Nepal women's national football team

This article is about the women's team. For the men's team, see Nepal national football team.

Nepal

Nickname(s)	Gorkhalis Chelis
Association	All Nepal Football Association
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	SAFF (South Asia)
Head coach	Rajendra Tamang
Captain	Anjila Tumbapo Subba
Most caps	Sabitra Bhandari (46)
Top scorer	Sabitra Bhandari (53)
Home stadium	Various
FIFA code	NEP
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	99 1 (16 August 2024)
Highest	91 (December 2017)
Lowest	119 (September 2015)
First international
Nepal 0–1 Hong Kong (Hong Kong; 14 December 1986)
Biggest win
Nepal 13–0 Afghanistan (Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh; 14 December 2010)
Biggest defeat
Japan 14–0 Nepal (Hong Kong; 24 December 1989) Japan 14–0 Nepal (Barotac Nuevo, Philippines; 12 November 1999)
Asian Cup
Appearances	3 (first in 1986)
Best result	Group stage (1986, 1989, 1999)
SAFF Championship
Appearances	6 (first in 2010)
Best result	Runners-up (2010, 2012, 2014, 2019,2022, 2024)
Medal record SAFF Women's Championship 2010 Bangladesh 2012 Sri Lanka 2014 Pakistan 2019 Nepal 2022 Nepal 2024 Nepal South Asian Games 2010 Dhaka Team 2016 Guwahati & Shillong Team 2019 Kathmandu & Pokhara Team

The Nepal women's national football team is controlled by the All Nepal Football Association and represents Nepal in international women's football competitions. The Women's Football Department has been 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.

History

Formation

First international football game in the Nepali women's football in 1984

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 (14 December 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 jarringly, 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 meagre points for Nepal, who lost every game by a wide margin, the smallest 0–3 against Hong Kong.

Nepal's FIFA First Vice President was Kamal Thapa. Nepal's first woman captain was Rama Singh when the Nepali women's football team was created, Kamal Thapa was the president of the All Nepal Football Association. Singh, who represented the Bagmati team, started playing in 1985. The second national team's captain was Kamala Hirachan who also represented the Gandaki team and the third women captain was Meera Chaudhary who represented Naryani team. Singh later became the first newsreader in Nepali television history, and Chaudhary has held 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 at the 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 a women's national team. This negatively affected player recruitment, but nevertheless Nepal soon returned to 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.

However, this did 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.

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 Asian Games also were the first to host a women's football event as well. 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 Nepali 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 performed exceedingly well. 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 2010 regeneration, the women's side's FIFA ranking rose by 22 places.

Team image

Nicknames

The Nepal women's national football team has also been known as the "Nepali Chelis".

Home stadium

Main article: Dasarath Rangasala Stadium

The Dasharath Rangasala at daytime in 2008

The team's home stadium is the Dasarath Rangasala Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium in central Kathmandu. It is shared with the Nepal men's national football team. Holding 25,000 spectators, of which 5,000 seated, the Dasarath Rangasala is the biggest stadium in Nepal. It is named after Dashrath Chand, one of Nepal's martyrs. 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.

Results and fixtures

Main article: Nepal women's national football team results

See also: 2021 in association football, 2021 in sports, and FIFA International Match Calendar

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Legend

  Win   Draw   Lose   Fixture

2024

Nepal v Syria

20 February 2024 2024 WAFF Women's Championship	Nepal	4–1	Syria	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
17:00 UTC+3	Karki 9' Basnet 12' Bhandari 18' Poudel 68'	Report	Mustafa 43'	Stadium: King Abdullah Sports City Reserve Stadium Referee: Doumouh Al Bakkar (Lebanon)

Iraq v Nepal

22 February 2024 2024 WAFF Women's Championship	Iraq	0–5	Nepal	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
17:00 UTC+3		Report	Bhandari 14', 15', 36', 43', 79'	Stadium: King Abdullah Sports City Reserve Stadium Referee: Haneen Murad (Jordan)

Palestine v Nepal

24 February 2024 2024 WAFF Women's Championship	Palestine	0–4	Nepal	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
20:00 UTC+3		Report	Bhandari 40', 78' Poudel 59' Rana 90+6' (pen.)	Stadium: King Abdullah Sports City Reserve Stadium Referee: Ahmed Saad (Bahrain)

Nepal v Lebanon

27 February 2024 2024 WAFF Championship SF	Nepal	2–1	Lebanon	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
20:00 UTC+3	Bhandari 76' Rai 90+4'	Report	P. Rana 37' (o.g.)	Stadium: Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City Referee: Ahmed Saad (Bahrain)

Jordan v Nepal

29 February 2024 2024 WAFF Women's Championship F	Jordan	2–2 (5–3 p)	Nepal	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
19:00 UTC+3	Feras 73' Abu-Sabbah 89'	Report	Rana Magar 28' G. Rana 90+2' (pen.)	Stadium: Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City Referee: Mohamed Juma (Bahrain)
	Penalties
	Al-Majali Jbarah Zoqash Abu-Sabbah Fraij		G. Rana Shahi Kumari Bhujel Jaisi

