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Even though Laos established its national football association in 1951, the tiny South East Asian nation is still waiting to make its first entrance into a major international competition.
Laos have never entered the World Cup, Asian Cup or Asian Games and as an international side, their appearances have been restricted to regional tournaments such as the South East Asian Games and the ASEAN Tiger Cup.
Domestic football is amateur although most of the top teams are drawn from government ministries and public services.
Football is booming in Laos. In the qualifying preliminary rounds for the 2004 Asian Cup, they beat Bangladesh 2-1. In the 2006 World Cup Asian zone qualifiers, they qualified for the second round as a lucky loser after Guam and Nepal both withdrew from competition.
Going back the years, Laos has defeated their much more established counterparts such as Brunei, Philippines and even Malaysia who was once, a top Asian team in the SEA Games, South East Asia's premier games.
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