football

Agencies A Swiss appeals court found former FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke guilty of forging documents and accepting bribes in a case involving World Cup media rights, Reuters reported. MARRAKECH, MOROCCO - DECEMBER 19: FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke looks on during the FIFA Club World Cup Final press conference at Sofitel Hotel on December 19, 2013 in Marrakech, Morocco. (Photo by Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images) According to the news agency, the 61-year-old, who was secretary general of the world football body from 2007 to 2015, was sentenced to 11 months in jail and fined 20,000 Swiss francs ($20,900). Both penalties were suspended. Valcke had been cleared by a lower court in 2020 of accepting bribes and aggravated criminal mismanagement, but Swiss prosecutor...

Agencies Eight medical personnel are to stand trial accused of criminal negligence in the death of legendary Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona. According to the BBC, a judge has ordered a culpable homicide trial after a medical panel found Maradona's treatment was rife with "deficiencies and irregularities". Maradona died in November 2020 of a heart attack in Buenos Aires, aged 60. He had been recovering at home from surgery on a brain blood clot earlier that month. A few days after his death Argentine prosecutors launched an investigation into the doctors and nurses involved in his care, BBC further reported. According to Reuters, a medical board appointed to investigate Maradona's death concluded in 2021 that the soccer star's medical team acted in an "inapprop...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - Midfielder Bishal Rai and left back Rejin Dhimal of league champions Machhindra FC along with seven other players will be representing New Road Team (NRT) during a Malaysia tour to play the TYT Cup Football Tournament. NRT has signed the nine players for a pre-season tour to Malaysia and Thailand. Other players picked by NRT for the tour include Chiring Gurung of Machhindra, Sanjok Rai of Three Star Club, Rumesh Bartaula of Chyasal Youth Club, Subash Gurung of Sankata, Nicholas Fernandes and Gaurav Shrestha of Jawlakhel Youth Club. The team also includes a new goalkeeper Lundry as well as other regular players such as Pujan Hona, Dipesh Ghale, Stephan Samir Binong, Shiva Gurung, Saroj Tamang and Ashok Thapa Magar. However, national team play...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - Nepal has dropped eight spots in the FIFA ranking released by the world football governing body on Thursday. Nepal is currently ranked 176th in the FIFA ranking. Prior to this, Nepal was ranked 168th. Nepal had lost three of its matches recently during the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers in Kuwait. On the occasion, Nepal suffered losses to hosts Kuwait, Jordan and Indonesia. During the qualifiers, Nepal had conceded 13 goals and had scored a single goal. This resulted in the slump in Nepal’s ranking. India tops the ranking among South Asian countries. India improved two positions in the ranking and climbed to 104th. Maldives are ranked above Nepal among South Asian nations at 156th position. Bhutan trails Nepal with its ranking of 186th followed by Ba...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - Pankaj Bikram Nembang has been elected the new president of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA). Nembang defeated outgoing president Karma Chiring Sherpa by a margin of six votes during the election held on the occasion of the 21st general assembly of the football governing body. The election was held at Park Village, Budhanilkantha. Nembang has been elected for a four-year term. Nembang secured 45 votes against 39 by his rival Sherpa. Independent candidate Rajiv Raj Poudyal received zero vote out of 84 cast during the election. Upon being elected the president of ANFA, Nembang pledged to work for improve the relations between ANFA and district chapters as well as with players, FIFA and AFC. Nembang added that the dispute between the pl...

Agencies Manchester City will begin their Premier League title defence with a trip to West Ham United, while the season will kick off with a London derby for the second year in a row as Crystal Palace host Arsenal. According to Reuters, Liverpool, who finished second last season, will travel to newly-promoted Fulham, and Nottingham Forest will play at Newcastle United to mark their return to the Premier League after 23 years. Chelsea will kick off their season under the new ownership led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital by playing away to Everton, while Bournemouth will host Aston Villa in their first game in the top flight after earning promotion, the news agency further reported. Manchester United, under new manager Erik ten Hag, will begin their campaign at home aga...

Agencies More than half of all players at the finals of last year's European Championship and Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) were subjected to some form of discriminatory abuse online, a report published by global football governing body FIFA has revealed. According to Reuters, the independent report used artificial intelligence to track over 400,000 posts on social media platforms during the semi-final and final stages of the two competitions and found the majority of abuse to be homophobic (40%) and racist (38%). It added that much of the abuse came from players' home nations and took place before, during and after games. England's Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who are black, were bombarded with online abuse after missing their spot-kicks in a shootout ag...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - Nepal’s national football team’s captain Navyug Shrestha has revealed that 11 senior players did not leave the training camp by themselves in late April. Upon his return after playing in the Asian Cup 2023 on Thursday, Shrestha said that the 11 players were told to leave the training camp by chief coach Abdullah Al Mutairi. “The players did not leave the camp themselves as they stand accused of. They left the camp after the chief coach told them they could leave the training,” said Shrestha, after arriving at Tribhuvan International Airport. “Whether the coach returns or not is ANFA’s concern. We don’t know anything about it,” he added. Shrestha added that his team could not play as expected but it provided an opportunity for new players ...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - Nepal’s national football team has returned home after participating in the Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers. The national football team returned home from Kuwait at 10 am on Thursday through a Qatar Airways flight. ANFA’s central committee member Rupesh Adhikari welcomed the players at the Tribhuvan International Airport upon their arrival. The team lost all three matches played during the qualifiers in Kuwait. Although a 31-member squad of Nepal returned home, chief coach Abdullah Al Mutairi remained in Kuwait. The chief coach, who had collapsed during one of the matches under the qualifiers, took leave from ANFA to stay back in his homeland. Nepal, which travelled to Kuwait for the qualifiers without 11 senior players, finished bottom of ...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - Veteran footballer Bal Gopal Maharjan has been appointed as the coach of Nepal’s women’s national football team. His appointment comes at a time when the national women’s football team of Nepal is gearing up for the Asian Cup. Prior to this, Maharjan was serving as a football coach of the National Sports Council on contract basis. Upon establishing himself as a successful coach, the sports governing body as well as the Ministry of Youth and Sports decided to appoint him as the coach of the national women’s football team. The women’s team will now play the Asian Games under his guidance.   “This is the first time in 10 years of my coaching career that I have been handed the responsibility to look after the women’s national team,” said Ma...