Nepal national football team

Football in Nepal had been a national sport as early as 1921 during the Rana dynasty. Several clubs were formed and several domestic tournaments such as the Ram Janaki Cup (1934), and the Tribhuvan Challenge Shield (1948) were organized. In 1951, the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) was founded, and this saw the formation of the Nepal national football team.

In 1963, Nepal appeared in their first international away game in the Aga Khan Gold Cup; the predecessor of the President's Gold Cup, Asia Champion Club Tournament, and Asian Club Championship (now rebranded as the AFC Champions League) after various associations (including ANFA) insisted on entering national teams instead of clubs.[2] After Nepal entered an 18-man squad, ANFA flew the players to Dhaka, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to play their first match. Nepal faced Western Railway, a Pakistani team in the Bangabandhu National Stadium. However, the match was lost 0–7. Two days later, Nepal played the Dhaka Wanderers, a local East Pakistani team. Though this match was also lost 0–7. After two disastrous games, Nepal was sure to be knocked out of the preliminary round. The final game was against Dhaka Police Club, though, despite the previous heavy losses, Nepal managed to win the game with a single goal. The goal scorer, Prakash Bikram Shah, became the first Nepali to score on foreign soil.[3] The goal took place at the 19th minute.

In 1970, Nepal became a member of FIFA. Two years later, Nepal joined the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). With this, Nepal played their first international match on 13 October 1972, where they lost 2–6 to the People's Republic of China. The first Nepali footballer to score the first international goal for Nepal in a FIFA-recognized tournament was Y.B Ghale. Ghale scored against Kuwait in the 1982 Asian Games. Despite the popularity of the game, the lack of appropriate footballing infrastructure and the dearth of trainers, technicians, and other facilities have always been obstacles in the way of the Nepali FA's endeavors to raise the standard of football among the players of a nation that has an official per capita income of just 1,196 US dollars. The woes of Nepali football, however, have been immensely relieved by FIFA's determination to promote football in Nepal through youth programs.

In the mid-1980s, FIFA provided financial assistance and sent a number of coaches to help Nepal's federation to launch its first youth program, which was geared towards spotting talent at the grassroots level (such as in schools, for example) and providing young players with the necessary know-how, both on and off the pitch. The initial five-year plan helped half the players groomed under the first youth program to find a place in the national side, and the team that won the 2 gold medals in the first and sixth South Asian Federation (SAF) Games mostly consisted of the players from that youth programme. Despite Nepal being considered among the lower-ranked nations, Nepal has been largely successful in the South Asian Games where they won two gold, two silver, and two bronze medals.

Nepal hosted several notable friendlies from teams outside the Asian Confederation during the mid to late 80s, against Denmark in 1986; USSR and East Germany in 1987; and West Germany in 1989.[4] While at the same time, Nepal still entered tournaments against club sides such as FC Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast in the 1989 ANFA Cup.

Nepal continued on with their winning ways through several minor tournaments which saw the nation showered with titles including the 1997 and 1998 Governor's Gold Cup, winning gold at the 1993 South Asian Games, and reaching 3rd place in the 1993 South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup (the first edition of the SAFF Championship).

The Nepali football came across a forgettable two years from 2001 to 2003 when the row between two factions (government-backed and FIFA-backed) led Nepali football into deep trouble. Nepal faced a ban and therefore could not participate in any events and the rankings slipped heavily. The dispute was settled, but not before it contributed to pushing Nepali football backward. Nepal celebrated their 100th international football match in January 2003 when they played Bangladesh in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship. Nepal failed to make any real impact at the tournament. During its 22 years of international participation, the Nepali team has only played 26 nations outside of South Asia, but it has defeated all of the country's South Asian neighbors during various regional tournaments. Nepal also faced non-AFC teams in competitive tournaments such as Ghana U23 in the 1999 Bangabandhu Cup, and Kazakhstan in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign (although Kazakhstan was a member of the AFC during this match).

Despite many attempts to raise the standard of football, the players of the resource-strapped nation have not been able to make their mark in international football beyond South Asia. In 2003 during the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, Nepal's A national team suffered a number of heavy defeats in international matches outside of South Asia. In a match during the Asian Cup qualifying round in South Korea, the hosts scored 16 goals to no reply. In their six matches, Nepal conceded 45 goals and failed to hit the back of the net even once. However, the qualifying competition for the 2002 FIFA World Cup witnessed one of Nepal's best performances in international football, with the Gorkhalis securing two wins in four matches and scoring 13 goals in two matches against Macao and Iraq. But with the Nepali national and youth teams failing to achieve any noticeable success at the international level and FIFA introducing new age restriction systems in several international tournaments, Nepal recently decided to compete only in the FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup qualifiers as well as the SAFF Championship until 2006.

