Burma participated in 1954 Asian Games and won a bronze medal, standing behind Taiwan (gold) and South Korea (silver); this was the beginning of the golden era.

Having won a silver medal in 1968, the men's soccer team had a strong performance in the early 1970s as it qualified to compete in the 1972 Summer Olympics, which was held at Munich (West Germany), upon being one of the three finalists in the Asian tournament.

[6] Three years before that, the national team wrote perhaps their most important chapter: they captured the continental title for the second time in a row, after the Burmese Olympic Committee sent footballers to Thailand for the 1970 Asian Games.

[5] Over the following years, mainly due to political problems within the country, the national side's ability to defend its Asian title slowly faded away.

Myanmar's football capability has been questioned after their disastrous 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification; while at the same time, many teams in Asia have developed after many years in the shadows.

In an effort to prepare the team for the 2018 AFF Championship, on 13 October 2018, Myanmar played an unsuccessful friendly match against Bolivia at the Thuwunna Stadium, losing 3–0.

Myanmar began their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification grouping with old rival Kyrgyzstan, as well as Tajikistan, Mongolia and especially powerhouse Japan.

Under the guidance of the new manager Miodrag Radulović, Myanmar had a disastrous beginning when the team fell 0–1 to Mongolia away, 0–2 to Japan at home and especially a 0–7 away defeat to the Kyrgyz, causing the Montenegrin to be fired.

Eventually, Myanmar confirmed its bottom place in the group, losing 0–4 to Tajikistan, and have to play the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification.

However, those hopes were made impossible after Thailand won 4–0 against Myanmar which ended a disastrous tournament after failing to defeat the Philippines in the final matchday.

The team's chances of qualifying had been ruined, as they played Laos on home soil, going down 1–0 early on through Soukaphone Vongchiengkham but Kyaw Min Oo, who was having an excellent tournament scored a header, completely unmarked.

They lost 3–0 against Vietnam in their final match and they failed to registered a single win in the group stage of the AFF Championship for the first time since the 2014 edition.

With the domestic league being more active compared to last year's competition, Myanmar fans had no reason not to be optimistic when they participated in the 2023 Tri-Nation Series tournament hosted by India.

In the first match, the finishing cost Myanmar against a tough India side, losing 1–0 with a goal in first half stoppage time by Anirudh Thapa.

In the second match against Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar midfielder Kyaw Min Oo blew a big leading chance with a penalty miss in the first half.

Despite this miss, Myanmar continued to press and trouble the Kyrgyzstan defence and were eventually rewarded with a goal from Aung Thu in the 82' minute.

Amidst the backdrop of ongoing security crisis on home soil, notably with the kickstarting of the Operation 1027 that led to war and destruction in the country's borderlands and glimpse of war closer to Yangon, where Myanmar team chose to base themselves, the Burmese started their campaign with a predictable 5–0 thumping in the hands of Japan, the highest-ranked team in Asia at the time, before suffering an agonising 6–1 loss to North Korea on home soil, in which Win Naing Tun scored Myanmar's solitary goal.

Unfortunately, Myanmar could not keep up with the tempo in the return leg, losing 7–0 to Syria in a match where the Burmese were reduced to ten men after Hein Phyo Win was sent off.

In 2025, MFF formally ended its 6-year contract with the Thailand provider and announced a four-year partnership with Japanese brand Jogarbola, which is directly represented, sponsored and distributed by the Vietnamese firm Dong Luc Sport.