football

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - A 23-member Nepali football team on Wednesday left for Doha of Qatar for practice ahead of the Asian Cup Qualifiers to be held in Kuwait in June. Minister for Youth and Sports Maheshwar Jung Gahatraj bade farewell to the team amid a function in the capital on Tuesday. The team will undergo training in Qatar from May 25 to June 3. During the training period, Nepal will play friendly matches against Oman and Timor Leste. Nepal will face Timor Leste on coming Saturday while the match against Oman has been fixed for next Friday. The team will then fly to Kuwait on June 3. The team will compete I n the Asian Cup qualifiers from June 8 to 14 and then return back to Nepal on June 15. Nepal has been drawn in Group A along with the hosts Kuwait, Jord...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has appointed Navyug Shrestha as the captain of the Nepali national football team. ANFA handed over the responsibility to Shrestha in the absence of regular captain and goalkeeper Kiran Chemjong, who has been excluded from the national team for the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers along with 10 senior players following the players’ altercation with the chief coach Abdullah Al Mutairi. Although Chemjong was not in the country when the altercation took place in April 26, he was not included in the national team. ANFA and chief coach Al Mutairi have not given any reason for not including Chemjong in the national team. Shrestha will lead the national football team during the third round of the AFC Asian Cup qualifie...

Agencies AC Milan won their 19th Serie A title for the first time in 11 years by cruising to a 3-0 victory at Sassuolo on Sunday. Olivier Giroud scored twice with Franck Kessie also on target for the visitors. According to the BBC, the title triumph vindicates Milan's decision to appoint Stefano Pioli as manager in 2019 - a move that was initially unpopular with Pioli having led city rivals Inter for six months. Inter finished two points back, a final-day 3-0 victory over Sampdoria ultimately in vain. Napoli were third after a 3-0 win at Spezia while Juventus ended their disappointing season under Massimiliano Allegri - who won the title with Milan in 2010-11 - by finishing fourth but qualifying for next season's Champions League. Milan have suffered more than a deca...

Agencies Manchester City won the Premier League title on Sunday by a point from Liverpool on a thrilling final day of the campaign after Pep Guardiola's side survived a huge scare against Aston Villa. City were trailing behind 2-0 against Aston Villa with time running out in the second half when a stunning fightback with three goals in a space of five minutes set off the party, with fans pouring onto the field at the Etihad Stadium at the final whistle. According to Reuters, City have now won four of the last five Premier League titles and their victory ends Liverpool's hopes of a unique quadruple of trophies. "Four Premier Leagues, these guys are legends already, people have to admit it. This group of players are absolutely eternal in this club because what we achieved is...

By a Staff Reporter Kathamndu - The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has finalized Nepal’s football team for the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers 2023 to be held in Kuwait. The final squad of Nepal does not feature 11 senior players including regular captain Kiran Chemjong.   Chief coach Abdullah Al Mutairi on Friday announced the 23-member final squad for the qualifiers to be held in June. Ten senior players who were forced to leave the training camp due to an altercation with the chief coach have been excluded from the team. Captain Kiran Chemjong was outside the country when the dispute broke out on April 26 but he had sided with the players by posting a Facebook post in support of the players. Chemjong was in the Maldives playing professional football in the island n...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) President Karma Chiring Sherpa and Senior Vice President Pankaj BIkram Nembang are all set to compete for the post of ANFA president during the upcoming election. The two were elected from the same panel during the last election. Besides them, the entire 17-member executive committee of ANFA was elected from the same panel. Four years down the lane, Sherpa and Nembang have decided to compete from different panels. The ANFA election is to be held on June 20. The election committee of the football governing body has fixed the deadline of May 20 to 26 for the nominations. Sherpa informed that he will file his candidacy on Friday. “I have decided to fight for the post once again to give continuity to the ...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - Nepal will face the Maldives in the opening match of the SAFF U-20 Football Championship to be held in India two months later. The U-20 championship will be held in India’s Bhuvaneshwar from July 25 to August 5. The participating teams include Nepal, hosts India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka will take on Bangladesh in another match on the opening day. Meanwhile, Nepal will lock horns against Sri Lanka on July 27 and then face India on July 31. Nepal’s last match of league round is against Bangladesh on August 2. The top two teams from the round-robin league will vie for the title on August 5.

Agencies Levante were relegated from LaLiga on Thursday after they were thrashed 6-0 by champions Real Madrid, with Vinicius Junior scoring a hat-trick. According to Reuters, bottom club Levante needed to win to keep alive their dwindling chances of survival but against a rampant Real, that hope was quickly snuffed out. Real, who will face Liverpool in the Champions League final later this month, went ahead through Ferland Mendy before goals from Karim Benzema and Rodrygo made it 3-0. Vinicius opened his account just before the interval before adding two more in the second half to condemn Levante to the drop as they suffered their 19th defeat of the season, Reuters reported. According to the news agency, Mendy opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a fast counter-at...

Agencies Harry Kane struck twice as Tottenham Hotspur kept their Premier League top four hopes alive with a 3-0 demolition of Arsenal in a north London derby on Thursday. According to Reuters, victory for Arsenal at the home of their arch-rivals would have secured their first top-four finish since 2016 and a Champions League place, but they suffered a dismal night. Kane opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 22nd before Arsenal had Rob Holding sent off for a second yellow card 10 minutes later, both for clumsy fouls on Son Heung-min. Kane's diving header made it 2-0 in the 37th minute to send Tottenham's fans into delirium. The volume went up another notch immediately after halftime when Son fired a shot past Aaron Ramsdale for his 21st league goal of the seaso...

Agencies Lionel Messi has been declared the world's highest-paid athlete over the last year, according to the annual Forbes list released on Wednesday that had the Paris Saint-Germain forward ahead of the NBA's LeBron James and Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo. According to Reuters, Messi earned $130 million, a figure which includes $55 million of endorsements, during the 12-month period ended May 1, 2022, to sit atop the list of the 10 highest-paid athletes a year after finishing second to Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor. Los Angeles Lakers forward James was next on the list after bringing home a combined $121 million, shattering the $96.5 million record for an NBA player that he set last year, while Portugal captain Ronaldo earned $115 million to sit third. Brazili...