Nepal

Nickname	Gorkhali Chelis
Association	All Nepal Football Association (ANFA)
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	SAFF (South Asia)
Head coach	Vacant
Captain	Sabitra Bhandari
Mostcaps	Sabitra Bhandari (61)
Top scorer	Sabitra Bhandari (68)
Home stadium	Various
FIFA code	NEP
Firstcolours Secondcolours
FIFA ranking
Current	87 13 (7 August 2025)[1]
Highest	87 (August 2025)
Lowest	119 (September 2015)
First international
Nepal 0–1Hong Kong  (Hong Kong; 14 December 1986)
Biggest win
Nepal 13–0Afghanistan  (Cox's Bazar,Bangladesh; 14 December 2010)
Biggest defeat
Japan 14–0Nepal (Hong Kong; 24 December 1989)  Japan 14–0Nepal (Barotac Nuevo,Philippines; 12 November 1999)
Asian Cup
Appearances	3 (first in1986)
Best result	Group stage (1986,1989,1999)
SAFF Championship
Appearances	7 (first in2010)
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
Website	the-anfa.com

TheNepal women's national football team is controlled by theAll Nepal Football Association and representsNepal in internationalwomen's football competitions. The Women's Football Department has been developed to manage the women's football activities. The official motto of women's football in Nepal is "Football for Change". It is a member of theAsian Football Confederation and theSouth Asian Football Federation and has yet to qualify for theWorld Cup.

Nepal formed a women's national team in the mid-1980s and debuted in the1986 AFC Women's Championship. During the start of the tournament, Nepal played their first official match againstHong Kong (14 December 1986), which they lost 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 championsThailand, alongsideIndonesia andHong 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 wasKamal Thapa. Nepal's first woman captain wasRama Singh. When the Nepali women's football team was created,Kamal Thapa was the president of theAll Nepal Football Association. Singh, who represented theBagmati team, started playing in 1985. The national team's second captain wasKamala Hirachan who also represented theGandaki team and the third women captain wasMeera Chaudhary who representedNaryani 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 isPema Dolma Lama, who scored a goal against Uzbekistan at the 1999 AFC Women's Championship held in Philippines.

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 theWomen's Asian Cup in 1999. Despite their return, the results were about the same as before the eight-year hiatus. The championship ended in the group stage withJapan,Thailand,Uzbekistan and thePhilippines, 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 theChelis during their 1999 campaign.^[2]

However, this did not mean that Nepal had not played football since 1999. TheMangladevi 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 format. It was an initiative taken by a single person, but was sadly discontinued after a year.^[3]

Nepal had a long period without matches, but they impressed many in theSouth Asian Games in 2010, where they reached the final after beating several opponents by a wide margin. in. In the final, they lost narrowly 1–3 against the heavy favoriteIndia. This gave the national team much-needed recognition. The 11th South Asian Games were also the first to host a women's football event as well.^[4] In the opening match of the 2010 South Asian Games, Nepal's U-23 women's team 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 final, 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.

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, theChelis 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 the11th South Asian Games, and the other from theSAFF 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. StrikerAnu 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.^[5]

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

The team's home stadium is theDasarath Rangasala Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium in centralKathmandu. It is shared with theNepal 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 afterDashrath Chand, one of Nepal's martyrs. Prior to the 2013 SAFF Championship in Nepal, theDasarath Rangasala underwent heavy renovation that saw several improvements such as the expansion of seats from 20,000 to 25,000.^[6]

As of 13 December 2024^[7]

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

Nepal    v Kyrgyzstan

17 February2025 Vianet Championship GS	Nepal	1–0	Kyrgyzstan	Kathmandu, Nepal
17:30 UTC+5:45	Bimala Chaudhary 9'	Report		Stadium:Dasharath Rangasala Attendance: 11,516 Referee: Kanika Barman (India) Player of the Match:Preeti Rai

Lebanon  v Nepal

20 February2025 Vianet Championship GS	Lebanon	0–1	Nepal	Kathmandu, Nepal
17:30 UTC+5:45		Report	Bhandari 42'	Stadium:Dasharath Rangasala Attendance: 11,473 Referee: Tekcham Ranjita Devi (India)

