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History

The Myanmar Football Federation (MFF) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football in Myanmar. Football in Burma (the official name until 1989) was introduced within the British colonial era by James George Scott, Scottish journalist and colonial administrator.

The Burma Football Federation (BFF) was founded in 17 May 1947, a year before the country’s independence from the United Kingdom. BFF is one of the founding members of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1954 and joined FIFA in 1952.

George Scott (middle, striped top) organized the first football matches in Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar (Burma). 1879 Photo Credit

In 1952, BFF launched the First States and Divisions Football Championship. The highly popular annual competition became the main venue from which to draw out talented players from around the country. This rudimentary level of talent development seemed sufficient for a while. Burma was a top Asian football power, along with Iran and South Korea, in the 1960s and early 1970s, winning two Asian Games tournaments (1966, 1970) and then unprecedented five South East Asian Games tournaments (1965, 1973) as well as coming in second in the 1968 Asian Cup tournament.[2] During a ten-year span between 1961 and 1970, Burma thoroughly dominated the U-19/U-20 Asian Cup, reaching the finals nine times and winning the tournament seven times.

On 16 May 2009, MFF launched the professional football league (MNL), which consisted of eight professional clubs representing different regions across the naiton. MNL introduced promotion and relegation system in 2014 season with the MNL-1 and MNL-2 clubs.

Until 1996, MFF’s Football League system consists of a pyramid of leagues with the First Division, Second Division and Third Division. All of the participants clubs based on Yangon region and most of wich were affiliated with government Ministries. Finance and Revenue was the most successful club in the history of First Division and Myanmar Premier League, winning a total of 9 out of 13 championships. Myanmar Women’s Football League was founded with seven women’s team in 2016. The first women’s football match was organised to raise funds for a charity in September 1926. In 2011, MFF launched the first Futsal League with 10 participants futsal clubs.

Legacy Snapshots