Nepal women's national football team

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

Nepal

Nickname(s)	Gorkhali Chelis
Association	All Nepal Football Association (ANFA)
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	SAFF (South Asia)
Head coach	Vacant
Captain	Sabitra Bhandari
Most caps	Sabitra Bhandari (60)
Top scorer	Sabitra Bhandari (66)
Home stadium	Various
FIFA code	NEP
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	87 13 (7 August 2025)[1]
Highest	87 (August 2025)
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	7 (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

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 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.

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 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 national team's second 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 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 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 the South 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 favorite India. 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.

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

Thailand  v  Nepal

2 June Friendly	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 (4–2 p)	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

Coaching staff

As of 19 Jly 2025

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

Coaching history

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

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification games in June 2025.^[12]

Information correct as of 6 July 2025, after the match against Uzbekistan

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Usha Nath	(2001-01-23) January 23, 2001 (age 24)	2	0	Nepal Police
16	1GK	Anjila Tumbapo Subba	(1996-05-28) May 28, 1996 (age 29)	58	0	APF FC
20	1GK	Anjana Rana Magar	(2002-01-17) January 17, 2002 (age 23)	12	0	APF FC
2	2DF	Puja Rana	(2001-03-28) March 28, 2001 (age 24)	17	1	Transport United
3	2DF	Bimala B.K.	(2002-01-23) January 23, 2002 (age 23)	15	0	Nepal Army
4	2DF	Samikshya Ghimire	(1999-12-26) December 26, 1999 (age 25)	15	0	Nepal Police
5	2DF	Amrita Jaishi	(1994-10-15) October 15, 1994 (age 30)	56	1	Nepal Police
6	2DF	Man Maya Damai	(2004-09-13) September 13, 2004 (age 20)	1	0	APF FC
12	2DF	Gita Rana	(1996-09-21) September 21, 1996 (age 28)	58	4	APF FC
21	2DF	Nisha Thokar	(2001-02-01) February 1, 2001 (age 24)	7	1	APF FC
23	2DF	Pratiksha Chaudhary	(2004-10-29) October 29, 2004 (age 20)	0	0	APF FC
7	3MF	Renuka Nagarkote	(1995-04-16) April 16, 1995 (age 30)	56	0	APF FC
8	3MF	Saru Limbu	(1999-03-06) March 6, 1999 (age 26)	50	3	APF FC
11	3MF	Anita Basnet	(1994-02-09) February 9, 1994 (age 31)	58	7	APF FC
14	3MF	Preeti Rai	(2004-11-20) November 20, 2004 (age 20)	21	5	Etihad Club
17	2DF	Bimala Chaudhary	(1997-03-01) March 1, 1997 (age 28)	19	2	Nepal Army
18	3MF	Sabita Rana Magar	(2003-07-07) July 7, 2003 (age 22)	16	3	APF FC
22	3MF	Sarasati Hamal	(2004-03-07) March 7, 2004 (age 21)	4	0	APF FC
9	4FW	Sabitra Bhandari (Captain)	(1996-05-02) May 2, 1996 (age 29)	60	66	Wellington Phoenix
10	4FW	Rashmi Ghising	(2002-06-15) June 15, 2002 (age 23)	24	3	APF FC
13	4FW	Rekha Poudel	(2001-01-07) January 7, 2001 (age 24)	23	12	Abu Dhabi
15	4FW	Anita K.C.	(1997-01-05) January 5, 1997 (age 28)	30	1	APF FC
19	4FW	Chandra Bhandari		3	0	Nepal Army

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	2024 WAFF Women's Championship^PRE
DF	Hira Kumari Bhujel		-	-	APF FC	2024 SAFF Women's Championship^INJ
DF	Sabina Chaudhary		-	-	Thimpu City	2024 WAFF Women's Championship^PRE
DF	Ganga Gurung					2024 WAFF Women's Championship^PRE
MF	Sushma Tamang		0	0	Waling Municipality	Friendly against  Thailand
MF	Amisha Karki				Nepal Police	2024 SAFF Women's Championship^INJ
MF	Samjhana Lawati				Transport United	2024 WAFF Women's Championship^PRE
MF	Anjali Machamache					2024 WAFF Women's Championship^PRE
MF	Dipa Neupane				Nepal Police	2024 WAFF Women's Championship^PRE
MF	Renuka Hamal				APF FC	2025 Vianet Championship final
FW	Anushka Sherpa				Nepal Police	2024 WAFF Women's Championship^PRE
^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

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup record											Qualification
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										Via AFC Women's Asian Cup
2027
2031	To be determined										To be determined
2035
Total	0/10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Olympic Games

Summer Olympics record										Qualification
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										Via AFC 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 on penalty kicks.

AFC Women's Asian Cup

AFC Women's Asian Cup record										Qualification
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 on penalty kicks.

Asian Games

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 on penalty kicks.

SAFF Women's Championship

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 on penalty kicks.

South Asian Games

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 on penalty kicks.

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

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

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 5 July 2025, after the match against Uzbekistan.

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
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	103	49	17	36	261	171	+90	FIFA

Honours

Regional

• 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

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

References

1. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking". FIFA. 7 August 2025. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
2. "NFH – Archived News". Angelfire. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
3. "Off-side: In support of the Nepali women footballers". The Kathmandu Post. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
4. Richardson, Andy (5 March 2009). "Nepali football – Sportsworld". Al-Jazeera Sportsworld. Retrieved 4 January 2016 – via YouTube.
5. "FIFA Rankings Nepal Women's National Team". Archived from the original on July 9, 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
6. "In Pictures: Renovation of Dasarath Rangasala on a war footing". thehimalayantimes.com. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
7. "FIFA NEPAL WOMEN'S RANKING". FIFA. 13 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
8. "Australian national Phillips named ANFA technical director". Retrieved 27 February 2025.
9. Republica. "Gary Phillips is new head coach of Women's National Football Team". My Republica. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
10. "Rajendra Tamang Appointed Head Coach Of Women's National Football Team". Retrieved 27 February 2025.
11. "Coach Tamang to lead Nepali women in Four Nations Cup". Retrieved 27 February 2025.
12. "Final squad for Thailand friendlies announced". Retrieved 25 May 2025.

External links

• Team profile on the-ANFA.com
• facebook