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Episode details

World Service,4 mins

Bhutan On the Road to Russia

Not by the Playbook

Available for over a year

Just 242 days after the Germany captain Philipp Lahm lifted the World Cup trophy in the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, qualifying for the 2018 tournament has begun. The 12 lowest-ranked nations in Asia take part in the first leg of preliminaries on Thursday. Bhutan are one of those in action. They're officially the world's worst national team, according to FIFA's rankings, and made their debut in World Cup qualifying away to Sri Lanka. The tiny Buddhist kingdom in the Himalaeus is better known for archery and its government's policy of using Gross National Happiness, but football is popular as evidenced in the film "The Cup" writen and produced by the Lama Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

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