Timor-Leste U-23

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	Emral Abus
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 Timor-Leste  (Bangkok, Thailand; 30 August 2005)
Biggest win
Timor-Leste 6–0 Northern Mariana Islands  (Xi'an, China; 9 September 2025)  Timor-Leste 7–1 Macau  (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 23 July 2017)
Biggest defeat
Malaysia 11–0 Timor-Leste  (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										3	1	0	2	5	10
2026										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
2025		9th	2	0	1	1	4	8
Total	Third Place	4/4	12	3	2	7	14	34

Position	Name
Head coach	Emral Abus
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 SEA Games.^[2]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Filonito Nogueira	(2004-11-16)16 November 2004 (aged 21)	2	0	SLB Laulara
	1GK	Egidio Luro	(2008-12-05)5 December 2008 (aged 16)	2	0	Emmanuel
	2DF	Jackson Fowler	(2004-09-03)3 September 2004 (aged 21)	4	0	Sydney Olympic
	2DF	Aniso Monteiro	(2003-07-01)1 July 2003 (aged 22)	0	0	Assalam
	2DF	Mário Quintão	(2004-02-18)18 February 2004 (aged 21)	9	0	Emmanuel
	2DF	Oatnasio Guterres	(2006-06-11)11 June 2006 (aged 19)	3	1	Longhgall
	2DF	Anizo Correia	(2003-05-23)23 May 2003 (aged 22)	7	0	Ponta Leste
	2DF	Ricardo Bianco	(2006-01-15)15 January 2006 (aged 19)	6	1	Ponta Leste
	2DF	Ryan Jom	(2005-03-03)3 March 2005 (aged 20)	0	0	Rydalmere Lions
	3MF	Palomito Ribeiro	(2005-06-14)14 June 2005 (aged 20)	4	0	Emmanuel
	3MF	Tristan Xavi	(2008-07-26)26 July 2008 (aged 17)	2	0	Western Sydney Wanderers
	3MF	Zenivio	(2005-04-22)22 April 2005 (aged 20)	15	3	Tanjong Pagar United
	3MF	Jonatas Pereira	(2003-06-24)24 June 2003 (aged 22)	1	0	Emmanuel
	3MF	Freteliano	(2004-08-09)9 August 2004 (aged 21)	8	1	Emmanuel
	3MF	Gali Freitas	(2004-12-31)31 December 2004 (aged 20)	9	4	Persebaya Surabaya
	3MF	Leonio Freitas	(2007-04-17)17 April 2007 (aged 18)	3	0	Ponta Leste
	4FW	Serafin Brito	unknown	2	0	DIT
	4FW	Vabio Canavaro	(2007-01-25)25 January 2007 (aged 18)	0	0	Ponta Leste
	4FW	Paul Godinho	unknown	0	0	Santa Cruz
	4FW	Luís Figo	(2005-04-17)17 April 2005 (aged 20)	7	2	Ponta Leste
	4FW	Olagar Xavier	(2003-05-18)18 May 2003 (aged 22)	0	0	Aguilas–UMak
	4FW	Alexandro Bakhito	(2006-06-01)1 June 2006 (aged 19)	5	3	SLB Laulara

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  Timor-Leste

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

Timor-Leste  v  Thailand

19 July 2025 ASEAN U-23 Championship	Timor-Leste	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  Timor-Leste

3 September 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification	China	2–1	Timor-Leste	Xi'an, China
19:35 UTC+8	Behram 40' Wang Yudong 45'	Report	Freitas 54'	Stadium: Xi'an International Football Centre Attendance: 23,802 Referee: Chae Sang-hyeop (South Korea)

Timor-Leste  v  Australia

6 September 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification	Timor-Leste	0–6	Australia	Xi'an, China
15:30 UTC+8		Report	Paull 24', 90' Blair 27' (pen.) Grimaldi 36' Reec 68' Hammond 90+3'	Stadium: Fengdong Football Park East Stadium Attendance: 120 Referee: Venkatesh Ramachandran (India)

Timor-Leste  v  Northern Mariana Islands

9 September 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification	Timor-Leste	6–0	Northern Mariana Islands	Xi'an, China
15:30 UTC+8	Freitas 38' Lemos 45+1', 82' Ribeiro 81' Da Silva 90+2' Dos Santos 90+4'	Report		Stadium: Fengdong Football Park East Stadium Attendance: 69 Referee: Ahmed Khalil (Bahrain)

Timor-Leste  v  Thailand

3 December 2025 SEA Games	Timor-Leste	1–6	Thailand	Bangkok, Thailand
19:00 UTC+7	Palomito 90+3'	Report	Yotsakorn B. 44', 70', 72' Siraphop 49' Iklas 60' Kakana 83'	Stadium: Rajamangala Stadium Attendance: 7,741 Referee: Choi Hyun-jai (South Korea

Singapore  v  Timor-Leste

6 December 2025 SEA Games	Singapore	1–3	Timor-Leste	Bangkok, Thailand
19:00 UTC+7	Amir 11'	Report	Canavaro 19' Correia 42' Olagar 45+1'	Stadium: Rajamangala Stadium Referee: Asker Nadjafaliev (Uzbekistan)

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

• Profile at FIFA.com
• Profile at the-AFC.com
• Profile at AFF Site