After the marquee appointments of Graham Roberts, Nepal had experienced a fair amount of success following the decade of decline. Nepal won Saff U-19 championship in 2015 and 3 major tournaments in 2016, the Bangabandhu Cup and the AFC Solidarity Cup and won a gold medal in 2016 South Asian Games. Nepal lost no match in 2016.[5][6]

Nepal managed a good performance in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification, even though the team was chosen as a replacement for the Guam national football team as Guam chose not to participate.[7] Nepal had two successful draws against much stronger Philippines and Yemen at home, both ended 0–0.[8][9] However, as the team lost to Tajikistan twice[10][11] and away loss to the Philippines[12] and Yemen,[13] the Nepalis failed to qualify to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Nepal participated in the second round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification where they have to face strong Australia, Kuwait and Jordan, alongside minnows Chinese Taipei. The Nepalis only managed one single win over Chinese Taipei away 2–0, and lost to the other opponents without scoring a goal after five matches.

Nepal participated in the 2021 SAFF Championship Managing to qualify from the group 2nd place behind India. They fought but Nepal couldn't win against the Blue Tigers and lost by 3–0.

In October 2023, Nepal participated in the first round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification against Laos. The first leg contested in a goalless draw between both team where else on 17 October 2023, Manish Dangi scored the only goal in the match to secured the victory for Nepal seeing them advanced to the second round.

The national team's kit employs a tricolor of red, blue, and white to reflect the colors of the national flag of Nepal. With red being used for home matches, and blue for away. The pattern in some kits reflects the triangular shaping of the flag, namely the 2013 kit. Nepal's kits are mostly template kits, as opposed to a custom team-specific kit. This is because the Nepal national team isn't lucrative enough to afford kit partnership deals with manufacturers.

Very little is known about the history prior to 1998. However, during the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, the Nepali national team hired Bijay Shah to provide technical assistance to the squad, while also acting as the assistant coach. At the time, the team didn't have printed sportswear for the tournament. After printing makeshift kits, Bijay was inspired to start a T-shirt printing company known as Attsh, where through the partnership with a US printing company, and colleagues in South Korea, they produced their first batch of kits for the national team prior to the 1999 South Asian Games.[14]

On 4 March 2019, ANFA has revealed two new jerseys for members of the national football team along with new national football anthem. The new jerseys have ANFA logo on the left where used to be national flag in the old jerseys. There is also national flag and picture of Mount Everest above the ANFA logo. This new sign is designed by Sandeep Tiwari.[15] ANFA also made provision of white jerseys for friendly matches.

In 2021, ANFA ended the contract with Kelme, the previous kit sponsor, and signed with KTM CTY.[16]

During the ANFA Cup, the All Nepal Football Association occasionally entered two teams for Nepal; Nepal Red & Nepal Blue. This is very much akin to other South Asian teams such as Pakistan (Pakistan Green & Pakistan White, 1993 SAFF Championship; Pakistan Reds, 1976 Quaid-e-Azam exhibition matches), and Bangladesh (Bangladesh Red, 1983 President's Gold Cup). Nepal Red was a selection of Nepali players that played as the full Nepal national football team. Whereas, Nepal Blue was effectively the B-team.[17][18]

Most of the Nepali top players play in the Nepal Red team, and it is also described as "the Nepal senior team", and is captained by the regular national team captain. While Nepal Blue is described as the "second string team".

