The Forbidden Team
                A story about a national football team without a nation

On 30th of June 2001, in Copenhagen, Denmark, a framework was formed for a historical football match; a match which FIFA and the Chinese government tried to prevent from taking place. The agreed upon match between Tibet and Greenland, would be the first international game ever played by Tibet.

”The Forbidden Team” is an exceptional story about a group of enthusiastic Danish and Tibetan souls that share a common dream of forming a national football team composed of exiled Tibetans. 

We follow the team from their first coaching sessions in Dharamsala, India - on a craggy, grassless pitch - to the last whistle in Copenhagen two years later.

In the film, we meet a number of colourful characters and learn about their different opinions of the team: Danish coach Jens Espensen who describes the squad as “extremely poor” and fears complete humiliation against Greenland; Karma, the team’s Tibetan manager who is a determined dreamer, and Sonam, captain of the team, who represents the new generation of Tibetans. A generation that has grown up outside of Tibet and is used to the western lifestyle.