Laos established their national football association in 1951. The Southrast Asian nation is still waiting to make its entrance into a major international competition. Laos have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup, AFC Asian Cup or Asian Games and as an international side, their appearances have been restricted to regional tournaments such as the Southeast Asian Games and the AFF Championship. After years of internal strife, Laos focused on economic and political recovery. With the country achieving political stability, football has made an impact on Laotians.[5][6]
Since making their appearance at the 1995 Southeast Asian Games, Laos has competed in the inaugural 1996 AFF Championship, drawing against Vietnam 1–1 and winning against Cambodia 1–0. Although they are new to the regional tournaments, Laos has displayed a fiery passion and talent. In 1995, they beat Brunei and Philippines and two years later in the 1997 Southeast Asian Games held in Jakarta, they also beat Malaysia 1–0 and Philippines 4–1. Domestic competitions are also active with over 60 clubs competing at various levels. Domestic football is amateur although most of the top teams are drawn from government ministries and public services. In the qualifying preliminary rounds for the 2004 Asian Cup, Laos beat Bangladesh 2–1. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification, Laos qualified for the second round as a lucky loser after Guam and Nepal both withdrew from the competition, but proceeded to lose all its games (against Qatar, Iran and Jordan).[7] They also advanced to the second round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, after defeating Cambodia 8–6 on aggregate. In the second round, they lost to China 13–3 on aggregate. Laos has defeated their much more established counterparts such as Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. Laos' first appearance in a continental tournament was in 2014, when they played at the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup.[8][9] In 2016, Laos were invited to the inaugural 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup held in Kuching being grouped with Macau, Sri Lanka and Mongolia. In the first match, Laos won Sri Lanka 2–0 before losing to Macau 1–4 but bounced back with another win against Mongolia 3–0 sending the team to the knockout stage. They would go on to face Nepal in the semi-finals and were 2–2 at the end of extra time but lost in the penalty shootout, thus bowing out from the cup.
^Mamrud, Roberto; Stokkermans, Karel. "Players with 100+ Caps and 30+ International Goals". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
^"The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 20 June 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
^"Laos matches, ratings and points exchanged". World Football Elo Ratings: Laos. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
^Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
^"LFF hold knowledge exchange workshop with DFL". Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
^"Laos National Team - Thailandoriginalmade". Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
^https://www.thai2english.com/dictionary/Laos%20national%20football%20team.html Archived 6 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine[bare URL]
^"Laos national football team: FIFA ranking". www.11v11.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
^"Laos". 3 September 2015. Archived from the original on 13 October 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
^"Squad List". Facebook (in Lao). Laos Football Federation.
^"Record number of 204 teams enter preliminary competition". FIFA Media Department. 30 March 2007. Archived from the original on 16 June 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
^"Laos withdraw from AFC Challenge Cup". The-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 2 May 2008. Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
^"World Football Elo Ratings: Laos". Elo Ratings. Archived from the original on 24 April 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
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