The plight of professional club football in Nepal has dominated headlines the last few weeks, with the newly appointed Sports Minister Bablu Gupta taking a keen interest in resolving its current impasse. It’s been nearly two and a half years since the last Martyrs League A Division League took place, and ANFA along with the A Division clubs seem to have discovered every possible excuse not to play it. Meanwhile, national team players and top-tier footballers have gone without what were already irregular paychecks. Satire aside, it’s been terrible for players and fans alike.
The truth is, this stalemate suits the main actors just fine. The Martyrs League stopped being about football a long time ago. It’s become a gateway into the ANFA politburo and the perks, influence, and largesse that come with it. Clubs have been founded and funded not to win trophies or develop players, but to secure a seat at the ANFA table. The games on the pitch have taken a back seat to the games off it.
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| No Martyrs League A Division football has been played at this venue for over two years |
This is exactly why a rethink of ANFA’s role is overdue. Not only to match global best practices, but to untangle club football from the toxic politics that have suffocated it. Club football should be decoupled from ANFA and run privately by the clubs - with a focus on sustainability, finances, and entertainment value. If other leagues like the Nepal Super League (NSL) believe they can offer a better product - let them compete. Allow the market to decide which football product is worth watching.
ANFA, meanwhile, should stick to the things that only a federation can oversee: running national team programs, coach education, referee and administrator training - and that’s about it! Everything else should be left to the private sector and the wider football ecosystem.
This isn’t some speculative fantasy. Nepal has already seen what private initiative can achieve. The boom in indoor football facilities (incorrectly, but popularly, called futsal halls) happened without any impetus from ANFA. Today there are hundreds of these venues across the country and they have given rise to a wave of soccer academies, age-group leagues and tournaments. In turn they’ve created a vibrant playing base and produced a new generation of technically gifted players, all while ANFA was effectively in hibernation. With the endless amount of football training content available online, modern day grassroots development simply does not need ANFA beyond certification, integrity and safeguarding standards.
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| One of several hundred indoor football facilities across Nepal |
The recent Nepal School Football League is another powerful example. Elite schools, dedicated facilities, professional marketing and media that were all outside ANFA’s orbit. This is where real football development in Nepal is happening and it’s what gives me optimism. Nepali football can grow organically if the ecosystem is allowed to breathe. ANFA “could” turbocharge the landscape, but that’s about as realistic as Kathmandu traffic suddenly becoming orderly.
In the end, Nepali football doesn’t need ANFA to drive the growth. It just needs ANFA to create space for the private sector to do what it’s already proving it can do.
