The history of footballing activities in Nepal
can be traced back to 1920s during the Rana dynasty. All Nepal Football
Association (ANFA), a member of Asian Football Association (AFC) was
established in 1951. Only then the national team of Nepal was formed and since
then ANFA has been governing all the footballing activities in Nepal.
Nepal
became a member of FIFA in 1970 and its FIFA code is “NEP”. Its FIFA ranking in December 2015 is 196 . Nepal’s
home ground is Dasharath stadium at Tripureshwor, Kathmandu with capacity of
holding 25,000 spectators. Its original capacity was 20,000 and it was expanded
to 25,000 for the SAFF Championship in 2013. The stadium was also used as
primary venue for 2012 AFC Challenge Cup and the 2013 SAFF Championship besides
many other international tournaments and friendlies in the past.
 |
| Dasharath Stadium |
Nepal’s
home jersey is red in color while away jersey is blue which symbolizes the
national flag of the nation. Nepal lost 2-6 to China at its first international
game to China in october13, 1972 which was played in Beijing.
Although
football has gained popularity in the country, the standard of Nepali football hasn’t
been impressive. The dearth of quality in Nepali football may be associated
with the lack of infrastructure, trainers and technicians but the impressive
Performances of Nepali cricket (which faces the same problems and constraints)
says otherwise and hints that the problem might lie elsewhere.
 |
| Nepali national team |
 |
| Nepali fans at Dasharath stadium |
Nepal
has never participated in the world cup as it has never passed the
pre-qualifiers. SAFF and AFC are the only major tournaments that Nepal has
participated. Nepali fans were hugely
disappointed when 5 senior players from the national team faced the blame for
match fixing in various occasions. ANFA has been banned by FIFA for 2 year.
The
woes of Nepali football continue as players have not been able to make their
mark in International level. FIFA has been helping the nation to raise its
standard in football through financial and technical assistance and youth
programmes. But Nepali FA should feel the heat and try to turn the table once
and for all.
Nepali
football fans are hopeful that golden days for their team will come despite all
its woes. It would be a wonderful and remarkable if we could watch Nepal play
at the FIFA world cup in our life time and may be win the tournament. Amen!
Some
stats of Nepali national team
Nickname: The Gorkhalis Head
Coach: Patrick Aussems
Association: ANFA Captain
(interim): Biraj Maharjan
Sub-confederation: SAFF (south
Asia) Top Scorer:
Hari Khadka and Nirajan
Confederation: AFC (Asia) Rayamajhi
(13 goals each)
Current National Team (as of
December 2015):
|
Position
|
Player
|
Age
|
Kit
number
|
Caps
|
|
Gk
|
Kiran Chemjong
|
25
|
16
|
45
|
|
Gk
|
Bikesh Kuthu
|
22
|
1
|
1
|
|
Gk
|
Amrit Chaudhary
|
22
|
20
|
0
|
|
DF
|
Rabin
Shrestha
|
24
|
2
|
33
|
|
DF
|
Biraj
Maharjan
|
25
|
3
|
50
|
|
DF
|
Rohit
Chand
|
23
|
30
|
27
|
|
DF
|
Ananta
Tamang
|
17
|
4
|
1
|
|
DF
|
Ranjit
Dhimal
|
24
|
23
|
3
|
|
DF
|
Aditya
Chaudhari
|
19
|
6
|
2
|
|
DF
|
Jitendra
Karki
|
28
|
19
|
3
|
|
MF
|
Bikram Lama
|
26
|
12
|
13
|
|
MF
|
Yogesh Gurung
|
25
|
17
|
0
|
|
MF
|
Herman Gurung
|
20
|
11
|
2
|
|
MF
|
Jagajit Shrestha
|
22
|
7
|
28
|
|
MF
|
Bishal Rai
|
22
|
8
|
1
|
|
FW
|
Anil
Gurung
|
27
|
10
|
42
|
|
FW
|
Nabin
Lama
|
26
|
27
|
0
|
|
FW
|
Bimal
Gharti Magar
|
17
|
25
|
11
|
|
FW
|
Anjan
Bista
|
17
|
9
|
4
|
|
FW
|
Nawayung
Shrestha
|
25
|
18
|
1
|
Coaching
history (since 2005)
|
Coach
|
Year
|
|
Yoo
Kee Heung ( S.Korea)
|
2003-2005
|
|
Toshihiko
Shiozawa (Japan)
|
2005-2006
|
|
Shyam
Thapa (India)
|
2006-2007
|
|
Thomas
Flath (Germany)
|
2008
|
|
Birat
Krishna Shrestha (Nepal)
|
2008-2009
|
|
Maheshwor
Mulmi (Nepal)
|
2009-2011
|
|
Graham
Roberts (England)
|
2011-2012
|
|
Krishna
Thapa (Nepal)
|
2012
|
|
Jack
Stefanowski ( USA)
|
2013
|
|
Raju
kaji Shakya (Nepal)
|
2014
|
|
Jack
Stefanowski (USA)
|
2014-2015
|
|
Dhruba
KC (Nepal)
|
2015
|
|
Patrick
Aussems (Belgium )
|
2015-till
present
|
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