Mission Possible?: Road to the World Cup

June 26, 2006
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By Bikram Thapa

Some say it is a dream while others say it is mission impossible. But we think and analyze some positive aspects, road to the World Cup could still be “Mission Possible” for Nepal within a short period of time.

 

ANFA President Ganesh Thapa (File photo)
President of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), Ganesh Thapa, expresses hope that Nepal can compete in the FIFA World Cup within a decade. But, there are many holes and gaps to fulfill his words. It is crystal clear that FIFA World Cup is the biggest extravaganza for all FIFA affiliated 205 countries which lock horns to participate in the World Cup for just those 32 slots. Nobody seems to have any idea when and how Nepal could reach the FIFA World Cup finals.

Shortcomings

What is lacking in ANFA? This question isn’t complete by just asking ANFA itself. First, we must know how ANFA is working, how much money it gets (from where?) and what it does? The Asian Football Confederation and FIFA are providing assistance to ANFA every year, but the irony is that the government doesn’t provide a single penny to the ANFA. “If there is more investment then there will be results without a doubt,” said Thapa. “The irony is that we aren’t getting any assistance from the government to invest more money to get the desired good results”. “Each and every government provides assistance to the national Football Association but where are we?” Thapa asked.

“The money which we get from AFC and FIFA is not sufficient to produce world-class Nepali players,” Thapa told us. AFC provides USD 120,000 and FIFA USD 200,000 each year to ANFA. So, is it money alone that remains as the greatest handicap? Thapa retorts, “No, that isn’t the only point, but it is most necessary”.

Prospects

A few months ago, when sports journalists held an interaction with ANFA President, Nepal’s participation in the World Cup qualifiers was the chief point of discussions. “You can’t hope to climb Mount Everest without first going to the Everest base camp,” senior journalist Binod Pandey said. “We must first eye World Cup qualifying and start preparations for that.” “If Angola and Ivory Coast can participate in the World Cup, why can’t we?” he asked.

 

The national team.
(Photo courtesy: socceragenepal.com.np)

A row had emerged when ANFA decided not to participate in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches after Nepali national team received a humiliating 0-16 drubbing from South Korea in the Asian Cup qualifying matches. Some football experts and media lashed out on the policies of ANFA, but nothing happened due to ANFA’s inflexibility. But now, the time has changed. ANFA has already declared that Nepal will take part in World Cup and Olympic qualifying leaving some room to talk about the participation in World Cup or in Olympic games.

Needs

Proper strategy and marketing policies are the current needs of ANFA. Sponsors, media and the fans are essential ‘players’ for the development of football. ANFA should capitalize on this. ANFA should also formulate some short and long term projects for the development of football. Definitely ANFA is doing a good job at the grassroots level and has also come up with some good results at the international arena.

 

Supporters of Nepal.
(Photo courtesy: socceragenepal.com.np)

The Football Academy—being run by ANFA to produce good footballers– has already completed five years. ANFA should now make Clubs strong so that they can create professional vibes among footballers. ANFA should approach corporate houses and sponsors to sponsor some Clubs and prize money.

ANFA should make league football more systematic with a ‘home and away’ system. They should revamp the current league football to District League, Regional League and City League so that more and more players get interested towards soccer. If the mass participation increases, talent will itself increase and it will directly benefit the country.

Prize money should be increased and there should be system of paying each and every Club no matter how they perform. ANFA should approach the government for assistance and should create awareness among people to support football as being the number one game in Nepal.

League Football

 

A game of the match : Impressive presence of audience (File photo)
League Football is the backbone for the development of football in each and every country. We have to change the current format to encourage new players. There isn’t any proper “home and away” system as the games are organized at Dasarath stadium in Kathmandu only. There aren’t any football grounds that can hold league football matches. Recently, APF ground was declared open but many clubs criticized the ground. Clubs should be made financially strong so that they can pay good money to the players. For that, ANFA should enter into bilateral arrangements with the local clubs. For example, “gate money” receipts would be the major source for all Clubs but none of the clubs and ANFA is eyeing this point. ANFA is providing just Rs 150,000 to every club as preparation cost. Can any club manage expenses for five to six months to conduct league football with this meager sum? The answer is NO. So, there should be a strategic plan for Clubs from ANFA’s side so that players, clubs and communities can see the development soon.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that we can take part in the World Cup but it will need more dedication, assistance, environment of love, care and passion to fulfill it. Hopefully, it will not be more than a decade to see Nepali players in the red and blue jerseys in the World Cup Football. Let’s keep our fingers crossed !