The team had been representingMacau in international football events before 1999 when Macau was adependent territory ofPortugal. It continues to represent Macau even after Macau washanded over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal and became aspecial administrative region of China in 1999. This team is separate from theChina national football team, as theBasic Law and the principle of "one country, two systems" allows Macau to maintain its own representative teams in international sports competitions. In Macau, the Macau football team is colloquially referred to as the "Macau team" (澳門隊), while theChinese national team is referred to as the "national team" (國家隊).
Macau then participated in the inaugural2016 AFC Solidarity Cup held inKuching,Malaysia being grouped withLaos,Mongolia andSri Lanka. In the first match, Macau won Mongolia 2–1 with captain,Niki Torrão scoring a brace. The following match, Macau won Laos 4–1 before eventually drawing to Sri Lanka 1–1 which see Macau advanced to the semi-finals as group leaders. Macau facedBrunei whichLeong Ka Hang rescued Macau from a one goal deficit to level the match at 1–1 seeing both sides off to extra time however the match goes on to penalties shoot out with Macau advancing to their first even international cup final. On 15 November 2016, Macau facedNepal however in the 29' minute of the match, NepaleseSujal Shrestha break the deadlock and Nepal ended up winning the 2016 AFC Solidarity Cup at theSarawak Stadium. Leong Ka Hang is given the tournament 'Most Valuable Player' and Niki Torrão as the top joint goal scorer with 4 goals.
During the2022 FIFA World Cup qualification againstSri Lanka in which they won the first tie 1–0, they forfeited the second tie which awarded Sri Lanka was awarded as a 3–0 victory to Sri Lanka after Macau did not send their team for the match due to safety reasons following the2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings. After a 4 years hiatus from theCOVID-19 pandemic, On 26 March 2023, Macau play their first ever international matches at their own ground,Estádio Campo Desportivo againstSingapore in a 1–0 defeat. On 19 June 2023, Macau travelled toDalian,China to faceMyanmar in a friendly match. Since their returned to international football, Macau mostly played against Southeast Asian country likeCambodia andBrunei.
In August 2024, all non-Chinese nationals listed to play for the Macau Football Association became ineligible for the team under FIFA Congress's adoption to a rule amendment made in 18 September 2020. The players affected includeVitor Almeida, Iuri Capelo, captainNicholas Torrão, andFilipe Duarte, as well as a fifth player who was about to join up.[5]
In 2005, Macau was temporarily barred byFIFA from entering any international matches because of alleged undue influence of the government in forming the committee of its football association. The suspension was lifted after rectification by Macau.[6][7]
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The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.[8]
INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury PRE Preliminary squad WD Player withdrew from the squad. RET Player retired from international football
^澳門足球總會 Macau Football Association."International Friendly Squad List".facebook.Archived from the original on 14 September 2023. Retrieved17 June 2023.澳門男子成人代表隊將於6月18日(日)出發,前往中國大連足球訓練基地(中立場)與緬甸代表隊進行一場國際友誼賽,以下為比賽相關資訊及此次比賽的隊職員名單。