Early days at
Berakas Airport in 1970 The national team's first appearance took place during the
1972 AFC Asian Cup qualification, where they were unable to qualify after all three heavy defeats. The following two championships (1976 and 1977) were no different from the first, with their first and second victory during the
1980 Summer Olympics. In 1979, Brunei
entered a team to compete in the professional
Malaysian league and despite competing against Malaysian clubs, Brunei had previously never made an impact. However, in 1999, they shocked everyone by lifting the
Malaysia Cup. Brunei became the runners-up of the
Brunei Merdeka Games trophy in 1985. Since then, team was not able to qualify into or win any major tournaments. Coming the closest was the 1993 Philippines International Cup, where they came in third position after a 1–0 victory against the
Philippines. Brunei was then invited for the inaugural
2006 AFC Challenge Cup held in
Bangladesh being grouped with
Sri Lanka,
Bhutan and
Nepal. Brunei narrowly lost to Sri Lanka 1–0 before bouncing back from their defeat in the second match winning against Nepal 2–1 however with them needing the win in the last fixture, Brunei ended up in a goalless draw crashing out from the cup splitting the same points as Nepal but on goal differences.
Suspension In September 2009, the
Brunei Football Association (BAFA) was suspended due to governmental interference in its affairs, which started with a decision by the Brunei authorities to dissolve BAFA and to replace it with a new federation in December 2008. The suspension was applied with immediate effect and meant that the Brunei club
DPMM were no longer permitted to play in the Singapore
S.League until it was resolved. DPMM has confirmed to
Football Association of Singapore (FAS) that they are unable to finish their S.League season because of the issue with its association. FIFA rejected FAS's final request on 17 October 2009 to permit DPMM to compete in the current S.League season while BAFA's suspension persisted. On 19 March 2010, the
FIFA Executive Committee agreed to submit to the next
FIFA Congress the expulsion of the association if the BAFA has not been reinstated by then, after noting that no major progress had been made since the BAFA was suspended in September 2009. FIFA warned that unless BAFA came to FIFA's Congress on 9 and 10 June in
South Africa having met the conditions for reinstatement it would be expelled. Brunei were re-instated on 31 May 2011 and the
National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) was formed that same year.
Reform playing against
Indonesia during the first round of the
2026 FIFA World Cup Qualification|239x239px Upon returning to the football action, the Wasps were unable to qualify for both the
2012 and
2014 AFF Championship following several losses. Brunei was again defeated 2–1 in
aggregate against the
Chinese Taipei during the
2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification in March 2015. The wasps failed to
qualify for the
2016 AFF Championship after suffering defeats from
Cambodia and
Laos. Brunei was then invited to the
2016 AFC Solidarity Cup where they finished in fourth place after losing 3–2 to
Laos. Despite the disappointment,
Shah Razen Said from the Bruneian side managed to become the tournament's top scorer, finishing with a total of 4 goals.
Timor-Leste defeated Brunei in the second leg
2018 AFF Championship qualifying match at the
Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium on 8 September 2018, securing their spot in the
2018 AFF Championship final round group action for the first time in 14 years. Despite having a two-goal advantage from the first leg, Timor-Leste fell 1–0 but still advanced with a 3–2 aggregate score. Brunei defeated
Mongolia 2–1 on 11 June 2019, but were unable to advance to the next stage of the preliminary joint qualification for the
2022 FIFA World Cup and the
2023 AFC Asian Cup.
Return to the AFF Championship Under new coach
Mario Rivera, Brunei managed to qualify to the
2022 AFF Championship for the first time in 26 years since its inaugural edition in
1996, by defeating Timor-Leste
6–3 on aggregate. The Wasps were grouped with
Thailand,
Indonesia,
Philippines and
Cambodia. They finished the group stage without gaining a single point, conceding at least 5 goals in every game with
Razimie Ramlli scoring against the Philippines and
Nur Ikhwan Othman scoring against Cambodia. On 17 October 2023, Brunei returned to the
Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium after four years since their last match against Mongolia in 2019 for their fixture against Indonesia in the first round of the
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification. The Wasps were beaten 0–12 on aggregate, knocking them out of the qualification in the first round.
2024 win streak In 2024, FIFA invited Brunei to the
2024 FIFA Series held in March in
Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia where they would face their first ever opponents outside of their confederation. On 22 March, Brunei faced off against
CONCACAF opponent
Bermuda but conceded two late goals, losing 2–0. Four days later, Brunei came against
Vanuatu and won the match 3–2, when three minutes into stoppage time
Hakeme Yazid Said's direct free kick sealed the victory against their opponents from
Oceania. Later in June of that year, Brunei invited the
Sri Lanka national team to two friendly matches in the country in conjunction with the
FIFA calendar. Headed by interim coach
Rui Capela Batista, Brunei extended their winning form to three which is the first time in their history after captain
Azwan Ali Rahman scored the only goal in both games held at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium on 8 and 11 June respectively. The following September, Brunei registered two wins against
Macau with an aggregate of 4–0 during the
2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification play-off round to further stretch the streak to five games and thus gaining their spot at the
third qualification round of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification. The following month, they failed to qualify for the
2024 ASEAN Championship, losing to
Timor-Leste 0–1 on aggregate. A friendly in Russia organised by the
Russian Football Union was then held in November and resulted in a 11–0 heavy defeat, with the squad marred by an
indiscipline scandal that led to several suspensions meted out to offending players. Brunei finished their 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification behind
Lebanon,
Yemen and
Bhutan with three points in six games. == Team image ==