Ground Capacity 10,000 2016 1st Manager Karun Gurung Founded 2011 | President Hishey Tshering Arena/Stadium Changlimithang Stadium Head coach Karun Gurung | |
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Full name Thimphu City Football Club Ground Changlimithang
Thimphu, Bhutan Leagues Thimphu League, Bhutan National League | ||
Thimphu City Football Club is a football club from Thimphu, Bhutan, founded in 2011, who currently play in the A Division, the top level of football in Bhutan, and have finished as runner's up in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. In 2012 they qualified for the inaugural Bhutan National League. Formerly known as Zimdra FC, in the 2012 season they changed their name to Thimphu City and again qualified for the 2013 Bhutan National League, finishing second behind eventual winners Yeedzin. They finally won the Thimphu League title and National League title in 2016. Their veteran team is known as Young Hearts FC.
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History
Founded in 2011 as Zimdra, Thimphu City are one of the newer teams competing in the A-Division. Their first recorded involvement in top flight football in Bhutan was in 2011, when they finished as runners-up to eventual winners Yeedzin in a truncated season consisting of a single round-robin set of matches in anticipation of the commencement of a new National League, which was eventually delayed for another season.
The following season was also reasonably successful. Zimdra again finished as runner's up in the A-Division, this time being beaten to the title by Druk Pol, despite beating Druk Pol in the final game of the season. During that campaign, they went through the whole competition unbeated, dropping points only in a draw with Druk Pol and two draws with Yeedzin. In finishing second in the A-Division, they qualified for the inaugural National League, though did not fare quite so well in this competition, finishing fifth out of six competing teams, winning five and drawing one of their ten games.
For a third season in a row, Thimphu City, as Zimdra had now been renamed, finished as runners-up in the A-Division, winning five and drawing one of their eight games, but finishing five points behind champions Yeedzin. they performed better than the previous season in the National League finishing in third place, comfortably ahead of Druk Pol, with five wins and three draws from their eight games, but three points behind champions Ugyen Academy. Prior to 2013, Thimphu City had been in a difficult financial situation. Owner Hishey Tshering was spending a lot of his own money at the time, paying salaries and covering school fees for younger players in a football league where there is no money generated from gate receipts and sponsorship is thin on the ground. Fortunately for the club a friend of Tshering's and some other private sponsors contribute money so that the club is able to pay between 20 and 40 thousand Ngultrum to its players.
At the halfway point of the 2014 season, it looked like Thimphu might finally be able to go that step further and claim a first A-Division title, as they led by three points from Druk Pol with five wins and a draw from six matches, dropping points only against Druk Star. However, they slipped up in the penultimate round of matches, losing 5–1 to Druk United. Thimphu had played all their matches and led the league by a point. However, that loss to Druk United meant they were now only a point behind with a game still to play. Druk United thumped Druk Star 8–3 in this final game to take the A-Division title and consign Thimphu to a fourth straight second place, though they could take consolation in the fact that they had again qualified for the National League.
Thimphu City enjoyed a strong start to the National League season, leading the league at the halfway point, having dropped points only in an opening day 4–0 defeat to eventual winners Druk United. The second half of the season was less successful. Although they achieved a season high victory 16–0 against bottom placed Bhutan Clearing, they only won one other game and slipped to a final position of third, behind Druk United and Ugyen Academy.
Current squad
As of 2013:
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.