Brunei national football team

The national team's first appearance took place during the 1972 AFC Asian Cup qualification, where they were unable to qualify after all three heavy defeats.[5] The following two championships (1976 and 1977) were no different from the first, with their first and second victory during the 1980 Summer Olympics.[6] In 1979, Brunei entered a team to compete in the professional Malaysian league and despite competing against Malaysian clubs, Brunei had previously never made an impact.[7] However, in 1999, they shocked everyone by lifting the Malaysia Cup.[8]

Brunei won their first and only Brunei Merdeka Games trophy in 1985.[9] Since then, team was not able to qualify into or win any major tournaments. Coming the closest was the 1993 Philippines International Cup, where they came in third position after a 1–0 victory against the Philippines.[10]

In September 2009, the Brunei Football Association (BAFA) was suspended due to governmental interference in its affairs, which started with a decision by the Brunei authorities to dissolve BAFA and to replace it with a new federation in December 2008.[11][12] The suspension was applied with immediate effect and meant that the Brunei club DPMM were no longer permitted to play in the Singapore S-League until it was resolved.[13] DPMM FC has confirmed to Football Association of Singapore (FAS) that they are unable to finish their S.League season because of the issue with its association. FIFA rejected FAS's final request on 17 October 2009 to permit DPMM to compete in the current S.League season while BAFA's suspension persisted.[14]

On 19 March 2010, the FIFA Executive Committee agreed to submit to the next FIFA Congress the expulsion of the association if the BAFA has not been reinstated by then, after noting that no major progress had been made since the BAFA was suspended in September 2009. FIFA warned that unless BAFA came to FIFA's Congress on 9 and 10 June in South Africa having met the conditions for reinstatement it would be expelled.[15] Brunei were re-instated on 31 May 2011 and the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) was formed that same year.[16]

Brunei against the Philippines at the 2022 AFF Championship in Manila.

Upon returning to the football action, the Wasps were unable to qualify for both the 2012 and 2014 AFF Championship following several losses. Brunei was again defeated 2–1 in aggregate against Chinese Taipei during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification in March 2015.[17] The wasps failed to qualify for the 2016 AFF Championship after suffering defeats from Cambodia and Laos. During the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup, Brunei finished fourth place after losing 3–2 to Laos. Despite the disappointment, Shah Razen Said from the Bruneian side managed to become the tournament's top striker, finishing with a total of 4 goals.[18]

Timor Leste defeated Brunei in the second leg qualifying match at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium on 8 September 2018, securing their spot in the AFF Suzuki Cup final round group action for the first time in 14 years. Despite having a two-goal advantage from the first leg, Timor Leste fell 1–0 but still advanced with a 3–2 aggregate score.[19] Brunei defeated Mongolia 2–1 on 11 June 2019,[20] but were unable to advance to the next stage of the preliminary joint qualification for the FIFA World Cup 2022 and the AFC Asian Cup 2023.[21][22]

Under new coach Mario Rivera, Brunei managed to qualify to the 2022 AFF Championship for the first time in 26 years since its inaugural edition in 1996, by defeating Timor Leste 6–3 on aggregate.[23] The Wasps were grouped with Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia.[24] They finished the group stage without gaining a single point, conceding at least 5 goals in every game.[25]

The following 23 players were called up for the 2022 AFF Championship.[26]

