Football has achieved significant renewed popularity in the last few years following the advent of satellite television broadcasting in the Kingdom of Bhutan.

To encourage this growing interest for the beautiful game, one of the Bhutan Football Federation’s (BFF) key objectives is to construct superior infrastructure for all football enthusiasts across the country. With the support of the FIFA Forward programme, the BFF has decided to install four artificial turfs in different areas of the country.

Two artificial turfs have already been installed in the cities of Gelephu and Samtse, located in the southern part of the country near the Indian border. While the Gelephu turf was installed within the residential Girls Football Academy of Bhutan Football Federation, which helps training of the girls and women national teams, the Samtse turf hosted the first-ever Samtse Football Championship 2019 from 6 to 26 January 2019.

Nine clubs including four from neighbouring India participated in this inaugural tournament, which was won by Ugyen Academy of Bhutan. Another two football turfs are under construction and will be completed by June 2019 in Thimphu, the capital city.

By introducing new state-of-the-art facilities, the BFF will enhance all players’ performances, as they will be able to play on surfaces that meet the highest security standards without risking any injuries.

Success is on its way for the member association which has already witnessed an increased participation with longer hours of training for its different national teams, in both local and national levels, who are now able to enjoy their training sessions from early mornings to late nights.