Transport United FC

Transport United Football Club is a Bhutanese professional football club based in Thimphu, that competes in the Bhutan Premier League, the top flight of Bhutanese football. The club was founded in 2001 and plays at the Changlimithang Stadium.[1] Transport United has won five national championships,[2] and was a dominant force in Bhutanese football throughout much of the first decade of the twenty-first century.

Transport United FC
Full nameTransport United Football Club
Short nameTUFC
Founded2001 (2001)
GroundChanglimithang Stadium
Capacity45,000
PresidentSangay Dorji
LeagueBhutan Premier League
2020Bhutan Premier League, 4th of 8

In the 2017 season, the club won the title after completing an entire season undefeated and hence qualified for the AFC Cup for the first time.

History

2002 to 2004

Transport United made their debut in the 2002 A-Division.[3] Their final position is not known, other than they can have finished at most second as the title was one by Drukpol,[3] and the only known result for them for that season was a 5–1 loss to Thimpu.[3] More details are available for the following season, where Transport United finished third, four points behind winners Drukpol, winning five and drawing one of their eight games in the single round-robin competition.[4] Their third season of competition was their most successful to date, as they won the A-Division and as a result were awarded Bhutan's place in the inaugural AFC President's Cup.[5] No further details of their performance are available.[5]

2005

Their success in the prior season continued in 2005 as they won their second consecutive A-Division title,[6] winning nine and drawing two of their twelve games[6] and qualifying in the process for the 2006 AFC President's Cup. Their first foray into continental football was less successful. They were drawn in Group A for the group stage, along with Regar-TadAZ from Tajikistan, Three Star Club from Nepal and Taipower from Taiwan.[7] They travelled to Kathmandu where the whole tournament was being hosted, but lost all three games and did not progress to the knock-out stage. Goals from Nawang Dendup against Regar-TadAZ and Pema Chophel versus Three Flag Club were the only moments of celebration during the tournament.

2006

A hat trick of titles followed in the 2006 season,[8] the first time this had been achieved since Drukpol won three in a row between 1996 and 1998.[2] There are no details surrounding the team's performance, but they did qualify again for the 2007 AFC President's Cup. As well as the third title, Transport United took part in their second continental appearance in the 2006 AFC President's Cup, where they were drawn again in Group A for the group stage along with Khemara Keila from Cambodia, Tatung from Taiwan and the Pakistan Army team.[9] This time, having travelled to Kurching, Malaysia where the tournament was being held, Transport United performed slightly better, losing in their first game to Khemara, only thanks to a last minute goal from Kim Son-U, when it had looked like Ugyen Wangchuk's equliser would be enough to secure their first point. In the following game it was Transport United's turn to snatch victory at the death, with a ninetieth minute strike from Wangay Dorji sealing their first ever victory over foreign opponents, and to date one of only two times a Bhutanese team has ever taken a point at a President's Cup. A draw would have been enough to take them through to the knockout round, but they collapsed 5–0 to Tatung.

2007

Transport United experienced further success the following season, winning their fourth title in a row, the only time a team has ever won four A-Division titles in a row[2] (Drukpol has won five national titles in a row between 1996 and 2000, but these were prior to the formation of the A-Division[2]). Details for this season are also scant, but in the game between Transport United and RIHS FC, Passang Tshering scored seventeen goals. Sources indicate that the most goals scored by a single player in a game is 16, scored by Panagiotis Pontikos of Olympos Xylofagou against SEK Ayios Athanasios in May 2007 and by Stephane Stanis for RC Strasbourg in the 1940s.[10] It would appear therefore, that Pontikos, having equalled a record that had stood for over 60 years, saw it broken only a few days later. The club also participated in their third consecutive AFC President's Cup, this time held in Lahore, Pakistan. They were drawn for the third time in Group A for the group stage, along with Regar TadAZ, Ratnam Sports Club from Sri Lanka and the Pakistan Army team.[11] The team got off to the worst possible start, conceding 13 against Regar-TadAZ and 6 against Ratnam, with only Gyeltshen's goal against the Sri Lankans providing any sort of comfort. In the final game though, a dead rubber, they were able to rescue some pride by defeating the Pakistan Army team 3–2, with two goals from Wangay Dorji and one from Sonam Jamtsho.

