Running a football club in Bhutan has become a personal financial gamble. Hishey Tshering, president of Thimphu City Football Club, recently revealed he had to sell property just to pay his players on time last year — and came close to walking away from the game entirely.

Hishey's involvement began around 2007-2008, when the coach of Druk Star asked him to take over as president and fund the team. Back then, an annual budget of roughly Nu 30,000 covered everything, with players earning about Nu 2,000 each over a short season. Two decades later, he estimates Thimphu City spends over Nu 2 million per season. Professional contracts, longer competitions and foreign signings have pushed costs far beyond what official support provides: the Bhutan Football Federation offers a Nu 300,000 preparation grant plus about Nu 70,000 per away trip, which Hishey says can be insufficient even for a journey to Punakha once accommodation is counted.

What saved the club for the 2026 season was unexpected. A former tourism client — a visitor who first came to Bhutan in 2008 — offered to cover the season's expenses. Without that, Hishey says, "you might have heard the last of Thimphu City."

There's a family thread running through the story. Hishey originally wanted his children to play football simply to keep them away from drugs and alcohol, even inviting addiction counsellors and recovered users to speak at the club. Instead, three of his four children turned the hobby into a career. His daughter, Pema Choden Tshering, captains Bhutan's national women's team and works as a FIFA regional consultant; his elder son plays for the national side and turned professional in Bangladesh last year; his 16-year-old younger son studies at the Bhutan Football Academy. The irony is personal too: Hishey runs Bhutan Birding and Heritage Travel, a birdwatching tour company, and had hoped his children would join the business. Football won.

Now he's urging Bhutan's policymakers to treat sport as a serious economic activity rather than a leisure pursuit, arguing it supports young people, health and communities. His pitch comes from hard experience — years of propping up a club with family savings while his children built their lives around the game.

For travellers, the story is a window into Bhutan beyond the monasteries and mountain treks. It also points to one of the kingdom's more surprising niche experiences: birdwatching. Bhutan is one of the world's top birding destinations, home to species like the black-necked crane and the rare white-bellied heron, and local operators run dedicated tours through forests that cover most of the country. If you time a visit with a match at Thimphu's Changlimithang Stadium — one of the world's highest football grounds at around 2,300 metres — you'll see exactly the kind of grassroots football culture Hishey is fighting to keep alive.

Story via The Bhutanese.