Nepal is a football loving country. Even though the country is ranked 171th in the official FIFA rankings The passion Nepalese people have for the beautiful game is very evident as Nepal always seems to have a good crowd supporting them regardless of it being a home match or an away match.

Australia vs Nepal in 10 th of October 2019 held in GIO stadium, Australia can be seen as a prime example where the loud and passionate Nepali fans away fans out sung the home fans were still singing the teams name till the end even though Nepal was thumped 5-0 by the Aussies.

This Last decade has been quite a rollercoaster ride for the Nepali National team with the team reaching New remarkable highs and shocking lows.

The Period of (2000-2009) was quite forgettable period for the national team as the team played dull and Lackluster football and despite many attempts to raise the standard of football. The team couldn’t really make a dent in international football.
 
However following the high profile appointment of Graham Roberts in January 2011 things were looking good for the national team with the U-19 winning the SAFF championships in 2015. Nepal then went on to win the Bangabandhu Cup in 2016, The Bangabandhu Cup was very big deal for the team as the team had finally ended the Countries tedious 23- year trophy drought with a very impressive 3-0 win over Bahrain U-23 with striker Bimal Gharti Magar winning man of the match in the final.

Nepal also defied the odds again in the 2016 South Asian Games where they beat the heavy favorites India 2-1 in their own background. Nawayug Shrestha emerged as the star of the tournament as his 7 goals was the highest of the tournament 4 goals ahead of the next best.

2016 was definitely the peak year of the National team as the team alongside winning silverware also went the whole year unbeaten. Nepal then made a notable difference in the 2019 AFC Asian cup qualification although the team only got to participate because of the Guam national team pulling out of the tournament. The Nepali team earned two very impressive draws against two much stronger Philippines and Yemen team at home.

Nepal was eventually knocked out of the tournament after defeats to Tajikistan and both Philippines and Yemen in the away draw. Nepal finally had their hands on silverware again in 2021 in the Three Nations Cup which even though was a friendly tournament had the 15000-seater Dasharath Rangasala stadium packed every game.

Nepali National team has recently changed their coach to Abdullah Almutairi. The former Kyrgyzstan U-16 coach has promised free flowing attacking football to the fans. So, Nepal seems to be moving into the next decade in a positive direction.

But only time will tell how far this new Young and exciting Nepali team will finish.

Pranish Bista