2008

Transport United's domestic dominance came to an end in 2008 when they were beaten into second place by Yeedzin and their four-year run of titles came to an end.[12] An early loss 2–1 to Yeedzin meant that they trailed them by a point at the half way stage of the season, having won all of their other games.[12] They were unable to catch Yeedzin in the second half of the season, as both teams vied for the title. Both Transport united and Yeedzin drew another game each and they went into the final game of the season against each other with Yeedzin still only one point clear.[12] Yeedzin were victorious in this winner takes all encounter taking the game 2–1 to deny Transport united a fifth consecutive title by four points.[12] They still however, had one more appearance in the 2008 AFC President's Cup. Drawn in Group C this time for the group stage along with FC Aşgabat from Turkmenistan, Kanbawza of Myanmar and Ratnam SC.[13] Once again, having travelled to Colombo where all the group games were scheduled to take place, the club got off to a bad start losing 7–1 to both Aşgabat and Ratnam before capitulating 11–0 to Kanbawza to leave the competition with three losses, 25 goals conceded and only two scored.

The 2018 squad of the current National Champions of Bhutan

2009 to present day

The club's formed slumped in 2009 as they won only three games and drew five to finish in fifth place out of eight teams, suffering 10–1 and 7–2 defeats at the hands of Yeedzin and Druk Star respectively.[14] An improvement the following season saw them finish in third place, behind Drukpol on goal difference, but nine points behind winner Yeedzin, winning eight and drawing one of their twelve games.[15] This period of stagnation continued in 2011 as they finished fourth,[16] but reached its nadir the next season. For the first time in their history Transport United were relegated,[17] finishing in second last place, their only points coming from two victories over bottom-placed team Nangpa.[17] Their first season in the B-Division was not particularly successful, they failed to reach the final of the knock-out stage of the competition and so did not get the chance to compete against bottom two clubs in the A-Division for the chance to return to the top flight at the first time of asking.[18]

They returned to the national stage in 2017, when they qualified from the Thimpu League (which now acts as the qualifiers for the Bhutan National League) into the 2017 Bhutan National League, placed second in the standings, only below Thimphu City. In the Bhutan National League, they finished the season undefeated with 9 wins and 1 draw out of 10 matches, hence claiming there 5th national title and thus qualifying for the AFC Cup for the very first time. In the 2018 AFC Cup, they were drawn against India's 2016-17 Federation Cup winners Bengaluru FC in the preliminary stage.[19]

Achievements
Winners: 2017, 2018
Runners-up: 2019
Winners: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2018

Continental record

All results (home and away) list Transport United's goal tally first.

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
2018 AFC Cup Preliminary round 1 Bengaluru 0–0 0–3 0–3
2019 AFC Cup Preliminary round 1 Colombo 1–2 1–7 2–9

References
  1. "Transport United FC". Soccerway. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  2. Schöggl, Hans; Abbink, Dinant (28 May 2014). "Bhutan – List of Champions". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  3. Schöggl, Hans (31 Jul 2003). "Bhutan 2002". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  4. Schöggl, Hans; Hai Naveed, Malik Riaz (5 Jun 2004). "Bhutan 2003". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  5. Schöggl, Hans (4 Jan 2006). "Bhutan 2004". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  6. Schöggl, Hans (4 Oct 2006). "Bhutan 2005". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  7. "2005 President's Cup teams". theafc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  8. Schöggl, Hans (2 Aug 2007). "Bhutan 2006". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  9. "2006 President's Cup teams". theafc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  10. Duffin, Claire; Lutz, Tom; Baldini, Paolo (9 May 2007). "The Knowledge – The highest scorer in one game of football". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  11. "2007 President's Cup teams". theafc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  12. Schöggl, Hans (9 Jul 2009). "Bhutan 2008". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  13. "2008 President's Cup teams". theafc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  14. Stokkermans, Karel; Nima, Chokey (27 Aug 2010). "Bhutan 2009". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  15. Stokkermans, Karel; Chhetri, Dinesh; Dorji, Mindu (13 Sep 2012). "Bhutan 2010". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  16. Stokkermans, Karel; Jigmi, Sonam (19 Sep 2013). "Bhutan 2011". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  17. Schöggl, Hans; Stokkermans, Karel; Jigmi, Sonam (28 Feb 2013). "Bhutan 2012". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  18. Schöggl, Hans; Stokkermans, Karel; Jigmi, Sonam (20 Feb 2014). "Bhutan 2013". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  19. PTI (29 November 2017). "Bengaluru FC to meet Transport United FC in AFC Cup Qualifier". The Times of India. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
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