Nepal women's national football team
The Nepal women's national football team, otherwise known as Nepali Cheli's (Nepalese Sisters) is controlled by the All Nepal Football Association and represents Nepal in women's international football competitions. The Women's Football Department is developed to control and manage the women's football activities. The official motto of women's football in Nepal is "Football for Change". It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation and the South Asian Football Federation and has yet to qualify for the World Cup.
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Nickname(s) | Nepali Chelis | ||
---|---|---|---|
Association | All Nepal Football Association | ||
Confederation | AFC (Asia) | ||
Sub-confederation | SAFF (South Asia) | ||
Head coach | Vacant | ||
Captain | Vacant[1] | ||
Most caps | Niru Thapa (42) | ||
Top scorer | Sabitra Bhandari (38) | ||
Home stadium | Various | ||
FIFA code | NEP | ||
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FIFA ranking | |||
Current | 92 ![]() | ||
Highest | 92 (December 2009) | ||
Lowest | 128 (August 2012) | ||
First international | |||
![]() ![]() (Hong Kong; 14 December 1986) | |||
Biggest win | |||
![]() ![]() (Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh; 14 December 2010) | |||
Biggest defeat | |||
![]() ![]() (Hong Kong; 24 December 1989) ![]() ![]() (Barotac Nuevo, Philippines; 12 November 1999) | |||
Women's Asian Cup | |||
Appearances | 3 (first in 1986) | ||
Best result | Group stage |
History
Formation
Nepal formed a women's national team in the mid-1980s and debuted in the 1986 AFC Women's Championship. During the start of the tournament, Nepal played their first official match against Hong Kong (December 14, 1986), which they lost with a score of 1-0. Nepal women's side also participated in the final three phases of the Asian Cup in 1986, 1989 and 1999, never going beyond the group stages. Nepal proved to be in a difficult group with former champions Thailand, alongside Indonesia and Hong Kong, two relatively strong teams. As a result, Nepal had lost all three matches, two of them indefinitely, while the match against Hong Kong proved to be a steady profit. In 1989 Nepal played again in the championship, against the same opponents, except that Thailand was substituted against Japan. This resulted in ugly points for Nepal, who lost every game by a wide margin, the smallest 0-3 against Hong Kong.
Nepal's Soccer Fifa First Vice President Is Kamal Thapa. Nepal's First Woman Captain Is Rama Singh When Nepali Women Football Team Was Created, Mr. Kamal Thapa Was The President Of All Nepal Football Association and the first National Woman Team Captain Is Rama Singh, Who represented bagmati team and she started playing in the year 1985, Second National Women Team Captain Is Kamala Hirachan who is a represented Gandaki Team and the third women captain is, Meera Chaudhary who represented Naryani team, Rama Singh Is Now The First News Reader In Nepali television history, and Meera Chaudhary is in a rank of DSP in Nepal police. The first female international goal scorer of Nepal is Pema Dolma Lama, who scored a goal against Uzbekistan in 1999 AFC Women's Championship held in Philippines.
