. And Malaysia 1–1 Timor-Leste; Timor-Leste 0–1 United Arab Emirates; Timor-Leste 1–1 Palestine; Timor-Leste 0–1 Malaysia, all of them in Second Round.
(15 February 2024)[1]
Sri Lanka 3–2 Timor-Leste 
Cambodia 1–5 Timor-Leste 