As of 11 August 2022

Head coach	Career	P	W	D	L	Win %	Competitions	Comment	Ref.
Rudi Gutendorf	1981–82	—	−	−	−	—	1982 Asian Games		[20]
Jochen Figge	1984–85	—	−	−	−	—	1984 South Asian Games: Gold medalist		[21]
Rudi Gutendorf	1986	—	−	−	−	—			[20]
Joe Kinnear	1987	—	−	−	−	—	1987 South Asian Games: Silver medalist		[22]
Reinhard Fabisch	1989	—	−	−	−	—			[23][24]
Dhan Bahadur Basnet	1989–91	—	−	−	−	—			[25]
Maheshwor Mulmi Holger Obermann	1991–93	—	−	−	−	—	1991 South Asian Games 1993 SAARC Gold Cup: Third place	Although both Obermann and Mulmi were heavily involved in the national team during these years, Obermann was hired by the All Nepal Football Association as a 'Technical Director'[26]	[27]
Dhan Bahadur Basnet	1993–94	—	−	−	−	—	1993 South Asian Games: Gold medalist 1994 Asian Games
Maheshwor Mulmi	1995	—	−	−	−	—	1995 Bristol SAFF Gold Cup
Yogambar Suwal	1995	—	−	−	−	—	1995 South Asian Games
Bhim Thapa	1996	—	−	−	−	—	1996 AFC Asian Cup: Failed to qualify
Yogambar Suwal	1997	—	−	−	−	—	1998 FIFA World Cup: Failed to qualify
Dhan Bahadur Basnet	1997	—	−	−	−	—	1997 SAFF Gold Cup
Yoo Kee-heung	1998	—	−	−	−	—	1998 Asian Games
Torsten Spittler	1999	—	−	−	−	—	1999 SAFF Gold Cup: Fourth place		[28]
Stephen Constantine	1999–01	—	−	−	−	—	1999 South Asian Games: Silver medalist 2000 ANFA Coca Cola Invitational Tournament: Finalist		[29]
Maheshwor Mulmi	2001	—	−	−	−	—	2002 FIFA World Cup: Failed to qualify
Yoo Kee-heung	2003	—	−	−	−	—	2003 SAFF Gold Cup: Group stage
Toshihiko Shiozawa	2005–06	—	−	−	−	—	2005 SAFF Gold Cup: Group stage
Shyam Thapa	2006–07	—	−	−	−	—	2006 AFC Challenge Cup: Semi-final 2010 FIFA World Cup: Failed to qualify		[30]
Thomas Flath	2008	—	−	−	−	—	2008 SAFF Championship: Group stage		[31]
Birat Krishna Shrestha	2008	—	−	−	−	—	2008 AFC Challenge Cup: Group stage		[32]
Krishna Thapa	2008–09	—	−	−	−	—	2008 Merdeka Tournament: Group stage		[33]
Yogamber Suwal	2009	—	−	−	−	—	2009 Prime Minister's Invitational Tournament: Champions 2010 AFC Challenge Cup: Failed to qualify
Krishna Thapa	2009–11	—	−	−	−	—	2009 SAFF Championship: Group stage
Graham Roberts	2011–12	—	−	−	−	—	2011 SAFF Championship: Semi-final 2014 FIFA World Cup: Failed to qualify 2012 AFC Challenge Cup: Group stage	Reached Round 2 in the World Cup qualifiers for the first time	[34]
Krishna Thapa	2012	—	−	−	−	—	2012 Nehru Cup		[35]
Jack Stefanowski	2013	—	−	−	−	—	2013 SAFF Championship: Semi-final 2014 AFC Challenge Cup: Failed to qualify
Raju Kaji Shakya	2014	—	−	−	−	—			[36]
Jack Stefanowski	2014–15	—	−	−	−	—	2018 FIFA World Cup: Failed to qualify		[37]
Dhruba KC	2015	—	−	−	−	—			[38]
Patrick Aussems	2015–16	3	0	0	3	000	2015 SAFF Championship: Group stage		[39]
Bal Gopal Maharjan	2016	5	3	2	0	060	2016 Bangabandhu Cup: Champions	Earned Nepal's first major title in 23 years	[40]
Koji Gyotoku	2016–2018	13	4	5	4	031	2016 AFC Solidarity Cup: Champions	Earned Nepal's first AFC title	[41]
Bal Gopal Maharjan	2018	6	2	0	4	033	2018 SAFF Championship: Semi-final 2018 Bangabandhu Cup: Group stage	Interim Coach[42]	[43]
Johan Kalin	2019–2020[44]	6	1	2	3	017			[45]
Bal Gopal Maharjan	2020–21[44]	5	1	3	1	020
Abdullah Al Mutairi	2021–2022	18	5	2	11	028	2021 SAFF Championship runner up		[46]
Pradip Humagain	2022	1	1	0	0	100	-	Interim Coach	[47]
Prabesh Katuwal[48]	2022	1	1	0	0	100
Vincenzo Alberto Annese	2023	10	3	3	4	33	2023 SAFF Championship

The following 23 players were called up for the 2023 SAFF Championship matches.[49]

