Nepal women's national football team

This article is about the women's team. For the men's team, see Nepal national football team.

The Nepal women's national football team is controlled by the All Nepal Football Association and represents Nepal in international women's football competitions. The Women's Football Department has been developed to control and manage the women's football activities. The official motto of women's football in Nepal is "Football for Change". It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation and the South Asian Football Federation and has yet to qualify for the World Cup.

Nepal

Nickname(s)	Gorkhali Chelis
Association	All Nepal Football Association
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	SAFF (South Asia)
Head coach	Rajendra Tamang
Captain	Anjila Tumbapo Subba
Most caps	Anjila Tumbapo Subba (57)
Top scorer	Sabitra Bhandari (53)
Home stadium	Various
FIFA code	NEP
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	99 4 (6 March 2025)[1]
Highest	91 (December 2017)
Lowest	119 (September 2015)
First international
Nepal 0–1 Hong Kong  (Hong Kong; 14 December 1986)
Biggest win
Nepal 13–0 Afghanistan  (Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh; 14 December 2010)
Biggest defeat
Japan 14–0 Nepal (Hong Kong; 24 December 1989)  Japan 14–0 Nepal (Barotac Nuevo, Philippines; 12 November 1999)
Asian Cup
Appearances	3 (first in 1986)
Best result	Group stage (1986, 1989, 1999)
SAFF Championship
Appearances	6 (first in 2010)
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

History

Formation

First international football game in the Nepali women's football in 1984

Nepal formed a women's national team in the mid-1980s and debuted in the 1986 AFC Women's Championship. During the start of the tournament, Nepal played their first official match against Hong Kong (14 December 1986), which they lost with a score of 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 champions Thailand, alongside Indonesia and Hong 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 was Kamal Thapa. Nepal's first woman captain was Rama Singh when the Nepali women's football team was created, Kamal Thapa was the president of the All Nepal Football Association. Singh, who represented the Bagmati team, started playing in 1985. The second national team's captain was Kamala Hirachan who also represented the Gandaki team and the third women captain was Meera Chaudhary who represented Naryani 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 is Pema Dolma Lama, who scored a goal against Uzbekistan at the 1999 AFC Women's Championship held in Philippines.

Crisis years

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 the Women's Asian Cup in 1999. Despite their triumphant return, the results were about the same as before the eight-year hiatus. The championship ended in the group-stage with Japan, Thailand, Uzbekistan and the Philippines, 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 the Chelis during their 1999 campaign.^[2]

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

Nepal had a long period without matches, but they impressed many in the South Asian Games in 2010, where they reached the final after beating several opponents by a wide margin. In the finals they lost narrowly 1–3 against the big favorite India. This gave the national team a much needed recognition. The 11th South Asian Games also were the first to host a women's football event as well.^[4] In the opening match of the 2010 South Asian Games, Nepal women's U23 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 finals, 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.

Regeneration

Anjila Tumbapo Subba played numerous games for Nepal

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, the Chelis 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 the 11th South Asian Games, and the other from the SAFF 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. Striker Anu 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]

Team image

The Dasharath Rangasala at daytime in 2008

Nicknames

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

Home stadium

Main article: Dasarath Rangasala Stadium

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

FIFA World Ranking

As of 13 December 2024^[7]

Nepal's FIFA World Ranking History
Year	2003	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
FIFA World Ranking	103	116	116	108	94	107	114	105	91	108	97	92	103	103	105	103
AFC Ranking	–	22	23	23	24	21	24	20	22	20	21	16	21	21	20	20

Results and fixtures

Main article: Nepal women's national football team results

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

2025

Nepal    v  Kyrgyzstan

17 February 2025 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 February 2025 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 February 2025 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 February 2025 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

Laos  v  Nepal

29 June 2025 (2025-06-29) 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification	Laos	v	Nepal
UTC+5

Nepal    v  Sri Lanka

2 July 2025 (2025-07-02) 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification	Nepal	v	Sri Lanka
UTC+5

Nepal    v  Uzbekistan

5 July 2025 (2025-07-05) 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification	Nepal	v	Uzbekistan
UTC+5

Coaching staff

As of 27 February 2024

Position	Name
Head coach	Rajendra Tamang
Assistant coach	Shyam Manandhar Bhagwati Thapa
Goalkeeping coach	Suraj Kumar Lama
Medical officer	Dr. Jyoti Rai
Physiotherapist	Navina Shrestha
Kit manager	Bikash Gurung
Team Official	Bijay Kumar Gupta
Media Manager	Krishna Singh Lothyal

Manager history

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 – Present	2024 WAFF Women's Championship: Runner-up 2024 SAFF Women's Championship: Runner-up 2025 International Women's Championship: Runner-up

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were called up for a Vianet Women's Championship in Nepal between 17 and 26 February 2025.^[12]

