How I started Nepal's first sports website

Long before sports news was just a click away, finding information on Nepali football - let alone sports in Nepal - was a challenge. Growing up as a massive sports fan, I followed international soccer and all the major North American leagues. But due to my Nepali lineage, I was always curious about the sporting scene in Nepal.

Back in the 1990s, however, that curiosity was difficult to satisfy. The Kathmandu Post was the only Nepali newspaper publishing online, and even then, only one sports story would make it onto their site each day. Reliable information on Nepali football was scarce, scattered across the farthest corners of the internet.

A university experiment turned passion project

When I started university in 1997, I wanted to develop my computer skills and figured that creating a website would be a good way to do so. But on what topic? Then it hit me - why not build something that could help others like me? A dedicated website for Nepali football.

Armed with a book titled Build a Website in 24 Hours, I got to work. Within a day, the Nepal Football Homepage (NFH) was live on Geocities, a free web hosting platform. It wasn’t fancy, but it was the first of its kind—a digital home for Nepali football news.

At first, NFH barely attracted any traffic. Maybe 100 clicks a month, most from international football fans curious about football in far-off places. But soon, opportunities started knocking. International media outlets like Futbol Mundial, FourFourTwo, and Football Asia reached out, interested in covering Nepal’s football scene. They needed local insights, and I was happy to provide them.

Screenshot of Nepal Football Homepage
 via "Wayback Machine"

Collaboration with Bhakundo.org.np

By the early 2000s, a fan group called the Nepal Football Fan Club launched a rival website, bhakundo.org.np (not to be confused with the current Bhakundo.np social media channels). Since they were based in Nepal, they had far better access to information than I did from halfway across the world. Instead of competing, I saw an opportunity to join forces? And so, Nepal Football Homepage was absorbed into bhakundo.org.np.

That collaboration lasted until around 2004, when GoalNepal.com came onto the scene, providing real-time, hourly updates on Nepali football. At that point, I knew the landscape had evolved, and it was best to pass the mantle to a platform that could deliver the level of coverage the sport deserved.

A digital footprint that opened doors

What started as a simple university project turned into something much bigger. Through NFH and bhakundo.org.np, I was able to connect with people across the Nepali football ecosystem - players, officials, clubs, media, and fans alike. That early digital footprint ultimately led me to be involved in Nepali football in other ways - at the club, youth, and grassroots levels. 

Looking back, it’s fascinating to see how a small experiment in web development became Nepal’s first dedicated sports website - and furthermore, launched my career in the global sports industry.

Soccer's soul being challenged by spectacles

Reports suggest FIFA and Coldplay are collaborating on the first ever World Cup Final halftime show.

Maybe I’m old-fashioned (even though I try to see these things through the eyes of my three teenage kid), but I just don’t think this is a good idea for global soccer long-term. Sports evolve, but history proves that no sport’s dominance is guaranteed. Boxing and horse racing were once kings. College football overshadowed the NFL. Baseball was America’s pastime before the NBA surged past it.

I remember when MLS thought cracking the American market meant shootouts, flashy team names, and countdown clocks. It didn’t take long to realize that fans craved the authenticity of global soccer - that hipsters mattered just as much as soccer moms.

Soccer's global passion comes from its working-class roots, ultras culture, fierce derbies, and pure simplicity. Save the halftime shows for the NFL and NBA. Short-term gimmicks might boost engagement, but long-term they chip away at the soul of the game - building its funeral pyre one spectacle at a time.

Soccer clubs are losing focus. It’s time to rein it in!

Watching Aston Villa take on Spurs in the FA Cup on Sunday, I couldn’t help but notice something that’s been gnawing at me for a while. Tottenham were about to be knocked out of the competition after being totally outclassed by the Villans and as Spurs fans started chanted "Levy Out," it became clear that a club’s business success off the pitch means little if it doesn’t translate to trophies. Daniel Levy has transformed Tottenham into a commercial powerhouse, but fans don’t sing about balance sheets—they sing about silverware.