Nepal    v Myanmar

23 February2025 Vianet Championship GS	Nepal	2–2	Myanmar	Kathmandu, Nepal
17:30 UTC+5:45	Rana Magar 11' Bhandari 41'	Report	May Htet Lu 6' Myat Noe Khin 17'	Stadium:Dasharath Rangasala Attendance: 12,605 Player of the Match:Sabitra Bhandari

Myanmar  v Nepal

26 February2025 Vianet Championship final	Myanmar	2–0	Nepal	Kathmandu, Nepal
17:30 UTC+5:45	Yu Par Khaing 61' Win Theingi Tun 63'	Report		Stadium:Dasharath Rangasala Attendance: 19,580

Thailand  v Nepal

2 JuneFriendly	Thailand	2–0	Nepal	Pathum Thani, Thailand
	Chatchawan 59' Jiraporn 73'			Stadium:Thammasat Stadium Referee: Le Thi Ly (Vietnam)

Nepal    v Laos

29 June 2025 (2025-06-29)2026 AFC Asian Cup Q	Nepal	9–0	Laos	Tashkent, Uzbekistan
17:00 UTC+5	Basnet 12' Bhandari 45',55',74',79' Limbu 47' Ghising 57' K.C. 83' Inthaphone 88' (o.g.)	Report		Stadium:Milliy Stadium,Tashkent Referee: Wint War Tun (Myanmar)

Sri Lanka  v Nepal

2 July 2025 (2025-07-02)2026 AFC Asian Cup Q	Sri Lanka	0–8	Nepal	Tashkent, Uzbekistan
17:00 UTC+5		Report	G. Rana 7',55' Bhandari 14',36',40' Thokar 62' Poudel 78' P. Rana 89'	Stadium:Milliy Stadium,Tashkent Referee: Wang Chieh (Chinese Taipei)

Uzbekistan  v Nepal

5 July 2025 (2025-07-05)2026 AFC Asian Cup Q	Uzbekistan	3–3 (4–2p)	Nepal	Tashkent, Uzbekistan
20:00 UTC+5	Khabibullaeva 2' Karachik 11' Shoyimova 39'	Report	Bhandari 24',73' Rana 71'	Stadium:Milliy Stadium,Tashkent Referee: Asaka Koizumi (Japan)
	Penalties
	Shoyimova Zoirova Khikmatova Aminjonova		Bhandari Rana S. Magar A. Magar

Nepal    v Iran

24 OctoberFriendly	Nepal	0–3	Iran	Shillong, India
18:00 UTC+5:30			Didar 49' Ghanbari 52' Behesht 57'	Stadium:Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Referee: Choki Om (Bhutan)

India  v Nepal

27 OctoberFriendly	India	1–2	Nepal	Shillong, India
18:00 UTC+5:30	Shirvoikar 81'		Bhandari 2',63'	Stadium:Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Referee: Pansa Chaisanit (Thailand)

India  v Nepal

29 OctoberUnofficial friendly	India	1–1 (0–3p)	Nepal	Gangtok, India
16:45 UTC+5:30	Guguloth 30'	Report	Ghising 45+2'	Stadium:Paljor Stadium Referee: Meera Tamang (Bhutan)
	Penalties
	Priyadharshini Santosh Oraon		S. Magar Ghising Basnet Thokar

Indonesia  v Nepal

26 NovemberFriendly

Indonesia

v

Nepal

Indonesia

Nepal    v Chinese Taipei

2 DecemberFriendly

Nepal

v

Chinese Taipei

Indonesia

As of 19 Jly 2025

Position	Name
Manager	Bindra Dewan
Head Coach	Vacant
Assistant Coach	Raj Kumar KC Bhagwati Thapa
Goalkeeping Coach	Suraj Kumar Lama
Medical Officer	Dr. Alisha Rai
Physio	Shila Giri
Kit Manager	Bikash Gurung
Team Official	Vacant
Media Manager	Krishna Singh Lothyal

