Historic Blow to Nepali Football: FIFA Suspends ANFA Indefinitely Over Government Interference
June 25, 2026
Bivek Tamang
KATHMANDU — In an unprecedented and devastating blow to Nepali
sports, football's global governing body, FIFA, has suspended the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) with immediate
effect as of June 24, 2026. The decision, communicated by FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström, plunges the
country's football ecosystem into total isolation, banning all national teams and local clubs from international
competitions and freezing essential global funding.
The Root Cause of the Suspension
The crisis is the result of a bitter, months-long standoff between ANFA and Nepal’s
apex sports regulator, the National Sports Council (NSC). The friction escalated dramatically in December 2025 when ANFA’s
executive committee, led by President Pankaj Bikram Nembang, decided to pull forward its national executive elections to March 27,
2026—nearly three months before their official tenure was set to expire on June 18. ANFA argued the early vote was vital to maintain
administrative stability ahead of critical World Cup qualifiers.
However, the NSC viewed this unilateral scheduling as an act of open defiance against state oversight. On March 25,
2026, the NSC retaliated by suspending ANFA’s entire executive committee for three months under the National Sports
Development Act, 2020, effectively paralyzing the election. Under Articles 13 and 14 of the FIFA Statutes, member associations
must manage their affairs entirely independently. FIFA classified the NSC’s heavy-handed actions as "undue third-party
interference," triggering the indefinite blanket ban.
Why the NSC Continues to Interfere
The NSC defends its repeated interventions as a necessary defense of national sovereignty and legal accountability,
arguing that ANFA cannot operate as a law unto itself. The council's core demands and motivations include:
- Enforcing Domestic Law: The NSC insists that ANFA must strictly abide by the National Sports Development
Act, 2020 and Regulations, 2022, which require domestic sports federations to secure
regulatory approval for major timelines and structural changes.
- Mandating Bottom-Up Democracy: The NSC maintains that ANFA was "bulldozing" national elections
without first completing mandatory democratic polls across its local district and provincial tiers.
- Statutory Alignment: The NSC is demanding that ANFA heavily revise its internal statutes so that
they align uniformly with the rules governing all other sports federations under Nepal's Ministry of Youth and Sports.
FIFA’s Uncompromising Demands to Lift the Ban
As detailed in the official FIFA correspondence letter to ANFA, the global body
will not restore Nepal's membership rights until the government completely steps back.
FIFA has laid out two non-negotiable conditions:
- Unconditional Revocation: The NSC must fully and unconditionally revoke its March 25
decision and completely reinstate the elected ANFA Executive Committee.
- Autonomous Electoral Process: ANFA must be allowed to autonomously finalize its
already initiated electoral process without any outside pressure, strictly adhering
to its own official statutes and regulations.
Until these conditions are met in writing, Nepali football remains completely
frozen out of the global arena.