Under the current Sharia law, women's football in Brunei Darussalam is prohibited.[1] Though women were banned from playing, football was the second most popular sport in the country for women.[2] There are no registered female players in the country.[2] While there is officially no support for women's football in the country, only foreign females at Berakas International School are allowed to play within the school campus.[3] There are also some women futsal teams set up as regional representatives on occasion.[4]
History
As of 2019, the women's national team has not competed at the Women's World Cup.[5] In 2005, the country was one of seven teams that included Thailand, Indonesia, East Timor, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Singapore, that were expected to field a women's football team to compete at the Southeast Asian Games in Marikina in December.[6] As of 2006, there was no official senior a team or junior national team.[2] In March 2012, the team was not ranked in the world by FIFA.[7]
In June 2023, former United States women's soccer internationals Lorrie Fair and Amy Griffin visited Brunei for a week-long series of meetings and lectures organised by the U.S. State Department under the Sports Envoy Programme.[8] The then Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (FABD) President Pengiran Haji Matusin stated at a news conference for the United States (US) Sports Envoy Program on 6 June that the FABD would continue to work toward the goal of growing women's football in the nation despite the difficulties encountered.[9]
^Ballard, John; Suff, Paul (1999). The dictionary of football : the complete A-Z of international football from Ajax to Zinedine Zidane. London, England: Boxtree. pp. 101–102. ISBN0-7522-2434-4. OCLC59442612.