The 2026 FIFA World Cup has kicked off, and while the rest of the world is busy hyperventilating over goals and offside traps, Nepali football fans are left to watch the spectacle from the sidelines—both literally and figuratively. FIFA, never one to pass up an opportunity to bleed fans dry, has priced tickets so high they might as well be minted in gold.
But honestly, watching FIFA's corporate greed is almost quaint compared to the local theater performance currently playing at ANFA. While FIFA is busy being its usual controversial self, our All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) is hard at work perfecting the art of "looting 101," ensuring that the only thing growing in Nepali football is the bank balance of its officials.
The CUM Coalition and the Art of Sporting Ruin
There is a sliver of hope with the Balen-era National Sports Council (NSC) staffing its ranks with actual athletes, but don't hold your breath just yet. Outside that bubble, our sports federations remain the personal playgrounds of the "CUM" (Congress, UML, Maoist) coalition of jholeys. These career party loyalists have turned football into a pyramid scheme where local mundreys and shady byaparis fight for chairmanships just to secure a vote. It’s a vicious cycle where the qualification for running a sports club is not "knowing football," but "knowing how to rig an election." It’s truly an impressive feat to make football—the world's most popular sport—feel like a dull, extractive industry.
Gold Mines, Vacations, and the Anatomy of a Loot
Every year, ANFA rakes in over 100 crores from FIFA, yet our players live on pocket change while officials pocket salaries in the lakhs. It’s a classic Nepali tragedy: the money flows in, but it gets stuck in the bureaucratic plumbing of travel allowances and "development" seminars that conveniently take place in American luxury hotels. When our government recently blocked two ANFA bigwigs from flying to the US on a FIFA-sponsored "vacation," the resulting noise was deafening. FIFA threatened to ban Nepal, shielding their corrupt cohorts behind the thin veil of "fair elections." It’s a protection racket where the referee is clearly on the payroll.
A Prescription for Professionalism
If we want to stop this decline, we need to treat ANFA like the crime scene it is. The NSC should start by cleaning house: delete the 150 "hawa taari" (phantom) sports organizations that exist only on paper and hold the remaining 50 accountable. We must demand a 50% quota for former professional athletes and 10% for experienced coaches in executive committees. No more mundreys in suits; we need people who know the difference between a penalty kick and a kickback. A full, brutal financial audit of every district association is the only way to unclog this system.
The Long Road to the World Cup Dream
Is it optimistic to think we can ever make it to the World Cup? Perhaps. But look at Curaçao—a nation with 158,000 people that made it to the big stage through sheer persistence and proper structure. We don’t need more slogans or "Decades of Sport" committees; we need youth academies and a professional league that actually exists. We need to stop sympathizing with our own failures and start building from the primary school level up. The road is long and littered with the debris of past corruption, but if we clear the rot, the goal is actually visible. Who knows? In two decades, we might just stop watching the World Cup as tourists and start playing as contenders.
Jai Nepal!