Association football is one of the most popular sports in Nepal. It is governed by the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), which oversees the men's and women's national teams as well as club competitions. The present acting president of ANFA is Karma Kshiring Sherpa. The current top domestic league is the Martyr's Memorial A Division league. The Nepal national football team represents Nepal in all international competitions.[1][2]
The 36 district-level FAs, various corporations and local government bodies provide most of the assistance that comes ANFA's way, helping Nepalese football's governing body to organise nationwide tournaments all year round for senior clubs and different age groups, thereby maintaining football's position as the number one sport. ANFA recently introduced an annual football calendar, with tournaments for the first division clubs, as well as for the U-19, U-17 and U-14 youth teams. The number of football tournaments in Nepal has always surpassed the number of events for other sports. For the 2003-2004 season, ANFA organised 24 tournaments across the country and prepared the national and youth teams that took part in the World Cup qualifying matches and the Asian Youth Championship. In this season's final tournament, 425 clubs, mostly amateur, participated in the Khukuri Cup at district, regional and senior level. Almost 8,000 players, half of whom were registered, played in the nationwide tournament in the space of two.
Nepal has been a major participant in South Asian competitions. However, Nepal in Asian football stage has been a much weaker and less successful national team, having never qualified for the AFC Asian Cup and often fell short in the FIFA World Cup qualification.
- ^ "Game on in Nepal: soccer and scenery collide". The Independent. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
- ^ "Goals for a lifetime: grassroots football in Nepal". thenational.ae. Retrieved 2 September 2014.