Timor-Leste national under-23 football team

Timor-Leste

Nickname(s)	O Sol Nascente (The Rising Sun)
Association	Federação de Futebol de Timor-Leste
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	AFF (Southeast Asia)
Head coach	Simón Elissetche
Captain	Filomeno Junior
Most caps	Ramos Maxanches Nilo Soares (18)
Top scorer	Murilo de Almeida Henrique Cruz Mouzinho (3)
Home stadium	Timor-Leste National Stadium
FIFA code	TLS
First colours Second colours
First international
Malaysia 3–0   (Bangkok, Thailand; 30 August 2005)
Biggest win
7–1 Macau  (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 23 July 2017)
Biggest defeat
Malaysia 11–0   (Vientiane, Laos; 2 December 2009)
Asian Games
Appearances	2 (first in 2014)
Best result	Group Stage (2014, 2018)
Southeast Asian Games
Appearances	8 (first in 2009)
Best result	Group Stage (8 times)
ASEAN U-23 Championship
Appearances	4 (first in 2005)
Best result	Third place (2022)

The Timor-Leste national Under-23 football team (Portuguese: Seleção Timorense de Futebol Sub-23) represents Timor-Leste (formerly known as East Timor) in international football competitions in the Olympic Games, Asian Games, Southeast Asian Games and any other under-23 international football tournaments. It is controlled by the Federação de Futebol de Timor-Leste, the governing body of football in the country. Timor-Leste is currently one of the weakest teams in the world. They won their first match on 5 November 2011 against Brunei, scoring 2–1.^[1]

Football was firstly introduced during Portuguese Timor era where many local and the Portuguese colonial official played the sport for enjoyment. After the Portuguese leave the eastern part of the island of Timor, neighbouring Indonesia invaded and change their culture and identity. Timor-Leste gained full independence in 2002 after more than 20 years of occupation which resulted in a long running battle against Jakarta-led forces. The Timor-Leste U-23 team was invited to the 2005 AFF U-23 Youth Championship without any success, which is the first time that the team played in an international tournament. In 2009, the team entered the first Southeast Asian Games. Once again, they lost every match, including a 0–11 loss to Malaysia. Timor-Leste had major improvements at the 2011 SEA Games, when they used overseas players of Timorese descent from Brazil and Australia. These players contributed a lot to their successful run; especially from Murilo de Almeida who managed to score three goals. The team finished third in their group by recording their first win in their history, finishing above Laos, Brunei and the Philippines and had a goal difference of –4, which was a big improvement compared to their previous participation where the team finished last in their group with no wins from four games, scoring only once and having a goal difference of –28.

Timor-Leste's traditional home kit includes a red shirt, black shorts and red or black socks. The away kits feature white or yellow shirts. At the 2009 SEA Games, their home kit resemble the one worn by the Belgium national team.

Home Kit 2009–2010

Alternative Kit 2011

• Timor-Leste National Stadium (2002–present)

Olympic Games record										Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		TQ	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
1992	Part of  Indonesia									Part of  Indonesia
1996
2000
2004	did not enter									did not enter
2008
2012
2016	did not qualify									2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification	3	1	0	2	3	8
2020										2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification	3	1	0	2	5	16
2024										2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification	3	1	0	2	5	10
2028	To be determined									To be determined
Total	—	0/8	–	–	–	–	–	–		AFC U-23 Asian Cup (From 2016)	9	3	0	6	13	34

(Under-23 Team since 2002)

Asian Games
Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
2002	did not enter
2006
2010
2014	Group stage	28th	3	0	0	3	2	13
2018		24th	3	0	0	3	3	15
2022	did not enter
Total	Group stage	2/5	6	0	0	6	5	28

AFC U-23 Championship										Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
2013	did not qualify									5	1	0	4	5	9
2016										3	1	0	2	3	8
2018										3	1	1	1	7	5
2020										3	1	0	2	5	16
2022										3	1	1	1	3	8
2024	did not qualify									3	1	0	2	5	10
2026	To be determined									To be determined
Total	–	0/7	0	0	0	0	0	0		20	6	2	12	28	56

(Under-23 Team since 2001)

Southeast Asian Games
Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
2005	Did not enter
2007
2009	Group stage	9th	4	0	0	4	1	28
2011		6th	5	2	0	3	4	8
2013		7th	4	1	1	2	5	8
2015		9th	5	1	0	4	4	10
2017		9th	5	1	0	4	2	8
2019		10th	4	0	0	4	2	18
2021		10th	4	0	0	4	3	13
2023		7th	4	1	0	3	3	8
Total	Group stage	8/10	35	6	1	28	24	101

ASEAN U-23 Championship
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
2005	Group stage	8th	3	0	0	3	1	14
2019		6th	3	1	0	2	1	5
2022	Third place	3rd	4	2	2	0	7	3
2023	Group stage	9th	2	0	0	2	1	4
Total	Third Place	4/4	12	3	2	7	10	26

