| Timor-Leste | |
| Badge Size: | 180px |
| Fifa Trigramme: | TLS |
| Nickname: | O Sol Nascente (The Rising Sun) |
| Association: | Federação de Futebol de Timor-Leste |
| Sub-Confederation: | AFF (Southeast Asia) |
| Confederation: | AFC (Asia) |
| Coach: | Park Soon-tae |
| Captain: | Filomeno Junior |
| Most Caps: | Ramos Maxanches Nilo Soares (18) |
| Top Scorer: | Murilo de Almeida Henrique Cruz Mouzinho (3) |
| Home Stadium: | East Timor National Stadium |
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| First Game: | 3–0 (Bangkok, Thailand; 30 August 2005) |
| Largest Loss: | 11–0 (Vientiane, Laos; 2 December 2009) |
| Regional Name: | Asian Games |
| Regional Cup Apps: | 2 |
| Regional Cup First: | 2014 |
| Regional Cup Best: | Group Stage (2014, 2018) |
| 2Ndregional Name: | Southeast Asian Games |
| 2Ndregional Cup Apps: | 8 |
| 2Ndregional Cup First: | 2009 |
| 2Ndregional Cup Best: | Group Stage (8 times) |
| 3Rdregional Name: | AFF U-23 Championship |
| 3Rdregional Cup Apps: | 4 |
| 3Rdregional Cup First: | 2005 |
| 3Rdregional Cup Best: | Third place (2022) |
The East Timor national Under-23 football team represents the East Timor (recognized as Timor-Leste) in international football competitions in the Olympic Games, Asian Games, Southeast Asian Games and any other under-23 international football tournaments. It is controlled by the Federação de Futebol de Timor-Leste, the governing body of football in the country. East Timor is currently one of the weakest teams in the world. They won their first match on 5 November 2011 against Brunei, scoring 2–1.[1]
Football was firstly introduced during Portuguese Timor era where many local and the Portuguese colonial official played the sport for enjoyment. After the Portuguese leave the eastern part of the island of Timor, neighbouring Indonesia invaded and change their culture and identity. East Timor gained full independence in 2002 after more than 20 years of occupation which resulted in a long running battle against Jakarta-led forces. The Timor-Leste U-23 team was invited to the 2005 AFF U-23 Youth Championship without any success, which is the first time that the team played in an international tournament. In 2009, the team entered the first Southeast Asian Games. Once again, they lost every match, including a 0–11 loss to Malaysia. Timor-Leste had major improvements at the 2011 SEA Games, when they used overseas players of Timorese descent from Brazil and Australia. These players contributed a lot to their successful run; especially from Murilo de Almeida who managed to score three goals. The team finished third in their group by recording their first win in their history, finishing above Laos, Brunei and the Philippines and had a goal difference of –4, which was a big improvement compared to their previous participation where the team finished last in their group with no wins from four games, scoring only once and having a goal difference of –28.
Timor-Leste's traditional home kit includes a red shirt, black shorts and red or black socks. The away kits feature white or yellow shirts. At the 2009 SEA Games, their home kit resemble the one worn by the Belgium national team.
| Olympic Games record | width=1% rowspan=39 | Qualification record | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Position | |||||||||||||||
 1992 | Part of | Part of | |||||||||||||||
 1996 | |||||||||||||||||
 2000 | |||||||||||||||||
 2004 | did not enter | did not enter | |||||||||||||||
 2008 | |||||||||||||||||
 2012 | |||||||||||||||||
 2016 | did not qualify | 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | |||||||||
 2020 | 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 16 | ||||||||||
 2024 | 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 10 | ||||||||||
| To be determined | To be determined | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | — | 0/8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | AFC U-23 Asian Cup (From 2016) | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 34 | ||
(Under-23 Team since 2002)
| AFC U-23 Championship | width=1% rowspan=39 | Qualification record | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Position | ||||||||||||||
| did not qualify | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 9 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | |||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | |||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 16 | |||||||||||
 2022 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | ||||||||||
| did not qualify | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 10 | ||||||||||
| To be determined | To be determined | |||||||||||||||
| – | 20 | 6 | 2 | 12 | 28 | 56 | ||||||||||
(Under-23 Team since 2001)
| Southeast Asian Games | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Position | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | |
| Did not enter | |||||||||
| Group stage | 9th | ||||||||
| 6th | |||||||||
| 7th | |||||||||
| 9th | |||||||||
| 9th | |||||||||
| 10th | |||||||||
| 2021 | 10th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 13 | ||
| 2023 | 7th | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 8/10 | |||||||||
| AFF U-23 Youth Championship | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | |
| 8th | |||||||||
| 6th | |||||||||
| 3rd | |||||||||
| 9th | |||||||||
| 4/4 | |||||||||
| Position | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| Head coach |  Park Soon-tae | |
| Assistant coach | Vacant | |
| Goalkeeper coach | Vacant | |
| Fitness coach | Vacant | |
| Physiotherapist |  Christopher Vieira | |
| Media officer | João Baptista Júnior | |
| Administrator | Fábio Gadelha | |
| Official | Domingos Calazans | |
| Kitman | Romualdo Sales |
| Coach | Coaching period | Pld | W | D | L | Achievements | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| José Luís | 2005 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2005 AFF U-23 Youth Championship – Round 1 (First Time) | |
| Manuel da Costa Soares | 2009–2010 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2009 Southeast Asian Games – Round 1 (First Time) | |
| Antonio Carlos Vieira | 2011–2012 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2011 Southeast Asian Games – First Win with Brunei | |
| Norio Tsukitate | 2012 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2013 AFC U-22 Championship qualification – Did not qualify | |
| Emerson Alcântara | 2013–2014 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2013 Southeast Asian Games – First Draw with Indonesia | |
| Takuma Koga | 2014 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2014 Asian Games – Round 1 (First Time) | |
| Fábio Magrão | 2015–2016 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification – Did not qualify 2015 Southeast Asian Games – Round 1 | |
| Kim Shin-hwan | 2017–2018 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualification – Did not qualify | |
| Norio Tsukitate | 2018–2019 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2018 Asian Games – Group stage |