List of Head Coaches
Name	Period	Achievements
Dhruba KC	2010 – 2012	2010 SAFF Women's Championship: Runner-up 2012 SAFF Women's Championship: Runner-up
Hari Khadka	2018 – 2019
Gary Phillips As Technical Director[8]	2019 – 2021
Gary Phillips[9]	2021 – 2022
Kumar Thapa	2022
Rajendra Tamang[10][11]	2024 – 2025	2024 WAFF Women's Championship: Runner-up 2024 SAFF Women's Championship: Runner-up 2025 International Women's Championship: Runner-up
Patrick De Wilde	2025 – Present

The following players were called up for thefriendly matches againstIran andIndia in October 2025. Nepal played Iran on 24 October and India on 27 October in Shillong, India.^[12]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Anjana Rana Magar	(2002-01-17)January 17, 2002 (age 23)	12	0	APF FC
	1GK	Anjila Tumbapo Subba	(1996-05-28)May 28, 1996 (age 29)	58	0	APF FC
	1GK	Usha Nath	(2001-01-23)January 23, 2001 (age 24)	2	0	Nepal Police
	2DF	Bimala B.K.	(2002-01-23)January 23, 2002 (age 23)	15	0	Nepal Army
	2DF	Dipa Shahi	–	–	–	Nepal Police
	2DF	Hira Kumari Bhujel	–	–	–	Nepal Police
	2DF	Manmaya Damai	(2004-09-13)September 13, 2004 (age 21)	1	0	APF FC
	2DF	Nisha Thokar	(2001-02-01)February 1, 2001 (age 24)	7	1	APF FC
	2DF	Pratiksha Chaudhary	(2004-10-29)October 29, 2004 (age 21)	0	0	APF FC
	2DF	Puja Rana	(2001-03-28)March 28, 2001 (age 24)	17	1	Transport United
	2DF	Samikshya Ghimire	(1999-12-26)December 26, 1999 (age 25)	15	0	Nepal Police
	3MF	Anita Basnet	(1994-02-09)February 9, 1994 (age 31)	58	7	APF FC
	3MF	Mina Deuba	–	–	–	Nepal Police
	3MF	Preeti Rai	(2004-11-20)November 20, 2004 (age 21)	21	5	Etihad Club
	3MF	Purnima Rai	–	–	–	Nepal Police
	3MF	Sabita Rana Magar	(2003-07-07)July 7, 2003 (age 22)	16	3	APF FC
	3MF	Sajani Thokar	–	–	–	Nepal Police
	3MF	Saraswati Hamal	(2004-03-07)March 7, 2004 (age 21)	4	0	APF FC
	3MF	Saru Limbu	(1999-03-06)March 6, 1999 (age 26)	50	3	APF FC
	4FW	Rashmi Kumari Ghising	(2002-06-15)June 15, 2002 (age 23)	24	3	APF FC
	4FW	Rekha Poudel	(2001-01-07)January 7, 2001 (age 24)	23	12	Nepal Police
	3MF	Renuka Nagarkote	(1995-04-16)April 16, 1995 (age 30)	56	0	APF FC
	4FW	Sabitra Bhandari(Captain)	(1996-05-02)May 2, 1996 (age 29)	60	66	Wellington Phoenix

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
DF	Amrita Jaishi	(1994-10-15)October 15, 1994 (age 31)	56	1	Nepal Police	v. Uzbekistan, 5 July 2025
DF	Gita Rana	(1996-09-21)September 21, 1996 (age 29)	58	4	APF FC	v. Uzbekistan, 5 July 2025
DF	Bimala Chaudhary	(1997-03-01)March 1, 1997 (age 28)	19	2	Nepal Army	v. Uzbekistan, 5 July 2025
MF	Renuka Hamal				APF FC	2025 Vianet Championship final
FW	Anita K.C.	(1997-01-05)January 5, 1997 (age 28)	30	1	APF FC	v. Uzbekistan, 5 July 2025
FW	Chandra Bhandari	–	3	0	Nepal Army	v. Uzbekistan, 5 July 2025
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.

FIFA Women's World Cup record											Qualification record
Year	Round	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1991	Did not enter										Did not enter
1995
1999
2003
2007
2011
2015
2019
2023	Did not qualify										ViaAFC Women's Asian Cup
2027
2031	To be determined										To be determined
2035
Total	0/10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Summer Olympics record										Qualification record
Year	Round	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
1996	Did not enter									Did not enter
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020	Did not qualify									6	1	3	2	7	10	−3
2024										2	0	0	2	1	7	−6
2028										ViaAFC Women's Asian Cup
2032	To be determined									To be determined
Total	0/9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	8	1	3	4	7	17	−10

*Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided onpenalty kicks.