Position	Name
Head coach	Simón Elissetche
Assistant coach	Miro Baldo Bento
Goalkeeping coach	Derson Gusmão
Physiotherapist	Adou Costa
Media Officer	Mario Filipe Belo
Administrator	Hasan Cesario
Official	Adou Marques
Kitman	Fablo Freitas

The following 23 players were called up for the 2025 ASEAN U-23 Championship.^[2]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
	1GK	Pablo de Jesus	(2005-09-19) 19 September 2005	Ponta Leste
	1GK	Filonito Nogueira	(2004-11-16) 16 November 2004	SLB Laulara
	1GK	Egidio Luro		Emmanuel
	2DF	Sandro Rivaldo	(2003-01-01) 1 January 2003	Emmanuel
	2DF	Liam Farrugia	(2003-01-13) 13 January 2003	Manningham United
	2DF	Aidan Pereira	(2006-04-14) 14 April 2006	Trofense
	2DF	Anizo Correia	(2003-05-23) 23 May 2003	Ponta Leste
	2DF	Mário Quintão	(2004-02-18) 18 February 2004	Emmanuel
	2DF	Jackson Fowler	(2004-09-03) 3 September 2004	Sydney Olympic
	2DF	Ricardo Bianco	(2006-01-15) 15 January 2006	Ponta Leste
	3MF	Leonio Freitas		Ponta Leste
	3MF	Palomito Ribeiro		Emmanuel
	3MF	Freteliano	(2004-08-09) 9 August 2004	Emmanuel
	3MF	Luís Figo	(2005-04-17) 17 April 2005	Ponta Leste
	3MF	Oatnasio Da Silva	(2006-06-11) 11 June 2006	Loughgall
	3MF	Serafin da Costa		DIT
	3MF	Jorge Casimiro		Caboolture Sports
	3MF	Zenivio	(2005-04-22) 22 April 2005	Tanjong Pagar United
	4FW	Olagar Xavier	(2003-05-18) 18 May 2003	Karketu Dili
	4FW	Alexandro Bakhito	(2006-06-01) 1 June 2006	SLB Laulara
	4FW	Nicholas Fowler	(2007-05-31) 31 May 2007	Sydney Olympic
	4FW	Vabio Canavaro	(2007-01-25) 25 January 2007	SLB Laulara
	4FW	Kenny Ximenes	(2005-04-04) 4 April 2005	Dollingstown

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

  Win   Draw   Loss

Myanmar  v  

16 July 2025 ASEAN U-23 Championship	Myanmar	4–4		Bekasi, Indonesia
20:00 UTC+7	Shine Wanna Aung 13' Zaw Win Thein 39' (pen.) Than Toe Aung 55' Min Maw Oo 61'		Zenivio 45+2' Figo 53' Canavaro 75' Bakhito 90+2'	Stadium: Patriot Stadium Referee: Naufal Adya Fairuski (Indonesia)

  v  Thailand

19 July 2025 ASEAN U-23 Championship		0–4	Thailand	Bekasi, Indonesia
20:00 UTC+7		Report	Yotsakorn 14' Thanawut 40' Seksan 50' Chawanwit 74'	Stadium: Patriot Stadium Referee: Nguyễn Mạnh Hải (Vietnam)

China  v  

3 September 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification	China	v		Xi'an, China
19:35 UTC+8				Stadium: Xi'an International Football Centre

  v  Australia

6 September 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification		v	Australia	Xi'an, China
15:30 UTC+8				Stadium: Fengdong Football Park East Stadium

  v  Northern Mariana Islands

9 September 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification		v	Northern Mariana Islands	Xi'an, China
15:30 UTC+8				Stadium: Fengdong Football Park East Stadium

Coach	Coaching period	Pld	W	D	L	Achievements
José Luís	2005	3	0	0	3	2005 AFF U-23 Youth Championship – Round 1 (First Time)
Manuel da Costa Soares	2009–2010	4	0	0	4	2009 Southeast Asian Games – Round 1 (First Time)
Antonio Carlos Vieira	2011–2012	5	2	0	3	2011 Southeast Asian Games – First Win with Brunei
Norio Tsukitate	2012	5	1	0	4	2013 AFC U-22 Championship qualification – Did not qualify
Emerson Alcântara	2013–2014	6	2	2	2	2013 Southeast Asian Games – First Draw with Indonesia
Takuma Koga	2014	3	0	0	3	2014 Asian Games – Round 1 (First Time)
Fábio Magrão	2015–2016	8	2	0	6	2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification – Did not qualify 2015 Southeast Asian Games – Round 1
Kim Shin-hwan	2017–2018	3	1	1	1	2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualification – Did not qualify
Norio Tsukitate	2018–2019	3	0	0	3	2018 Asian Games – Group stage

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