Nepal national under-17 football team

In the mid-1980s, FIFA provided financial assistance and sent a number of coaches to help Nepal launch its first youth programme, 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 programme 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.

ANFA asked FIFA for financial assistance to check the downslide of Nepalese domestic football and in 1998, FIFA agreed to donate funds through its Financial Assistance Programme (FAP), thereby allowing ANFA to construct a secretariat along with a football pitch and a hostel in Kathmandu to launch its youth development programme. The two-year intensive training period for the youth players selected in 1998 produced a number of skilful players, who recently participated in the ninth South Asian Games (Pakistan, 29 March - 5 April). The same team had earlier topped its group in the Asian Cup preliminary round in March 2004.

However despite reaching the finals tournament of the 2000 AFC U-17 Championship in Vietnam, Nepal refused to participate in a biological age test, and as a result was banned from the 2002 AFC U-17 Championship.[1] This, along with the Maoist uprising left manager Stephen Constantine to resign.

In 2002, endeavours to develop football received a further fillip when FIFA awarded a Goal programme to Nepal. Thanks to this project, ANFA has constructed regional football centres that include hostels, office secretariats and playing grounds in three major towns in three different regions. ANFA built these centres to focus on spotting hidden talent in villages or schools around the nation. These centres will also provide the necessary coaching and physical training, and in the long-term, the nation as a whole will benefit with more regional football sides on a par with the clubs of Kathmandu.

Nepal was fined by the Asian Football Confederation of fielding over-age players during the 2014 AFC U-16 Championship.[2] Since the fine, the All Nepal Football Association has put in place several necessary age checks as part of selection/trials. The most recent team has qualified for the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship, making it the first Nepal U-16 team to achieve a back-to-back qualification in history.[3] However, the team was then excluded from the tournament due to player Manish Karki failing a MRI bone test.[4] Nepal was penalized and ruled to have forfeited all three of their qualification group matches where the ineligible player was fielded by a 3–0 scoreline.[5]

Date	Opponent	Result	Score*	Venue	Competition
27 April 1998	Sri Lanka	W	1–0	Kathmandu, Nepal	1998 AFC U-17 Championship qualification
24 April 1998	Bangladesh	L	0–1	Kathmandu, Nepal	1998 AFC U-17 Championship qualification
20 April 1998	Guam	W	10–0	Kathmandu, Nepal	1998 AFC U-17 Championship qualification

  Win   Draw   Loss

• The 23-man squad was Entered for the 2015 SAFF U-16 Championship.2016 AFC U-16 Championship

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Arpan Karki		3	0	ANFA Academy
21	1GK	Akash Ranabhat		0	0	ANFA Academy
22	1GK	Sandesh Gurung		0	0	ANFA Academy
3	2DF	Roman Limbu		3	0	ANFA Academy
15	2DF	Laxman Pariyar		3	1	ANFA Academy
23	2DF	Rajan Gurung		0	0	ANFA Academy
13	2DF	Anosh Magar		0	0	ANFA Academy
2	2DF	Suman Aryal		3	2	ANFA Academy
4	2DF	Aashish KC		0	0	ANFA Academy
16	2DF	Abhishek Verma		0	0	ANFA Academy
18	2DF	Hrishik Gyawali		5	1	Nepal Police
7	3MF	Abhishek Rijal		3	0	ANFA Academy
27	3MF	Dewas Urau		1	0	ANFA Academy
9	3MF	Tenzin Jangchup Sherpa	16	12	8	ANFA Academy
30	4FW	Rajiv Lopchan		1	0	ANFA Academy
17	4FW	Rejin Subba		2	0	ANFA Academy
24	4FW	Dinesh Henjan		0	0	ANFA Academy
10	4FW	Pewen Sherpa		3	2	ANFA Academy
14	4FW	Rajesh Pariyar		0	0	ANFA Academy
8	4FW	Arik BistaG.T	15	12	1	ANFA Academy

In order to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, AFC teams must secure a berth (currently, semi-finals) through a continental tournament, the AFC U-16 Championship.

FIFA U-17 World Cup finals record											FIFA U-17 World Cup qualifying record
Year	Result	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD		Result	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1985	Did Not Qualify										Did Not Qualify
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001											Round 1	0	4	0	0	4	2	17	–15
2003											Did Not Qualify
2005
2007											Round 1	1	3	0	1	2	0	8	–8
2009											Did Not Qualify
2011
2013
2015											Round 1	4	3	1	1	1	4	6	–2
2017	Disqualified										Disqualified; replaced by Oman	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2019	Did not qualify
2021
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		3/19	5	10	1	2	7	6	31	–25