Caps and goals are correct as of 31 March 2023 after the game against  Laos.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Kiran Chemjong (captain)	(1990-03-20) 20 March 1990	88	0	Punjab
	1GK	Deep Karki	(1998-01-09) 9 January 1998	5	0	Biratnagar City
	1GK	Bishal Shrestha	(1992-09-02) 2 September 1992	1	0	Machhindra
	2DF	Rohit Chand	(1992-03-01) 1 March 1992	80	0	Persik Kediri
	2DF	Ananta Tamang	(1998-01-17) 17 January 1998	51	4	Church Boys United
	2DF	Devendra Tamang	(1993-11-01) 1 November 1993	17	0	Machhindra
	2DF	Nishan Khadka	(1997-01-26) 26 January 1997	3	0	Sankata
	2DF	Sanish Shrestha	(2000-11-09) 9 November 2000	3	0	Lalitpur City
	2DF	Bimal Panday	(1990-01-21) 21 January 1990	0	0	Tribhuwan Army Club
	2DF	Simanta Thapa	(1998-02-09) 9 February 1998	0	0	Dhangadhi
	3MF	Pujan Uparkoti	(1996-05-09) 9 May 1996	20	0	Dhangadhi
	3MF	Arik Bista	(2000-03-17) 17 March 2000	17	0	Pokhara Thunders
	3MF	Nabin Lama	(1992-03-25) 25 March 1992	4	0	Lalitpur City
	4FW	Awas Lamichhane	(2001-02-11) 11 February 2001	1	0	Nepal A.P.F. Club
	3MF	Mani Kumar Lama	(1996-03-24) 24 March 1996	0	0	Tribhuwan Army Club
	4FW	Laken Limbu	(2002-07-24) 24 July 2002	0	0	Three Star Club
	4FW	Anjan Bista	(1998-05-15) 15 May 1998	57	12	Mumbai Kenkre
	4FW	Manish Dangi	(2001-09-17) 17 September 2001	21	3	Rayong
	4FW	Ayush Ghalan	(2004-02-21) 21 February 2004	15	3	Sankata
	4FW	Gillespye Jung Karki		0	0	Tribhuwan Army Club
	4FW	Dinesh Henjan		15	3	Sankata
	4FW	Hisub Thapaliya		0	0	Jawalakhel YC
	4FW	Kritish Ratna Chhunju		0	0	Butwal Lumbini
	4FW	Sanjeeb Bista		0	0	New Road Team

The following players have been called up to a Nepal squad in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Bikesh Kuthu	(1993-06-24) 24 June 1993	9	0	Kathmandu Rayzrs	v.  Pakistan, 16 November 2022
GK	Abishek Baral	(2000-04-09) 9 April 2000	0	0	Sporting Ilam De Mechi	Three Nations Cup
DF	Sumit Shrestha	(2002-11-28) 28 November 2002	0	0	Free agent	Three Nations Cup
DF	Padam Bhattarai	(2002-01-09) 9 January 2002	0	0	Brigade Boys	Three Nations Cup
DF	Bikash Khawas	(2001-07-29) 29 July 2001	8	0	Free agent	Three Nations Cup
DF	Aditya Chaudhary	(1996-04-19) 19 April 1996	22	0	Manang Marshyangdi	Three Nations Cup
DF	Dinesh Rajbanshi	(1998-04-04) 4 April 1998	25	0	Pokhara Thunders	v.  Pakistan, 16 November 2022
DF	Gautam Shrestha	(2000-02-21) 21 February 2000	16	0	Sporting Ilam De Mechi	v.  Pakistan, 16 November 2022
DF	Bikash Tamang	(1994-01-27) 27 January 1994	3	0	Lalitpur City	v.  Pakistan, 16 November 2022
DF	Suman Aryal	(2000-01-31) 31 January 2000	28	0	Tribhuwan Army Club	v.  Bangladesh, 27 September 2022
DF	Rajin Dhimal	(1991-04-04) 4 April 1991	10	0	Machhindra	v.  Bangladesh, 27 September 2022
MF	Kamal Thapa	(1998-09-20) 20 September 1998	3	0	Himalayan Sherpa	Three Nations Cup
MF	Tej Tamang	(1998-02-14) 14 February 1998	22	1	Sporting Ilam De Mechi	v.  Pakistan, 16 November 2022
MF	Sunil Bal	(1998-01-01) 1 January 1998	21	1	Kathmandu Rayzrs	v.  Pakistan, 16 November 2022
MF	Suraj Jeu Thakuri	(2000-12-19) 19 December 2000	9	0	Birgunj United	v.  Pakistan, 16 November 2022
MF	Sesehang Aangdembe	(2000-11-03) 3 November 2000	5	0	Jhapa	v.  Pakistan, 16 November 2022
MF	Ritik Khadka	(2000-11-08) 8 November 2000	0	0	Jhapa	v.  Pakistan, 16 November 2022
MF	Bishal Rai	(1993-06-06) 6 June 1993	36	4	Machhindra	v.  Bangladesh, 27 September 2022
MF	Sudip Gurung	(1997-03-27) 27 March 1997	1	0	Satdobato	v.  Bangladesh, 27 September 2022
FW	Bharat Khawas	(1991-07-22) 22 July 1991	59	10	Tribhuwan Army Club	Three Nations Cup
FW	Sujal ShresthaRET	(1993-02-05) 5 February 1993	46	3	Retired	v.  Pakistan, 16 November 2022
Notes INJ = Withdrew due to injury. PRE = Preliminary squad / standby. RET = Retired from the national team. SUS = Serving suspension. WD = Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.