Information correct as of 29 December 2022, after the 2022 AFF Championship match against  Cambodia.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Haimie Abdullah Nyaring	(1998-05-31) 31 May 1998	13	0	DPMM FC
18	1GK	Ishyra Asmin Jabidi	(1998-07-09) 9 July 1998	1	0	MS ABDB
20	1GK	Jefri Syafiq Ishak	(2002-05-21) 21 May 2002	0	0	KB FC
2	2DF	Alinur Rashimy Jufri	(2000-06-12) 12 June 2000	6	0	Kasuka FC
3	2DF	Abdul Mu'iz Sisa	(1991-04-20) 20 April 1991	9	1	DPMM FC
4	2DF	Fakharrazi Hassan	(1989-07-15) 15 July 1989	20	2	DPMM FC
12	2DF	Khairil Shahme Suhaimi	(1993-04-16) 16 April 1993	13	0	Kasuka FC
16	2DF	Yura Indera Putera Yunos	(1996-03-25) 25 March 1996	14	0	DPMM FC
17	2DF	Wafi Aminuddin	(2000-09-20) 20 September 2000	9	1	DPMM FC
19	2DF	Hanif Hamir	(1997-02-22) 22 February 1997	14	0	DPMM FC
22	2DF	Shafie Effendy	(1995-08-04) 4 August 1995	6	1	MS ABDB
5	3MF	Nur Ikhwan Othman	(1993-01-15) 15 January 1993	12	1	DPMM FC
6	3MF	Azwan Saleh	(1988-01-06) 6 January 1988	33	3	DPMM FC
7	3MF	Azwan Ali Rahman	(1992-01-11) 11 January 1992	19	5	DPMM FC
8	3MF	Nazirrudin Ismail	(1998-12-27) 27 December 1998	8	1	DPMM FC
11	3MF	Najib Tarif	(1988-02-05) 5 February 1988	25	1	DPMM FC
13	3MF	Haziq Kasyful Azim Hasimulabdillah	(1998-12-24) 24 December 1998	8	0	Kasuka FC
15	3MF	Hendra Azam Idris (captain)	(1988-08-10) 10 August 1988	19	0	DPMM FC
23	3MF	Hakeme Yazid Said	(2003-02-08) 8 February 2003	10	1	DPMM FC
9	4FW	Abdul Azizi Ali Rahman	(1987-01-17) 17 January 1987	17	3	DPMM FC
10	4FW	Adi Said	(1990-10-15) 15 October 1990	26	7	Kasuka FC
14	4FW	Hamizan Aziz Sulaiman	(1989-01-24) 24 January 1989	11	0	Indera SC
21	4FW	Razimie Ramlli	(1990-08-06) 6 August 1990	15	6	DPMM FC

The following players have also been called up to the Brunei squad in the last twelve months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Wardun Yussof	(1981-09-14) 14 September 1981	23	0	DPMM FC	v.  Malaysia, 27 May 2022
DF	Martin Haddy Khallidden	(1998-04-21) 21 April 1998	0	0	MS ABDB	2022 AFF Championship qualification
DF	Afi Aminuddin	(1991-10-09) 9 October 1991	15	0	Kasuka FC	v.  Laos, 27 September 2022
DF	Hazwan Hamzah	(1991-09-09) 9 September 1991	8	0	Kasuka FC	v.  Laos, 27 September 2022
DF	Nazhan Zulkifle	(2001-01-17) 17 January 2001	2	0	Kasuka FC	v.  Laos, 27 September 2022
DF	Hanif Farhan Azman	(2000-11-02) 2 November 2000	0	0	DPMM FC	v.  Laos, 27 September 2022
DF	Amirul Hakeem Kasim	(1990-03-18) 18 March 1990	2	0	Indera SC	v.  Malaysia, 27 May 2022
DF	Abdul Wadud Ramli	(1999-03-18) 18 March 1999	0	0	MS PPDB	v.  Malaysia, 27 May 2022
MF	Nur Asyraffahmi Norsamri	(2000-05-04) 4 May 2000	7	0	Kasuka FC	2022 AFF Championship qualification
MF	Abdul Khair Basri	(1996-01-05) 5 January 1996	3	0	Indera SC	2022 AFF Championship qualification
MF	Maududi Hilmi Kasmi	(1989-02-05) 5 February 1989	14	0	Kasuka FC	v.  Laos, 27 September 2022
MF	Eddy Shahrol Omar	(2003-10-04) 4 October 2003	1	0	DPMM FC	v.  Laos, 27 September 2022
MF	Asnawi Syazni Abdul Aziz	(1996-06-16) 16 June 1996	4	0	Unattached	v.  Malaysia, 27 May 2022
MF	Abdul Hariz Herman	(2000-09-24) 24 September 2000	2	0	MS ABDB	v.  Malaysia, 27 May 2022
FW	Hanif Aiman Adanan	(2000-03-04) 4 March 2000	0	0	Unattached	2022 AFF Championship qualification
Notes STD = On standby PRE = Preliminary squad RET = Retired from international duty

This competition was formerly known as the Tiger Cup

AFF Championship Qualification record Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA 1996 Group stage 8th 4 1 0 3 1 15 No qualification 1998 did not qualify 2 0 0 2 2 6 2000 Withdrew Withdrew 2002 did not enter did not enter 2004 2007 did not qualify 4 1 1 2 6 11 2008 4 1 1 2 8 7 2010 Suspended Suspended 2012 did not qualify 4 2 0 2 6 7 2014 4 0 0 4 5 12 2016 3 1 0 2 5 8 2018 2 1 0 1 2 3 2020 Withdrew Withdrew 2022 Group stage 10th 4 0 0 4 2 22 2 1 0 1 6 3 Total Group stage 2/14 8 1 0 7 3 37 25 7 2 16 40 57