Nepali football is on a junction.
Despite passionate fans, love for football and young talents, the country’s number one sport is still searching for its way. We had the pleasure to sit with Bikram Thapa, an authority in Nepali football and a journalist, for a long conversation about one of Nepal’s favourite sports.
How big is football in Nepal? Is there a large fan base?
Nepali people are very passionate about football, but we are young and a small football nation. Football is like a religion here, but Cricket is also very popular and lately, it's ‘closing the gap’ in manners of popularity.
What is the average attendance in a league match or a national team match?
At every match of the national team at home, almost 18,000 spectators are filling the Dasarath Rangsala Stadium in Kathmandu.
In a regular league game, there are 2,500-3,000 viewers, while ‘high profile’ matches attract 18,000 fans to the national stadium. The facilities and stadiums are mediocre, mainly because of the country’s surface, which is mountainous. Thus, there aren’t many proper football venues.
Can you define Nepali football as a professional scene?
No. The scene is defiantly a semi-professional one. The passion of the fans and players is there, but the clubs and ANFA (All Nepal Football Association) officials’ conduct is below professional standards and mainly tends to corruption.
Are large sums of money are invested in Nepali football?
There are sponsors in Nepalese football, but the game hasn't been commercialized yet, so most of the funds come from the ANFA. As a result, the players are not being well paid. For example, the maximum salary for a good player is $800 a month. Players are rewarded with cars or bikes, depends on their performance.
On the other hand, the prizes for silverware in Nepal are one of the highest in South East Asia, second only to the Indian ISL. Unfortunately, most of the money is being kept by the clubs’ management and ANFA and isn’t distributed to the players or the coaches.
What is the league structure?
In Nepal, there is no proper league structure. The format is changing every season, which doesn’t help improve the level of professionalism. Several formats have been tested, double round league season, 2 rounds of 6 matches and other shapes of leagues.
Are clubs owned by businessmen, communities or the government?
Most of the clubs are community-owned, like Manang Marchyangdi Club, Machhindra FC and Three Star Club. There are three clubs owned by government departments: Nepal’s Police, Nepal’s Army, the Armed Police Forces of Nepal.
The AFC (Asian Football Confederation) is now producing a new program of criteria, in order to provide licenses to professional leagues and teams all over Asia. I believe this process will help the Nepali A-Division League and of course the players and the teams.
Who are the big teams?
Manang Marchyangdi Club is the biggest team now, and most successful club. Among the department teams, Nepal Police is dominating local titles for a few years now.
Are there clubs with a unique identity, like a certain political orientation or fans’ socio-economic background?
No, Nepal is a multi-cultural and a multi-linguistic country, with a varied population, but it’s not significant in football. Teams are not affected by any political, socio-economical or racist interests of fans or owners, and I think that’s the beauty in our football.
Are those big teams counted as strong sides also in the continental level?
At the moment we are at ‘C category’ in the AFC ranking, so we can’t participate at the AFC Cup, only in the President Cup. Hopefully, with the new reform of AFC, Nepali teams will stand in the criteria and will participate in the AFC Champions League.
Who are the Star Players of Nepali Football?
Rohit Chand, 22 years old, who plays for Persija Jakarta in Indonesia and Bimal Magar, 16, U-17 Nepal National Team, plays in RSC Anderlecht in Belgium. They are certainly the most popular players now and the ‘buzz’ around them is quite big.
Another famous player is Anil Gurung, who plays for Manang Marchyangdi Club and at the past had a trial at Chelsea. Although he didn't find success in Chelsea, he was welcomed home as a hero.
What are the relations between the public and the media with the national team? Are the expectations high at every tournament or game?
The Nepali fans are very passionate and demanding towards the team. Though, The national team isn’t performing well, so the fans are disappointed most of the time.
In Nepal, you don’t have the culture of criticizing each other through the media as you see in Europe, so reporters usually write positive reviews on the team and ANFA. In GOALNepal.com we are trying to produce the objective cover. We say that there isn't good without bad in our football.
What are the conditions of the football academies in Nepal?
Youth teams are considered very good in the continental level, much better than the senior squads. Few clubs are running academies, in a community format. For example, Sahara Club from Pokhara manages a youth academy with 20 orphans. ANFA runs a national youth academy, financed by of FIFA and AFC.
Youth football is not very organized, though the passion of fans and the people for this sector is always growing.
What is the greatest moment of Nepali Football so far?
In 1993 we won the South Asian Federation games. We beat India in penalties and won the gold medal. This is the biggest achievement of Nepali football so far.
Do you think the money that flows to India now, as part of the ISL foundation, will affect and be influential also in Nepal?
It’s very influential in Nepal in the manner of maintaining football popularity, but the market in Nepal is very small so I think it’s going to be hard to do something like this here. South East Asia is a good market for football in general, thus every country in the region will profit from the processes taking part in India, in one way or another.
So, after years of writing and working in Nepali football, where do you see it in ten years from now?
I can’t see a lot of changes being implemented; the ANFA president, Ganesh Thapa (Vice president of AFC), is now under investigation by the government and is faced corruption charges. He’s now out for four months from the ANFA, and his replacement, Lalit Krishna Shrestha, took charge and has declared he will make the right changes.
It’s a crossroad for Nepali football now and everybody is hoping for a change that will bring more professionalism and less corruption. New leadership will be good for our football and this is what keeps people’s hope alive.
Bikram, thank you for this talk. Time for some ‘Personal Football Questions’.
Who is your favourite Team?
I support all Nepali clubs and of course the national team. Internationally, I like Chelsea and the England national team.
Who is your favourite player?
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the top players for me. Eden Hazard is also one of my favourites.
What is your greatest football moments of all time?
The South Asian Championship of 2011, when Nepal played Bangladesh. We won 1-0 in the last minute. It was pure happiness.
What is your dream in football?
I want to attract more people into following Nepali football. I want to bring new technologies in order to create a 100% professional industry. My dream is to continue to develop Nepali football and make a better venue.
Bikram Thapa is a South Asian football Analyst, Chief Editor of www.goalnepal.com and an entrepreneur.
Goalnepal.com is the website to read and learn about Nepali football, through the objective and sincere view of Bikram and his crew. BabaGol advises you to follow them, they know what they are up to.