Bhutan v Nepal

18 October 2024 (2024-10-18) SAFF Championship GS	Bhutan	0–0	Nepal	Kathmandu, Nepal
17:30 UTC+5:45		Report		Stadium: Dasharath Rangasala Attendance: 5,562 Referee: Y.A. Pabasara Minisaraniyapa (Sri Lanka)

Nepal v Maldives

21 October 2024 (2024-10-21) SAFF Championship GS	Nepal	11–0	Maldives	Kathmandu, Nepal
17:30 UTC+5:45	Preeti 5', 65', 87' (pen.) Sabita Rana Magar 29' Rekha 32', 42', 48', 63', 78' Anita KC 69' Amisha Karki 88'	Report		Stadium: Dasharath Rangasala Attendance: 6,671 Referee: Y.A. Pabasara Minisaraniyapa (Sri Lanka)

Nepal v Sri Lanka

24 October 2024 (2024-10-24) SAFF Championship GS	Nepal	6–0	Sri Lanka	Kathmandu, Nepal
17:30 UTC+5:45				Stadium: Dasharath Rangasala

Nepal v India

27 October 2024 (2024-10-27) 2024 SAFF W SF	Nepal	1–1 (4–2 p)	India	Kathmandu, Nepal
18:30	Bhandari 66'	Report	Basfore 62'	Stadium: Dashrath Stadium Attendance: 18,009 Referee: Om Choki (Bhutan)
	Penalties
	Bhandari Rana Magar Karki		Ashalata Devi Manisha Shirvoikar Ranjana Chanu

Bangladesh v Nepal

30 October 2024 (2024-10-30) 2024 SAFF W F	Bangladesh	2–1	Nepal	Kathmandu, Nepal
17:45 BST (UTC+6)				Stadium: Dasharath Rangasala

All-time results

As of 19 September 2022

counted for the FIFA A-level matches only.

  Positive Record   Neutral Record   Negative Record

Nations	First played	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Confederation
Afghanistan	2010	2	2	0	0	20	1	+19
Bangladesh	2010	12	6	5	1	17	7	+10
Bhutan	2014	5	4	1	0	23	0	+23
Hong Kong	1986	3	0	1	2	0	4	−4
India	2010	17	2	4	11	11	38	−27
Indonesia	1986	3	1	0	2	2	15	−13
Iran	2019	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3
Iraq	2024	1	1	0	0	5	0	+5
Japan	1989	3	0	0	3	0	36	−36
Jordan	2024	1	0	1	0	2	2	0
Kuwait	2013	1	1	0	0	8	0	+8
Kyrgyzstan	2019	1	1	0	0	8	2	+6
Lebanon	2024	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1
Malaysia	2016	3	1	1	1	3	5	−2
Maldives	2010	6	6	0	0	36	0	+36
Myanmar	2018	4	0	1	3	3	10	−7
Pakistan	2010	4	4	0	0	29	0	+29
Palestine	2024	1	1	0	0	4	0	+4
Philippines	1999	2	0	0	2	1	7	−6
Qatar	2013	2	2	0	0	9	0	+9
Sri Lanka	2010	8	8	0	0	30	0	+30
Syria	2024	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3
Tajikistan	2019	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Thailand	1986	2	0	0	2	0	10	−10
Uzbekistan	1999	3	0	0	3	3	11	−8
Vietnam	2023	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8
Total	1986	89	43	13	33	214	159	+55

Coaching staff and team officials

As of 24 October 2024

Head Coach	Rajendra Tamang
Assistant Coach	Paras Chaudhary
Goalkeeping Coach	Suraj Kumar Lama
Physio	Navina Shrestha

