The Nepal national under-17 football team ( ne, नेपाल राष्ट्रिय यू-१७ फुटबल टिम) is the under-17

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team of

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

. The team is controlled by the

All Nepal Football Association The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) (Nepali language, Nepali: अखिल नेपाल फुटबल संघ (एन्फा)) is the governing body of football in Nepal. It is responsible for the Nepal national football team, natio ...

and is a member of the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

History

Early years

In the mid-1980s,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

provided financial assistance and sent a number of coaches to help Nepal launch its first youth programme, which was geared towards spotting talent at the grassroots level (such as in schools, for example) and providing young players with the necessary know-how, both on and off the pitch. The initial five-year plan helped half the players groomed under the first youth programme to find a place in the national side, and the team that won the 2 gold medals in the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and sixth South Asian Federation (SAF) Games mostly consisted of the players from that youth programme.

Youth investment

ANFA Anfa (Berber language: ''Anfa'' or ''Anaffa'', ⴰⵏⴼⴰ; ar, أنفا; es, Anafe; pt, Anafé) was the ancient toponym for Casablanca during the classical period. The city was founded by Berbers around the 10th century BC, with the Romans un ...

asked

for financial assistance to check the downslide of Nepalese domestic football and in 1998,

agreed to donate funds through its Financial Assistance Programme (FAP), thereby allowing

to construct a secretariat along with a football pitch and a hostel in

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

to launch its youth development programme. The two-year intensive training period for the youth players selected in 1998 produced a number of skilful players, who recently participated in the ninth

South Asian Games The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games), is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic C ...

(Pakistan, 29 March - 5 April). The same team had earlier topped its group in the Asian Cup preliminary round in March 2004. However, despite reaching the finals tournament of the 2000 AFC U-17 Championship in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, Nepal refused to participate in a biological age test, and as a result was banned from the 2002 AFC U-17 Championship. This, along with the

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

uprising left manager Stephen Constantine to resign. In 2002, endeavours to develop football received a further fillip when

awarded a Goal programme to Nepal. Thanks to this project,

has constructed regional football centres that include hostels, office secretariats and playing grounds in three major towns in three different regions. ANFA built these centres to focus on spotting hidden talent in villages or schools around the nation. These centres will also provide the necessary coaching and physical training, and in the long-term, the nation as a whole will benefit with more regional football sides on a par with the clubs of

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

Recent years

Nepal was fined by the

of fielding over-age players during the

2014 AFC U-16 Championship The 2014 AFC U-16 Championship was the 16th edition of the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for players aged 16 and below. Thailand were approved as hosts of the competition on 2 ...

. Since the fine, the

has put in place several necessary age checks as part of selection/trials. The most recent team has qualified for the

2016 AFC U-16 Championship The 2016 AFC U-16 Championship was the 17th edition of the AFC U-16 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-16 national teams of Asia. The tourn ...

, making it the first Nepal U-16 team to achieve a back-to-back qualification in history. However, the team was then excluded from the tournament due to player

Manish Karki Manish (''also'' Maneesh) (Devanagari: मनिष ''or'' मनीष) is a common Hindu masculine given name that literally means "The God of the Mind" or the one who has controlled and mastered one's mind (representing an intellectual, geniu ...

failing an MRI bone test. Nepal was penalized and ruled to have forfeited all three of their qualification group matches where the ineligible player was fielded by a 3–0 scoreline.

Stadium

The team's home ground is shared with the Nepal national football team at the

Dasarath Rangasala Stadium Dasharath Rangasala ( ne, दशरथ रंगशाला; ) is a multi-purpose stadium in Tripureshwar, Kathmandu. It is named after Dasharath Chand, one of the four great martyrs of Nepal. The stadium is used mostly for football matches ...

, a multi-purpose stadium in Tripureswor, Kathmandu,

. Holding 25,000 spectators, of which 5.000 seated, it is the biggest stadium in Nepal. It is named after

Dashrath Chand Dasharath Chand ( ne, दशरथ चन्द; 1903-28 January 1941) is martyr of Nepalese Democratic Movement and a politician of Nepal who was active in starting a political revolution in Nepal during Rana rule. He was born at Baskot of Baitadi ...

, one of the martyrs of Nepal. Most recently, the stadium was used as a primary venue for the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup and the

2013 SAFF Championship The 2013 South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly referred to as 2013 SAFF Championship, was the 10th SAFF Championship for men's national football teams organized by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The tournament took ...

, with the

Halchowk Stadium Halchowk Stadium (also known as APF Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Kathmandu in Bagmati Province of Nepal. The stadium holds 3,500 people. It is mainly used for soccer matches and has a grass playing surface. The last major tournament ho ...

hosting some of the matches as well. Apart from sporting events, the stadium is also used as a music venue for cultural events with

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

being the most notable act that performed at the site. Prior to the 2013 SAFF Championship in Nepal, the

Dasarath Rangasala Dasharath Rangasala ( ne, दशरथ रंगशाला; ) is a multi-purpose stadium in Tripureshwar, Kathmandu. It is named after Dasharath Chand, one of the four great martyrs of Nepal. The stadium is used mostly for football matches ...

underwent heavy renovation that saw several improvements such as the expansion of seats from 20,000 to 25,000.

Coaching staff

Players

U-16 Squad

* ''The 23-man squad was Entered for the 2015 SAFF U-16 Championship.

U-16 Recent Call-ups

Competitive record

:''*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.'' :''**Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.''

FIFA (U-17) World Cup

In order to qualify for the

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

, AFC teams must secure a berth (currently, semi-finals) through a continental tournament, the

AFC U-16 Championship The AFC U-17 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC U-16 Championship and AFC U-17 Championship, is a football competition, organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held once every two years for Asian under-17 teams that also serves as a q ...

AFC U-16 Championship

SAFF U-16 Championship

Notes

References

External links

Profile
on

GoalNepal: Nepal U-16 profile
{{National sports teams of Nepal Asian national under-17 association football teams under-17