In these tournaments, Nepal was sometimes fielded as 'ANFA XI', 'Nepal XI', or 'Nepal Sports Development Authority' despite being the de facto national football team endorsed by the ANFA.

Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Team Name[lower-alpha 4]
1975 DCM Cup	Unknown	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1979 President's Gold Cup	Unknown	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1979 Agatha Gold Cup	Unknown	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1979 Aga Khan Gold Cup	Round 1	4	0	1	3	2	14	1
1981 President's Gold Cup	Unknown	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1981 Quaid-E-Azam International Cup	Unknown	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1981 King's Cup	Unknown	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982 Darjeeling Gold Cup	Unknown	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982 Quaid-e-Azam International Cup	6th	6	1	2	3	3	9	−6	4[lower-alpha 3]
1982 King's Cup	Round 1	4	1	0	3	2	9	−7	2[lower-alpha 3]
1982 ANFA Coca Cola Invitational Tournament	Runners-up	4	2	0	2	5	5	0	4[lower-alpha 3]
1983 Merdeka Tournament[51]	Round 1	5	0	0	5	0	14	–14	0
1983 President's Gold Cup	Round 1	2	0	0	2	2	7	−5	0
1984 ANFA Cup	Runners-up	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1985 Quaid-E-Azam International Cup	Round 1	0	0	0	2	0	9	−9	1
1986 Panchayat Silver Jubilee Cup	4th	5	1	1	3	2	6	−4	3
1986 Quaid-E-Azam International Cup	5th	3	1	1	3	4	17	−13	5
1986 ANFA Cup	Runners-up	4	2	1	1	unknown[52]			3
1987 Quaid-E-Azam International Cup	Round 1	unknown[53]								unclear whether National team[53]
1987 ANFA Cup	Champions	unknown[54]
1989 Aga Khan Gold Cup	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1989 ANFA Cup	Runners-up	4	2	0	2	3	6	–2	4[lower-alpha 3]
1995 Airlines Gold Cup	Unknown	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1997 Governor's Gold Cup	Champions	-	-	-	-	-	-	–	-
1998 Governor's Gold Cup[55]	Champions	3	3	0	0	8	2	+6	9	ANFA XI
1998 Durand Cup[56]	Round 1	2	1	0	1	1	1	0	3	Nepal XI
1999 Bangabandhu Cup	Round 1	2	0	0	2	1	3	−2	0
2000 ANFA Coca Cola Invitational Tournament	Runners-up	2	2	1	1	4	2	+2	7	Nepal Red
2008 Merdeka Tournament	Round 1	3	0	1	2	3	9	−6	1
2009 Prime Minister's Invitational Tournament	Champions	4	3	1	0	4	1	+3	10	Nepal Red
2012 Nehru Cup	Round 1	4	0	1	3	1	9	−8	1
2016 Bangabandhu Cup	Champions	5	3	2	0	8	1	+7	11
2018 Bangabandhu Cup	Group Stage	2	0	0	2	0	3	-3	11
2021 Three Nations Cup	Champions	3	1	2	0	1	1	+1	11
Total	6 titles	69	23	14	38	55	128	2	66

**Former rules, win = 2pts.

• AFC Solidarity Cup
  • Champions (1): 2016

• South Asian Games
  • Champions (2): 1984, 1993
  • Runners-up (2): 1987, 1999
  • Third place (1): 1985
• SAFF Championship
  • Runners-up (1): 2021
  • Third place (1): 1993

• ANFA Cup
  • Champions (1): 1987[57]
• Bangabandhu Cup
  • Champions (1): 2016
• Three Nations Cup
  • Champions (1): 2021
• Prime Minister's Three Nations Cup
  • Champions (1): 2023