Crisis years
As a result of the democracy uprising in 1990, there was an eight-year period without women national team. This negatively affected player recruitment, but nevertheless Nepal soon returned into international football during the Women's Asian Cup in 1999. Despite their triumphant return, the results were about the same as before the eight-year hiatus. The championship ended in the group-stage with Japan, Thailand, Uzbekistan and the Philippines, where Nepal lost all four games. Since then, Nepal has not appeared in the Women's Asian cup. Former men's national team technical director, Holger Obermann served as the technical advisor for the Chelis during their 1999 campaign.[3]
However, this does not mean that Nepal had not played football since 1999. The Mangladevi League, roughly a month-long women's football tourney, was set up trying to bring in women football players across the country. It was played in early 2000, in a league-cum-knockout basis. It was an initiative taken by a single person, but sadly discontinued after a year.[4]
Nepal had a long period without matches, but they impressed many in the South Asian Games in 2010, where they reached the final after beating several opponents by a wide margin . In the finals they lost narrowly 1–3 against the big favorite India. This gave the national team a much needed recognition. The 11th South Games also was the first to host a women's football event as well.[5] In the opening match of the 2010 South Asian Games, Nepal women's U23 faced hosts Bangladesh, where they won with a single goal. The second match against Sri Lanka proved to be more illustrious as victory came in the form of 8 goals while holding a clean sheet. However, the scoring spree was short lived as the third group-stage match against India saw a heavy 0–5 loss. Nevertheless, Nepal had done enough to qualify for the second round (semi finals) against Pakistan which they won with a resounding 7–0 scoreline. This meant that Nepal would face a difficult rematch against India in the finals, although any result would ensure a medal at the very least for the Chelis. Despite finally ending the scoring drought against India, the game was lost 1–3. Despite putting on a valiant performance, the Chelis returned home with a silver medal which came to the delight of many supporters of Nepalese football due to the rarity of the occasion.
Regeneration
The regeneration of Women's football in Nepal was first realised when after the national leagues were reinstated in 2009. The women's national team prior to this, hadn't played an international game for 5 years. Nevertheless, the Chelis began training for two upcoming major international tournaments in the following year. In 2010, Nepali women footballers returned with two runner-up trophies, one from the 11th South Asian Games, and the other from the SAFF Women's Football Championship. Despite limited training, resources and less attention compared to the men's team, the women's team had performed exceedingly well internationally. In the South Asian Games, they defeated Sri Lanka 8–0, and in SAFF they thrashed Afghanistan 13–0 and Pakistan 11–0. Striker Anu Lama was the star of SAFF, scoring three hat-tricks to be declared the best player of the tournament. However, the team was defeated 0–5 by India in the SAG final, but it was a much more closely fought match when they lost 0–1 to the same team in the SAFF final recently.
Following the team's regeneration since 2010, the women's side rose 22 places in the FIFA ranking.[6]
Home stadium

The team's home ground are various around the nation also shared with the Nepal national football team at the Dasarath Rangasala Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium in central Kathmandu, Nepal. Holding 25,000 spectators, of which 5,000 seated, it is the biggest stadium in Nepal. It is named after Dashrath Chand, one of the martyrs of Nepal. Prior to the 2013 SAFF Championship in Nepal, the Dasarath Rangasala underwent heavy renovation that saw several improvements such as the expansion of seats from 20,000 to 25,000.
Coaching staff and team officials
- As of September 2020
Head Coach | ![]() |
Manager | ![]() |
Assistant Coach | ![]() |
Goal Keeper Coach | ![]() |
Team Physio | ![]() |
Technical Official | ![]() |
Players
Current squad
The following players were named on for the 2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (Second round) on 3 April 2019.[8]
No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16 | GK | Anjila Tumbapo Subba | 26 July 1996 | 20 | 0 | ![]() |
20 | GK | Anjana Rana Magar | 18 January 2002 | 4 | 0 | ![]() |
22 | GK | Usha Nath | 23 January 2001 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
15 | DF | Man Maya Limbu | 19 February 1992 | 28 | 0 | ![]() |
3 | DF | Punam Jargha Magar | 27 June 1993 | 26 | 1 | ![]() |
6 | DF | Hira Kumari Bhujel | 26 December 1995 | 25 | 1 | ![]() |
12 | DF | Gita Rana | 10 September 1996 | 21 | 0 | ![]() |
5 | DF | Amrita Jaishi | – | 19 | 0 | ![]() |
2 | DF | Kabita Dhimal | – | 2 | 0 | ![]() |
23 | DF | Puja Rana | 28 March 2001 | 1 | 0 | ![]() |
19 | MF | Dipa Rai | 2 February 1991 | 27 | 0 | ![]() |
7 | MF | Renuka Nagarkote | 16 April 1995 | 27 | 0 | ![]() |
11 | MF | Anita Basnet | 9 February 1995 | 26 | 2 | ![]() |
18 | MF | Manjali Kumari Yonjon | 4 July 2001 | 21 | 4 | ![]() |
27 | MF | Saru Limbu | 6 March 2001 | 16 | 0 | ![]() |
25 | MF | Anita KC | 4 January 1998 | 9 | 0 | ![]() |
21 | MF | Sharmila Thapa | 7 March 1993 | 8 | 2 | ![]() |
14 | FW | Niru Thapa (captain) | 29 August 1990 | 41 | 13 | ![]() |
9 | FW | Sabitra Bhandari | 28 May 1996 | 34 | 38 | ![]() |
8 | FW | Rekha Paudel | 9 January 2002 | 5 | 1 | ![]() |
Notable players
-Best goalkeeper of the Year 2013, 2014 and 2015
All-time results
- As of 9 December 2019; counted for the FIFA A-level matches only.
