Football in the Kingdom of Bhutan had its moment in the global spotlight back in 2002, when it was portrayed in the renowned Dutch documentary The Other Final. The award-winning film chronicled the enchanting friendly between the two lowest-ranked national teams in the world, Bhutan and Montserrat, who faced off on the same day that football’s two most decorated nations, Brazil and Germany, contested the FIFA World Cup™ final in Yokohama, Japan.

But while the spotlight has moved on, the BFF has only increased its commitment to growing the game. It has climbed with the resolute determination and enthusiasm one might expect from denizens of such a mountainous country, boosted by its embrace of the FIFA Forward Programme funding and other initiatives designed to bolster football in all corners of the globe – including its highest peaks. “The progress of Bhutanese football over the past decade would not have been possible without the trust, guidance and sustained investment of FIFA,” BFF President Dasho Ugen Tsechup said recently. “Through the FIFA Forward Programme, support has reached into the foundations of our football ecosystem: infrastructure, youth development, women’s football, competitions, education and institutional capacity.”

Bhutan is no longer the world’s lowest ranked team. The Dragon Boys are currently 192nd in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking, having won at least one qualifier in each of the past three FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup cycles. Bhutan’s women are ranked 161st, up 17 places from their lowest point in early 2023, and entered qualifying for the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ for the first time during the current cycle, winning two of their four games. While improvement at the summit is welcome, it is the work being done at the grassroots that genuinely excites Dasho Ugen. That is where seeds are planted and real growth occurs, and it is where the FIFA Forward Programme enters the picture. Launched when FIFA President Gianni Infantino took office in 2016, FIFA Forward has resulted in the distribution of nearly USD 5.1 billion to national Member Associations (MAs) and regional associations across the world. Each individual MA received up to USD 8 million each during FIFA Forward phase 3.0 (2023-26), which represents a seven-fold increase from before the programme’s launch.

The BFF has strategically invested these funds across the country to expand access to football and create meaningful opportunities for a population deeply passionate about the game “Across our mountainous country, where geography and climate present considerable challenges, FIFA Forward has helped us install artificial pitches in places that we cannot imagine building. These are not merely playing surfaces. Each pitch represents additional training hours, safer conditions, stronger domestic competitions and, most importantly, a place where a child can discover football,” Dasho Ugen said, adding with pride that the BFF’s effort to construct four artificial pitches that addressed the country’s climatic and logistical challenges won the Silver Award at last year’s inaugural FIFA Forward Awards for Asia and Oceania.

The crown jewel of the Kingdom’s FIFA Forward spending is the spectacular headquarters and technical centre known appropriately as the Home of Happiness. Located in Thimphu’s north, the Home of Happiness features a floodlit artificial turf pitch, office space, dormitories, a conference room, a gymnasium and more.

“The centre has brought our administration, technical development and football activities together under one roof. It allows us to educate coaches and referees, accommodate players, support our clubs and prepare our men’s and women’s national teams in an environment worthy of their ambitions,” Dasho Ugen said. “But the real value of the Home of Happiness cannot be measured in concrete, offices or square meters,” he continued. “It’s true value will be measured in the young player who leaves a remote community and finds a pathway; in the girl who realises that football also belongs to her; in the coach who receives proper education; and in the national-team player who carries the Bhutanese flag with pride.”

The BFF also has funnelled FIFA Forward funding toward additional artificial pitches, residential academies in Changjiji (boys) and Gelephu (girls), and the 10-team Women’s National League, to which the BFF has committed more than USD 1.2 million. In addition, the BFF has enrolled in both the FIFA Talent Development Scheme and FIFA Football for Schools, which it began implementing in 2023. It also launched the FIFA Foundation’s Digital Education Programme in 2025. It is expected to be rolled out to more than 400 primary schools in Bhutan – impacting more than 77,000 students – by 2028.

“On behalf of the Bhutan Football Federation, I extend my profound appreciation to FIFA,” Dasho Ugen said. “FIFA has truly embraced the principle that football can only be global when every member association – regardless of its population, ranking or financial capacity – is given a genuine opportunity to progress. With FIFA standing beside us, we look to that future with gratitude, humility and renewed ambition.”