Information correct as of 26 February 2025, after the match against  Myanmar

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
16	1GK	Anjila Tumbapo Subba (Captain)	(1996-05-28)28 May 1996 (aged 28)	57	0	Nees Atromitou
20	1GK	Anjana Rana Magar	(2002-01-17)17 January 2002 (aged 23)	3	0	Nepal Army
22	1GK	Usha Nath	(2001-01-23)23 January 2001 (aged 24)	1	0	Nepal Police
5	2DF	Amrita Jaisi	(1994-10-15)15 October 1994 (aged 30)			Nepal Police
12	2DF	Gita Rana	(1996-09-21)21 September 1996 (aged 28)	14	2	APF FC
3	2DF	Bimala B.K.	(2002-01-23)23 January 2002 (aged 23)			Nepal Army
2	2DF	Puja Rana	(2001-03-28)28 March 2001 (aged 23)			Transport United
21	2DF	Nisha Thokar	(2001-02-01)1 February 2001 (aged 24)			APF FC
4	2DF	Samikshya Ghimire	(1999-12-26)26 December 1999 (aged 25)			Nepal Police
17	2DF	Bimala Chaudhary	(1997-03-01)1 March 1997 (aged 27)			Nepal Army
	2DF	Man Maya Damai	(2004-09-13)13 September 2004 (aged 20)			APF FC
11	3MF	Anita Basnet	(1994-02-09)9 February 1994 (aged 31)	26	6	APF FC
7	3MF	Renuka Nagarkote	(1995-04-16)16 April 1995 (aged 29)	43	0	APF FC
14	3MF	Preeti Rai	(2004-11-20)20 November 2004 (aged 20)		5	APF FC
8	3MF	Saru Limbu	(1999-03-06)6 March 1999 (aged 25)	20	1	APF FC
18	3MF	Sabita Rana Magar	(2003-07-07)7 July 2003 (aged 21)			APF FC
13	3MF	Renuka Hamal				APF FC
	3MF	Sushma Tamang				Waling Municipality
9	4FW	Sabitra Bhandari	(1996-05-02)2 May 1996 (aged 28)	54	57	EA Guingamp
10	4FW	Rashmi Ghising	(2002-06-15)15 June 2002 (aged 22)			APF FC
19	4FW	Chandra Bhandari				Nepal Army
15	4FW	Anita K.C.	(1997-01-05)5 January 1997 (aged 28)			APF FC
13	4FW	Rekha Poudel	(2001-01-07)7 January 2001 (aged 24)	19	11	Abu Dhabi Country Club

Recent call-ups

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
GK	Sapana Rai				Nepal Police Club	2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
DF	Hira Kumari Bhujel		-	-	APF FC	2024 SAFF Women's ChampionshipINJ
DF	Sabina Chaudhary		-	-		2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
DF	Ganga Gurung					2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
DF	Pratichya Chaudhary				APF FC	2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
MF	Amisha Karki				Nepal Police FC	2024 SAFF Women's ChampionshipINJ
MF	Samjhana Lawati				Transport United	2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
MF	Anjali Machamache					2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
MF	Dipa Neupane				Nepal Police FC	2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
MF	Saraswati Hamal		-	-		Training camp June 2024
FW	Anushka Sherpa				Nepal Police FC	2024 WAFF Women's ChampionshipPRE
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.

Records

See also: Category:Nepal women's international footballers

Honours

Regional

• SAFF Women's Championship

Appearances (7):2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2022, 2024

Runners-up (6): 2010, 2012, 2014, 2019, 2022, 2024

• SAG Games

Appearances (3):2010, 2016, 2019

Runners-up (3): 2010, 2016, 2019

• WAFF Women's Championship

Appearances (1):2024

Runners-up (1):2024

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup record											Qualification record
Year	Round	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad		Outcome	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1991	Did not enter										Did not enter
1995
1999
2003	Withdrew										Withdrew
2007	Did not enter										Did not enter
2011
2015
2019
2023	Did not qualify										The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup served as the qualifying tournament
2027	To be determined										The 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup will serve as the qualifying tournament
Total	–	0/10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		Total	–	–	–	–	–	–

Olympic Games

Summer Olympics record											Qualification record
Year	Round	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad		Outcome	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1996	Did not enter										The 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup served as the qualifying tournament
2000											The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup served as the qualifying tournament
2004											Did not enter
2008
2012
2016
2020	Did not qualify										2nd of 3	6	1	3	2	7	10
2024											3rd of 3	2	0	0	2	1	7
2028	To be determined										To be determined
Total	–	0/8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		Total	8	1	3	4	7	17

AFC Women's Asian Cup

AFC Women's Asian Cup record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1975 to 1983	Did not enter (No team)
1986	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	0	12	−12	0
1989	Group Stage	3	0	0	3	0	25	−25	0
1991 to 1997	Did not enter
1999	Group Stage	4	0	0	4	1	30	−29	0
2001 to 2018	Did not enter
2022	Did not qualify
2026	To be determined
Total	3/20	10	0	0	10	1	67	-66	0

Asian Games

Asian Games record
Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1990	did not enter
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022	Group stage	3	0	1	2	1	11	-10
2026	TBD	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total	0/8	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

SAFF Women's Championship

SAFF Women's Championship
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

South Asian Games

South Asian Games record[13]
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	TBD
Total	3/3	14	8	1	5	30	16	+14	25

WAFF Women's Championship

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

Other tournaments

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

Head-to-head record

As of 27 February 2025, after the match against  Myanmar.

Key

	More wins
	Equal wins/losses ratio
	More losses

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	18	2	5	11	12	39	−27	AFC
Indonesia	1986	3	1	0	2	2	15	−13	AFC
Iran	2019	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3	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
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	8	8	0	0	30	0	+30	AFC
Syria	2024	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3	AFC
Tajikistan	2019	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	AFC
Thailand	1986	2	0	0	2	0	10	−10	AFC
Uzbekistan	1999	3	0	0	3	3	11	−8	AFC
Vietnam	2023	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	AFC
26 Countries	1986	98	46	16	35	235	166	+69	—

See also

• Nepal portal
• Sports portal
• Games portal
• Association football portal
• Women's association football portal

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