The problem is, Tottenham’s business model has set a precedent. Other clubs, seeing the revenue streams Spurs have unlocked, are now scrambling to follow suit. Less than 24 hours after the match, Aston Villa themselves proudly announced a Kendrick Lamar concert at Villa Park in the summer. Their fans celebrated the news as though they had reached a cup final —not because it impacts football directly, but because it means more money, which could (theoretically) be spent on the squad.

This is where I take issue. Clubs should not be forced into becoming entertainment conglomerates to compete. Their core competency is football. Revenue should come from footballing activities—ticket sales, broadcasting, sponsorships, and player development—not music festivals or business conferences. The game is heading down a slippery slope where financial clout, not footballing vision, dictates success.

At some point, there needs to be a hard stop. A salary cap tied to football-related revenues could be a solution, ensuring clubs focus on building teams, not business portfolios. Otherwise, we risk turning soccer clubs into event management firms that just happen to field a team on the weekends.

It’s time to realign priorities. Fans deserve football-first clubs, not corporate juggernauts masquerading as teams.

Disclaimer: This piece was generated by ChatGPT based on my inputs. I wanted to test how well AI could capture my sentiments, and I have to say—I’m pleasantly surprised awestruck by the result. It perfectly encapsulates what I was thinking.

Nepali sports fans are incredible!

 

1M watching!

I was one of the 1 million+ concurrent viewers watching the finals of the SAFF Women's Championship between Nepal and Bangladesh. Tough loss for Nepal, but the game really was not the story. It was the fans!

As expected, Nepal's national stadium, Dasharath Rangashala (yes - where this blog gets its name), was officially packed to capacity at 15,000, with some estimates of an overflow crowd of close to 25,000. Beyond that, there were fan zones setup across the capital and country that attracted tens of thousands of viewers. Then there is the TV viewership - which one sports and media veteran guesstimates at 60% of Nepali households having the game on. This would equate to somewhere around 21 million Nepalis watching the match at home.

A jam packed fan zone in Kathmandu.
Photo: RONB

These are absolutely phenomenal numbers when for example the ongoing MLB baseball World Series between the big market New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers has been getting around 13 to 15 million viewers in the USA - a country ten times the size of Nepal and with infinite times the media, marketing and sports prowess.

In the sports business space, you often read or hear senior executives celebrating a few thousand views of a live stream of a sport event. Nepali fans say, "Hold my milk tea!"

The sports fan frenzy is not a one-off either. Over the summer Nepali fans watched and attended the Men's National Cricket Team at the T20 World Cup in droves, including packing a stadium in Dallas, Texas. In August, the CAVA Women's Volleyball Challenge Cup, which the Nepal Women's National Volleyball Team hosted had over 400 thousand concurrent viewers for the tournament final which involved Nepal. Given that some of these events are lesser regional tournaments the interest level is even more remarkable.

In Nepali sports, often administrators, politicians, officials and sometimes even players go missing (figuratively and literally!) but the fans keep showing up - no matter the sport, tournament, result or gender.

PS - It's what motivates me to keep at it!

Why I do not pay attention to youth national team results

Bangladesh defeat Nepal 4-1
to lift the SAFF U-20 Championship
(photo: SAFF Social Media)

There is lots of sadness, bewilderment and anger across social media on Nepal's 1 - 4 loss to Bangladesh in the finals of the U-20 SAFF Championship.  I am at a point where I do not pay much attention to Nepal's youth teams results. Sure - I want Nepal to win.  However, win or lose we all know the true realities of youth football in Nepal.  While there are some encouraging things happening in the grassroots space, it is bare bones when it comes to organized youth football across the country. A victory in the SAFF U-20 tournament would only have papered over the cracks.

Holding an annual one month long U-18 and U-16 tournament for clubs that completely ignore youth football for the rest of the year or resurrecting the previously failed ANFA Academy model simply does not cut it.  

I actually do not blame ANFA for not doing enough. What I blame them for, both at the central and district levels, is creating endless roadblocks for those that are ready to do something. I'm a firm believer that Nepal's football development has to be led by the private sector. Public institutions are too dysfunctional, incompetent and political to get anything done.

To those who doubt the readiness and commitment of the private sector: as a small example, I have around ten ongoing chats on my WhatsApp with different individuals eager to initiate and self-finance youth football related projects. The passion and interest is undeniably there!