Players

Main article: List of Nepal women's international soccer players

Current squad

• The following player was called-up for 2024 SAFF Women's Championship in October 2024.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
	1GK	Anjila Tumbapo Subba (Captain)	(1996-05-28)28 May 1996 (aged 27)	Nees Atromitou
	1GK	Anjana Rana Magar	(2002-01-17)17 January 2002 (aged 22)	Nepal Army FC
	1GK	Usha Nath	(2001-01-23)23 January 2001 (aged 23)	Nepal Police FC
	2DF	Gita Rana	(1996-09-21)21 September 1996 (aged 27)	Sethu FC
	2DF	Amrita Jaisi	(1994-10-15)15 October 1994 (aged 29)	Sports Odisha
	2DF	Samikshya Ghimire	(1999-12-26)26 December 1999 (aged 24)	Nepal Police FC
	2DF	Nisha Thokar	(2001-02-01)1 February 2001 (aged 23)	APF FC
	2DF	Puja Rana	(2001-03-29)29 March 2001 (aged 22)	Nepal Police FC
	2DF	Bimala B.K.	(2002-04-17)17 April 2002 (aged 21)	Nepal Army FC
	2DF	Hira Kumari Bhujel	(1995-12-26)26 December 1995 (aged 28)	APF FC
	2DF	Sajani Thokar
	3MF	Renuka Nagarkote		APF FC
	3MF	Dipa Shahi		Kickstart FC
	3MF	Preeti Rai	(2004-11-20)20 November 2004 (aged 19)	Kickstart FC
	3MF	Saru Limbu	(1999-03-06)6 March 1999 (aged 24)	APF FC
	4FW	Sabita Rana Magar	(2003-07-07)7 July 2003 (aged 20)	APF FC
	3MF	Anita Basnet	(1994-02-09)9 February 1994 (aged 30)	Lords FA
	3MF	Amisha Karki	(2005-10-23)23 October 2005 (aged 18)	Nepal Army FC
	3MF	Bimala Chaudhary	(1997-03-01)1 March 1997 (aged 26)	Nepal Army FC
	4FW	Rashmi Ghising	(2002-06-15)15 June 2002 (aged 21)	Sports Odisha
	3MF	Anita K.C.	(1997-01-05)5 January 1997 (aged 27)	Kickstart FC
	4FW	Sabitra Bhandari	(1996-05-02)2 May 1996 (aged 27)	EA Guingamp
	4FW	Rekha Poudel	(2001-01-07)7 January 2001 (aged 23)	Abu Dhabi Country Club

Recent call-ups

The following footballers were part of a national selection in the past twelve months, but are not part of the current squad.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Sapana Rai				Nepal Police Club	2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
DF	Sabina Chaudhary		-	-		2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
DF	Ganga Gurung					2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
DF	Pratichya Chaudhary				APF FC	2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
MF	Samjhana Lawati				Nepal Police FC	2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
MF	Anjali Machamache					2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
MF	Manmaya Damai				APF FC	2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
MF	Dipa Neupane				Nepal Police FC	2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
MF	Chandra Bhandari		-	-	Nepal Army FC	Training camp June 2024
MF	Saraswati Hamal		-	-		Training camp June 2024
FW	Anushka Sherpa				Nepal Police FC	2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
INJ Withdrew due to injury PRE Preliminary squad / standby RET Retired from the national team SUS Serving suspension WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.

Notable players

• Rama Singh
• Preeti Rai
• Anu Lama
• Jamuna Gurung
• Sajana Rana
• Sabitra Bhandari
• Lila Lamgade

Honours

Regional

• SAFF Women's Championship
  • Runners-up: 2010, 2012, 2014, 2019, 2022

• South Asian Games
  • Runners-up: 2010, 2016, 2019

• WAFF Women's Championship
  • Runners-up: 2024

Competitive record

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

***Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.

FIFA Women's World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1991	Did not enter
1995
1999
2003	Withdrew
2007	Did not enter
2011
2015
2019
2023	Did not qualify
2027	To be determined
Total	0/8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Olympic Games

Summer Olympics record
Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1996 to 2004	Did not enter
2008	Did not qualify
2012
2016
2020
2024
2028	To be determined
2032
Total	0/8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

AFC Women's Asian Cup

AFC Women's Asian Cup record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1975	Did not enter (No team)
1977
1980
1981
1983
1986	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	0	12	−12	0
1989	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	0	25	−25	0
1991	Did not enter
1993
1995
1997
1999	Group Stage	4	0	0	4	1	30	−29	0
2001	Did not enter
2003
2006
2008
2010
2014
2018
2022	Did not qualify
2026	To be determined
Total	3/20	10	0	0	10	1	67	-66	0

SAFF Women's Championship

SAFF Women's Championship
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
2010	Runners-up	5	4	0	1	34	1	+33	12
2012	Runners-up	5	4	0	1	24	4	+20	12
2014	Runners-up	5	4	0	1	17	6	+11	12
2016	Semi Final	4	3	0	1	19	3	+16	9
2019	Runners-up	4	3	0	1	11	3	+8	9
2022	Runners-up	4	3	0	1	12	1	+11	9
2024
Total	7/7	27	21	0	6	117	18	+99	63

South Asian Games

South Asian Games record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
2010	Silver	5	3	0	2	17	9	+8	9
2016	Silver	5	3	1	1	9	4	+5	10
2019	Silver	4	2	0	2	4	3	+1	6
2024	TBD
Total	3/3	14	8	1	5	30	16	+14	25

WAFF Women's Championship

WAFF Women's Championship
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
2024	Runners-up	5	4	1	0	17	4	+13
Total	1/1	5	4	1	0	17	4	+13

Other tournaments

Host/Year/Tournament Name	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
2019 Women's Gold Cup	Runners-up	4	2	0	2	6	7	–1
2019 Nadezhda Cup	Runners-up	4	2	0	2	11	7	+4

See also

• Sport in Nepal
  • Football in Nepal
    • Women's football in Nepal
• All Nepal Football Association
• Nepal women's national under-23 football team
• Nepal women's national under-20 football team
• Nepal women's national under-17 football team
• Nepal national football team
• Nepal national under-20 football team
• Nepal national under-17 football team
• Nepal at the Asian Games

External links

• Team profile on the-ANFA.com