AFC Women's Asian Cup record										Qualification record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
1975	Did not exist									No Qualification
1977
1980
1981
1983
1986	Group stage	3	0	0	3	0	12	−12
1989	Group stage	3	0	0	3	0	25	−25
1991	Did not enter
1993
1995
1997
1999	Group stage	4	0	0	4	1	30	−29
2001	Did not enter
2003
2006										Did not enter
2008
2010
2014
2018
2022	Did not qualify									2	0	1	1	1	2	−1
2026										3	2	1	0	20	3	+17
2029	To be determined									To be determined
Total	3/21	10	0	0	10	1	67	−66	5	2	2	1	21	5	+16

*Draws include knockout matches decided onpenalty kicks.

Asian Games record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1990	Did not enter
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022	Group stage	11th	3	0	1	2	1	11	−10
2026	To be determined
Total	1/9	11th	3	0	1	2	1	11	−10

*Draws include knockout matches decided onpenalty kicks.

SAFF Women's Championship record
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	Runners-up	5	3	1	1	19	3	+16	10
Total	7/7	32	24	1	7	136	21	+115	73

*Draws include knockout matches decided onpenalty kicks.

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
2026	To be determined
Total	3/3	14	8	1	5	30	16	+14	25

*Draws include knockout matches decided onpenalty kicks.

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

*Draws include knockout matches decided onpenalty kicks.

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
2025 International Women's Championship	Runners-up	4	2	1	1	4	4	0

As of 5 July 2025,after the match againstUzbekistan.

Nepal women's national football team head-to-head records
Opponents	First played	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Confederation
Afghanistan	2010	2	2	0	0	20	1	+19	AFC
Bangladesh	2010	13	6	5	2	18	9	+8	AFC
Bhutan	2014	5	4	1	0	27	0	+27	AFC
Hong Kong	1986	3	0	1	2	0	4	−4	AFC
India	2010	19	3	5	11	14	40	−26	AFC
Indonesia	1986	3	1	0	2	2	15	−13	AFC
Iran	2019	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	AFC
Iraq	2024	1	1	0	0	5	0	+5	AFC
Japan	1989	3	0	0	3	0	36	−36	AFC
Jordan	2024	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	AFC
Kuwait	2013	1	1	0	0	8	0	+8	AFC
Kyrgyzstan	2019	2	2	0	0	9	2	+7	AFC
Laos	2025	1	1	0	0	9	0	+9	AFC
Lebanon	2024	2	2	0	0	3	1	+2	AFC
Malaysia	2016	3	1	1	1	3	5	−2	AFC
Maldives	2010	6	6	0	0	36	0	+36	AFC
Myanmar	2018	6	0	2	4	5	14	−9	AFC
Pakistan	2010	4	4	0	0	29	0	+29	AFC
Palestine	2024	1	1	0	0	4	0	+4	AFC
Philippines	1999	2	0	0	2	1	7	−6	AFC
Qatar	2013	2	2	0	0	9	0	+9	AFC
Sri Lanka	2010	10	10	0	0	44	0	+44	AFC
Syria	2024	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3	AFC
Tajikistan	2019	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	AFC
Thailand	1986	3	0	0	3	0	12	−12	AFC
Uzbekistan	1999	4	0	1	3	6	14	−8	AFC
Vietnam	2023	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	AFC
27 Countries	1986	104	50	17	37	263	175	+88	FIFA

• SAFF Women's Championship
  • Runners-up (6):2010,2012,2014,2019,2022,2024
• SAG Games
  • Runners-up (3):2010,2016,2019
• WAFF Women's Championship
  • Runners-up (1):2024

• Football in Nepal
• Nepal women's national under-20 football team
• Nepal women's national under-17 football team

• Team profile onthe-ANFA.com
• facebook

• Nepal women's national football team
• Asian women's national association football teams
• Women's football in Nepal

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards