Brunant national football team

The Brunant national football team (in Dutch: Brunants voetbalelftal) represents Brunant in association football and is controlled by the Brunanter Football Association. The team is coached by Brunant's home stadium is the Koningstadion, although they also play at the SD Bank-Center. The team is nicknamed "the red dragons" (de rode draken), as they use red jerseys.

Early history
Brunant played it's first official game in 1909 versus England, which they lost 3-0. Brunant's first goal was scored by Luigi Domart in a 1-1 draw with Serbia in 1910. Their first win was over Belgium in 1912, which they beat 2-1. The Dragons were not very successful in this era, winning only five matches and not qualifying to any major tournaments. With Florian Evers on the team (from 1925-1940) Brunant improved significantly but was not a big team globally due to a lack of other good players.

1950s and 1960s
The team participated in the inaugural Micronations World Cup in 1952 but did not advance past the group stage. Brunant drew with Libertas, lost to Luxembourg and the eventual champions Saarland. In 1954 Brunant performed much better. They won two of their group matches, defeated the Netherlands Antilles 3-0 in the quarter-finals and edged Guatemala 1-0 in the semis. They made it to the finals but lost out to Saarland 4-1.

The golden age
The greatest era for Brunanter football was in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with players such as Andres Mones, Willem Bergher, Hamid El-Zein and Stefan Linard. The team was coached by Brazilian Donato da Costa.

1978 Micronations
In the 1978 Micronations, Brunant made it past the group stages and faced guest powerhouse Italy in the quarter-final. Against several top-class footballers, Brunant's defense was able to break down the Italians' attacks. In the 73rd minute, a defensive blunder allowed Bergher to slip into the box and beat keeper Bordon to make it 0-1 (Brunant held on for the win and Italy was shockingly knocked out). In the semifinal, Brunant beat Trinidad and Tobago 2-0. In the final, several tactical blunders saw them lose 3-1 to Malta.

WFC 1980
In WFC '80, Brunant had its strongest showing ever. The first Match was a 2-1 win over Guinea. The second game was a difficult 3-3 draw with hosts Yugoslavia and final game ended 2-0 versus Monaco. Brunant played their quarter-final match against Togo which ended 2-0. In the semifinal a lone Bergher goal was enough to see them beat newcomers Inselöarna. Playing Czechoslovakia, Brunant won 3-2, thanks to goals by Bergher and Mones.

WFC 1984
By 1984, many of Brunant's stars were aging but were still fit and top-class. Brunant was again coached by Donato. In the first group game, Bergher scored all three goals in the 3-0 win over Liechtenstein. El-Zein and Linard then scored in a 2-2 draw with Singapore and in the final game Brunant drew 1-1 with Austria, though they lost Bergher for the rest of the tournament due to a heavy foul. The quarter-final was a breezing 0-4 win over Andorra and the semifinal saw them play heavyweights Scotland; an early 2-0 lead was lost by halftime but defender Charles Mildon grabbed a late winning goal for the Red Dragons. The final was a nailbiting matchup with Poland. At the end of 90 minutes it was 3-3 but two extra-time goals saw Brunant win 5-3; Andres Mones scored a hat-trick, El-Zein grabbed one and substitute Jos Hillard grabbed the last goal.

Decline in the 1980s and 1990s
Following the '84 Micronations, many of Brunant's star players retired from international football due to age. By 1986 only Stefan Linard and Charles Mildon remained from the 1980 and 1984 teams. Bergher returned to the team in 1988, but only as a last-minute replacement.

For the 1988 micronations, Brunant had found a new star in Adam Steiner. Brunant barely managed to advance past the group stages and won an unconvincing quarter-final 1-0 against Monaco. The semifinal was played against Hungary, where keeper David Grantham had an excellent game and was key to winning the penalty shootouts for Brunant (in yet another unconvincing 0-0 display). In Brunant's fourth consecutive final, Brunant fell apart and were lucky to only lose 0-2 against Faroe Islands.

For 1992 Brunant assembled a team that included Matthias Bergmann, Manuel Belmont and Steiner up front, but with two draws and a loss in the group stages were promptly eliminated. In 1996 Brunant made it past the group stages but were stopped by Finland in the quarter-final, a huge 4-0 loss. Polish coach Jerzy Kazek took over control after that game but was axed in 1999 due to several terrible friendlies. His replacement with Italian Roberto Bracciale would prove providential.

2000 Micronations
Bracciale assembled a team which included established players like Dirk Schaertsen and Amadeus Kunter as well as young players like Felix Brunner, Oliver Jordans and Henry Harlow.

The 2000 micronations is seen by many as Brunant's best performance in international football, where they went unbeaten in all six matches. Brunant started off the group stages with a 0-0 draw with Czech Republic, followed by a 4-0 win over Lebanon and a 2-3 win over Luxembourg. In the quarter-final against Libertas, Jordans put on an excellent performance to score the only goal in the 1-0 win. The semifinal was an easy 0-2 win over Luxebourg. In the final, Brunant beat Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 thanks to a corner header from Felix Brunner. Bracciale became only the second manager to win the Micronations with Brunant and was subsequently awarded the Order of the Dragon.

Recent years
Following the 2000 micronations, Brunant have not been able to find success again. In the 2004 tournament(after a promising start), Brunant bowed out in the semifinal to Singapore, in a 3-0 loss. In 2008, with the likes of Mario Hoever, Ibra El-Zein and top goalkeeper Peter Boesman on the squad, Brunant struggled passed the group stages only to lose in penalties to invitees Bosnia and Hercegovina (a 2-2 draw).

In 2012, there was much expectation from the Red Dragons. Featuring top players like El-Zein and Anthony Elteman, as well as rising stars like Carlinhos and Stefan El-Zein, they were considered among the favorites, especially as Brunant was hosting the micronations. Fans were dismayed in the opening group game after the 2-3 loss to Guadeloupe. The next game was a convincing 2-4 win over Vanuatu, and the final group match ended a 1-4 win versus Bhutan. Brunant faced five-time champion Singapore in the quarter-finals, and despite putting on a heroic effort could not prevent the 4-2 loss.

Starting lineup
Brunant uses a 3-4-2-1 tactic for its starting 11. Ibra El-Zein serves as the central striker and is supported Hoever and Losinger. Jostens, as the center-midfielder feeds the ball through to the forwards and wingers S. El-Zein and Marzouk put pressure on opponents' defense.

Kits
The Brunanter national team's jerseys have been made by Nike since 1991. The first jerseys, used in 1909, were black and white striped jerseys, but in 1915 red-and-white jerseys were used for the first time. In 1935 the white band was added at the top of the shirt which continues in use to day, albeit as a stylized "v".

The home jersey is sed with a white v around the neck. The shorts was white/red, as were the socks. The away jersey is a white shirt with a red v-neck. The shorts are white and the socks solid red. Brunant has a third alternate jersey of red and gray, but it is rarely used.

Venues
The principal stadium for Brunanter home games is the 40,000 seat Koningstadion, in Koningstad. A secondary venue is the 22,000 seat University Park stadium in Grijzestad. Other less important games may be held at the MaxiStadion Brunant, and Carrington Park was the site of a friendly versus Sweden in July 2011.

Historically only the Koningstadion was used for home games, but other stadiums were used to bring the game to other regions of Brunant.

Managers
Managers in bold have won a major international tournament

Top goalscorers
Bold players are still active with the national team

Honors

 * Micronations World Cup
 * Winner: 1980, 1984, 2000
 * Runners-up: 1954, 1978, 1988
 * Mediterranean Nations Cup
 * Winner: 1955, 1961
 * Runners-up: 1963