Dzeia national football team

Dzeia

Nickname(s)	Pʻuł̣unx̣ṭeḿ (Blue Archer) Sʻtaaŋł̣utʻiq (The Nighthawks)
Association	Dzean Football Association (DFA)
Confederation	EKFA
Sub-confederation	TFC
Head coach	Tix̣ł̣utʻ Pʻuł̣un
Captain	Xax̣łńux̣ Qihuutli
Most caps	Łaaqńoł̣q Ńiitli (177)
Top scorer	Xeł̣x̣ḿeŋ Çaamun (101)
Home stadium	Astral Sky Stadium
Code	DZE
First colours Second colours
World ranking
Current	4
Highest	1 (February 2010 - October 2012; April 2015 - January 2016)
Lowest	13 (January 1981 - April 1982)
First international
Dzeia 0–3 Etrius (Łʻysxḿoˮniq, Dzeia; 17 November 1953)
Biggest win
Dzeia 11–0 Khali'tur (Ŋołtʻokeq, Dzeia; 23 June 1997)
Biggest defeat
Etrius 10–1 Dzeia (Kiros, Etrius; 5 August 1957)
Kalranian Cup
Appearances	11 (first in 1982)
Best result	Champions (2010)
Sunrise Cup
Appearances	9 (first in 1983)
Best result	Champions (2011, 2015, 2019)

The Dzeia national football team, also known by the nickname Pʻuł̣unx̣ṭeḿ (Blue Archer), represents Dzeia in men's international football and is supervised by the Dzeia Football Association (DFA), the governing body for football in Dzeia.

Founded in 1957, until the 1980's it was a small and amateur team. For a long time traditional sports were overwhelmingly dominant and the niche was only found in those foreign expats living in Ŋołtʻokeq. After 1981, when football was fully professionalized, Dzeia has emerged as one of the most successful teams in the East, achieving second place in 1994 and 1998, as well as third place in 2002 and 2006, before becoming world champions in 2010, with 11 world cup appearances so far. They have won the Sunrise Cup a total of three times, the second most in the EKFA, as well as it being three back-to-back victories.

Dzeia's progress in a short period has served as an inspiration and example of how to develop football. Their principal rivals are the nations of Otyken, Etrius and Brennus, with whom the nation routinely contends the semi-finals and finals, as well as a more recent rivalry arising with the nations of Honalulu and Eldamar.

History

Pre-modernization (1950's-1970's)

The first interactions the nation had with the sport occured during the founding of Ŋołtʻokeq in 1951, where those moving to the etrian sector introduced football to the Tsotʻaan, Xanaaq̇ut, who would take a liking to it. By 1953, an amateur team, mostly comprised of etrian migrants and a few dze from the neighbouring tribes, would be formed to play the first international matches, though it would suffer from a lack of matches, as only the nations of Etrius and Brennus had agreements with the Dze this far back, hampering their ability to professionalize.

This continued into the 60's, where the nation played a total of twenty matches throughout the decade, though the entry into REK allowed for the nation to begin playing with a more diverse set of nations, though the team remained almost entirely amateur, with little in the way to pay for the improvement of the standards as the nation entered a period of reclusion under the rule of Ł̣utʻtońat in the mid-60's. This meant that during the next decade, even less matches were played, with the players being exclusively from Ŋołtʻokeq or the neighbouring clans as not even a professional domestic league could be created; regardless, it was this decade that saw the sport start to gain a following with the autochtonous populations, slowly, as the nation re-entered the world stage during it's role as a safe haven for refugees during the Cipher War.

1980's-1990's: Rise

It was in the Tsodzuńńi of 1979 that Ł̣utʻtońat would be persuaded to open the country once more, through a ten year process to prepare the nation for the 15-year period of modernization. One of the things brought forward during the meeting, via a popular petition from Ŋołtʻokeq's citizenry, was the professionalization of dzean football, which was agreed upon. A professional league and team were created in 1980, entering the KFA in 1981 just in time for the 1982 Qualifications, in which they managed to narrowly beat Averius for 3rd place in their group, avoiding a knock-off match with Honalulu, though they would lose at the group stage with only 1 point. With a similar story in 1986, the nation would qualify first of its group to the World Cup, but fail to qualify to the semi-finals, achieving 7th place overall.

Despite the lackluster results during the decade, it was during this time that the nation gained the experience and play-time required to become an internationally competitive team, with the nation scoring 2nd place in the 1990 Qualifications and reaching 4th place over-all, having lost the third-place match against Otyken. The full results of the work came in 1994 where the nation got to the finals, losing 1-0 to the host nation, Brennus, on aggregate time; four years later, the same miracle would be played, though this time the nation would lose the final 2-0 to Etrius. Becoming one of the top five nations worldwide by the middle of the decade, the national team had made quite the impression due to their tenacity during matches and the un-orthodox strategies used by its coach at the time, Kilo Farrassi, who made use of the dze's slight physical edge to its fullest extent.

Results and fixtures

2022

Dzeia v Nonadia

6 August Friendly	Dzeia	4-2	Nonadia	Łʻysxḿoˮniq, Dzeia
12:00				Stadium: Astral Sky Stadium Attendance: 47,963

Honalulu v Dzeia

13 August Friendly	Honalulu	0-2	Dzeia	Rothenake, Honalulu
17:30				Stadium: Rothenake Stadium Attendance: 23,301

Sodor v Dzeia

25 August Friendly	Sodor	1-1	Dzeia	Kristreyri, Sodor
14:30				Stadium: Kristreyri Stadium Attendance: 48,190

Dzeia v Etrius

3 September Friendly	Dzeia	4-3	Etrius	Ŋołtʻokeq, Dzeia
17:30				Stadium: Ŋołtʻokeq Stadium Attendance: 43,814

Coaching staff

Managerial history

Last Updated on the 3rd of September, 2022, after the match against Sodor.

Manager	Period	Record
		Matches	Won	Draw	Lost	Win %
ETR Vallen Nomanov	1981-1984	11	4	3	4	36.36%
BRN Simon Beaumont	1984-1987	12	8	4	1	66.67%
ETR Kilo Farrassi	1988-1995	29	18	6	5	62.07%
BRN René Leclère	1995-2000	12	7	4	1	58.33%
BRN Timothé Boffrand	2000-2003	18	11	3	4	61.11%
GOR Gavel Avon Gar	2004-2007	17	10	4	3	58.82%
DZE Tʻuuqaḳeełʻ Ç̇uˮin	2008-2012	19	14	3	2	73.68%
BRN Arsène Giraud	2013-2016	20	13	5	2	65%
SOD Freyr Taimiasala	2017-2018	7	3	2	2	42.86%
DZE Tix̣ł̣utʻ Pʻuł̣un	2019-	26	23	2	1	88.46%
Manager	Period	Record
		Matches	Won	Draw	Lost	Win %