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The federation launched the firstStates and Divisions Football Championship in 1952.[2] The highly popular annual competition became the main avenue for attracting talented players from around the country. This rudimentary level of talent development seemed sufficient for a while. Burma was a top Asian football power, along withIran andSouth Korea, in the 1960s and early 1970s, winning twoAsian Games tournaments (1966, 1970) and then unprecedented fiveSouth East Asian Games tournaments (1965–1973) as well as coming in second in the 1968Asian Cup tournament.[2] During a ten-year span between 1961 and 1970, Burma thoroughly dominated the U-19/U-20 Asian Cup, reaching the finals nine times and winning the tournament seven times.[3]
Starting from the mid-1970s, the country's football success—a source of much national pride—also declined rapidly, along with the country's precipitous economic decline. (Aside from a few regional tournament wins, the Burmese men's national team has not won any major football competition since 1973.) The federation did (or could do) little to promote development of football, nor nurture the talent through professional league competitions. Until 1996, the country's main football league consisted ofYangon-based clubs run by government ministries and known for corruption. Although private football clubs were allowed to join theMyanmar Premier League in 1996, the league still did not attract much following by Burmese public. In December 2008, the MFF announced the formation a new national professional league, theMyanmar National League, which will start its first full season in 2010.
In accordance with FIFA regulations, the MFF reportedly became an independent organization, free of government control, in March 2009.[4]
Together with Youri Djorkaeff, Aung San Suu Kyi meets the school kids at FIFA Football For Schools launching ceremony.
The MFF has launched the FIFA Football for Schools project with the support of the FIFA Foundation on 31 January 2020. The event, hosted by MFF PresidentZaw Zaw, was attended by the State Counsellor H. E.Aung San Suu Kyi, Union Minister for the Health and Sports Dr.Myint Htwe, Union Minister for Education Dr.Myo Thein Gyi, FIFA Foundation CEOYouri Djorkaeff, together with guests, presidents and secretaries from local township football associations.[5]
Zaw Zaw
Michael Feichtenbeiner