Nations | First played | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
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2010 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 1 | +19 |
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2010 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 1 | +11 |
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2014 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | +19 |
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1986 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | -4 |
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2010 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 36 | -28 |
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1986 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 15 | -13 |
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2019 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 |
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1989 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 28 | -28 |
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2013 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | +8 |
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2019 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 |
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2016 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 |
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2010 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 | +25 |
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2018 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 10 | -7 |
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2010 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 0 | +29 |
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1999 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | -5 |
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2013 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | +9 |
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2010 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 0 | +24 |
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2019 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 |
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1986 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | -10 |
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1999 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 11 | -8 |
Total | 1986 | 67 | 35 | 4 | 28 | 177 | 128 | +49 |
Honours
Regional
Achievements
- *Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.
- ***Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.
AFC Women's Asian Cup record
AFC Women's Asian Cup | |||||||||
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Year | Result | Pld | W | D* | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
![]() | Did not enter (No team) | ||||||||
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![]() | Round 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 12 | –12 | 0 |
![]() | Round 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 25 | –25 | 0 |
![]() | Did not enter | ||||||||
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![]() | Round 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 30 | –29 | 0 |
![]() | Did not enter | ||||||||
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![]() | TBD | ||||||||
Total | 3/20 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 67 | –66 | 0 |
SAFF Women's Championship record
SAFF Women's Championship | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Result | Pld | W | D* | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
![]() | Runners-up | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 1 | +33 | 12 |
![]() | Runners-up | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 4 | +20 | 12 |
![]() | Runners-up | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 6 | +11 | 12 |
![]() | Semi-final | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 3 | +16 | 9 |
![]() | Runners-up | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 6 |
Total | 5/5 | 22 | 17 | 0 | 5 | 101 | 17 | +84 | 51 |
South Asian Games record
South Asian Games record[9] | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Result | Pld | W | D* | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
![]() | ![]() | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 9 | +8 | 9 |
![]() | ![]() | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 10 |
![]() | ![]() | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 6 |
Total | 3/3 | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 30 | 16 | +14 | 25 |
Other tournaments record
Host/Year/Tournament Name | Result | Pld | W | D* | L | GF | GA | GD |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Runners-up | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -1 |
![]() | Runners-up | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 7 | +4 |
See also
References
- "Niru Thapa chosen captain of women's national football team". The Himalayan Times. 26 October 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
- "The FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking". FIFA. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
- "NFH - Archived News". www.angelfire.com. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
- "Off-side: In support of the Nepali women footballers". The Kathmandu Post. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
- Richardson, Andy (5 March 2009). "Nepali football - Sportsworld". Al-Jazeera Sportsworld. Retrieved 4 January 2016 – via YouTube.
- "FIFA Rankings Nepal Women's National Team". Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- "Women's football team to go to China for friendlies". The Himalayan Times. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
- "AFC Olympic Women's Round 2 Qualifiers: ANFA Bides Farewell To Women's Team". GoalNepal. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
- "South Asian Federation Games (Women's Tournament)". RSSSF. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
External links
- Official website, the-ANFA.com (in English)