All Nepal Football Association in question

 

The  sharp criticism leveled at the All Nepal Football Association by Belgian Patrick  De Wilde,head coach  of the women’s   Nepal national football team regarding its management and coaching,is front and center.

This  criticism comes  close on  the heels of  Nepal’s heartbreaking loss to Uzbekistan in the crucial AFC Asian Cup Football Qualifiers that  concluded in Uzbekistan recently.

The  surprise outbursts of the coach have brought  the governance of the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA)and state of Nepal football into question.

If memory serves me right,this is the first time a foreign coach has publicly criticized the football body for poor management and failing to undertake initiatives to modernize and  improve coaching,coupled with failure to update and upgrade  coaching tools.

 

I found it ridiculous that the Belgian  waited so long to unleash his criticism against ANFA.

After he was appointed head coach of the women’s national team, I am pretty sure it did not take him long to realize the issues related to management and  coaching quickly. 

In order to get ANFA’s attention to the problems he should have  addressed promptly. They could have come out with a short term action plan to address it. Why did he have to wait that long?To me it makes no sense.

As a matter of fact,this is nothing new. As long as I can remember this has been an ongoing issue for decades.The problems are systemic.

Anyone very familiar with Nepal football knows  exactly how ANFA’s weak leadership,failed  governance and  poor management have stagnated football development  despite a vibrant football environment in the country.

On top of that the government has contributed  negligibly to investment in  infrastructure  development. Furthermore,it has never allocated adequate funding for the overall development of the sport in the country.

In other words, the amount of support and resources put in for football is minimal on the part of the government.They have failed to  undertake initiatives to improve and transform Nepal football all these years.To put it bluntly, football  has never been their priority to date.

No wonder, the landscape of Nepal football remains unchanged.The good thing is that despite  challenges,young aspiring players,both men and women are undeterred  in  pursuit of their  dream of becoming  professional footballers 

What Nepal football desperately needs is   a  truly committed,accountable, transparent and functional football  association,full government support (financial and logistics), structural reforms, infrastructural development and adequate investment in  both grassroots and professional football to  bring about real meaningful change. 

Now that FIFA  has  ended the financial and control funding restrictions it  imposed   on ANFA  in 2021 due to  financial irregularities and a lack of transparency concerns ,the current football association, lead by Mr.Pankaj Bikram Nembang, will have  full discretion over how to spend the annual funds provided by the world football governing body for development purposes.

It is a well known fact that ANFA was a breeding  ground for bureaucracy, corruption,petty politics,factionalism, mismanagement and dirty politics for decades .

The governing  body  lacked  accountability, transparency and integrity.As a result, football development took a big hit,causing significant stagnation.

To be fair, under the leadership of Mr.Nembang, ANFA did a commendable job to prove its credibility,accountability and transparency in  financial matters to both the World and Asian  football governing bodies.

With less than a year to go for the ANFA election,Mr. Nembang’s reelection bid can get a boost if his administration shows genuine signs of stirring the development of football  in the right direction on all fronts.

That being said,it is easier said than done. Action matters more than words, when all is said and done.

Time will tell whether Mr. Nembang is able to demonstrate  strong leadership,and whether his administration  has a clear vision,can implement good governance and sound management,and can  use the funds effectively for both infrastructure and grassroots football development,

Given the budget constraints and limited financial resources,there is no way ANFA can  achieve its envisioned goals.They will need financial support from the government  to get things done. 

For  now let us keep our fingers crossed and wait for things to pan out going forward.