The host Sahara Club will face Nepal Police Club in the opening match of the 24th National and International Club Invitational Aha-Rara Pokhara Gold Cup football tournament on Tuesday.

Sahara, who has not tasted the title, is looking for success this time. The most successful and experienced team of the Aha-Rara edition is in the process of adding the Police Club title.

In 2058, the first Caravan Cup organized by the Sahara Club, the police won the title. Since Himshree Foods started sponsoring the competition in 2059, the competition has been held under the name of Aha Gold Cup, Aha-Rara Gold Cup since 2069 and Aha-Rara Pokhara Gold Cup since 2079. Apart from Caravan, the 6-time title winner and 5-time runner-up Police have won three times in a row and have achieved a hat-trick. Police have won titles in 058, 059, 064, 065, 066 and 074.

The semi-final match between Police and Sahara Blue at Caravan. After regulation and added time ended in a 1-1 draw, the game went to a tiebreaker and the score was tied at 9-9. The referee had to resort to a toss to announce the winner. Police won the toss and entered the final. Police won the title by defeating Manang Marsyangdi 2-1 in the final.

Police and Sahara have met five times in the Aha-Rara Gold Cup. Sahara has been defeated five times. In the second AHA Gold Cup, Police beat Sahara Blue 5-1. In the semi-finals of the sixth edition, Police defeated Sahara to reach the final and won the title. Police defeated Sahara 7-6 in the tiebreaker after the match ended in a 2-2 draw. Police defeated Sahara 2-1 in the eighth edition, 2-1 in the 15th edition and 4-2 in the tiebreaker in the 18th edition.

On Tuesday, Sahara is fielding a team under the captaincy of Sushil Lama. Goalkeepers Santosh Mahat and Ashok Regmi, players Sushil Baral, Bhishan Gurung, Ashish Gurung, Ankit Gurung, Sant Bahadur Gurung, Vishal Nepali, Sagam Thakuri, Santosh Shahi, Saroj Titung, Bhagwat Chaudhary, Mukund Niure, Hemant Tamang, Rajkumar Kunwar, Abhishek Rana, Roshan Chantyal, Akash Thaplia and African countries William Sessegnon, Mathieu and Arnold. Sunil Rana is the coach.

Police is taking the field under the captaincy of Ram Waji. Goalkeeper Shatrudhan Chaudhary and Sanjit Shrestha, players Neeraj Khadka, Bhaktajung Khadka, Shishir Chaudhary, Sunil Tamang, Sujan Magar, Prithvi Chaudhary, Sanjiv Lama, Manish Sedhain, Vivek Pandey, Ujwal Rai, Osendra Katuwal, Arjun Gaha, Hemant Shrestha, Praveen Thapa, Hem Tamang and Santosh Hemran. Coach is Chetan Ghimire.

organizer team preparation coordinator Hariram Gurung said that the team has prepared to win the title this time. 12 teams including 3 foreigners are participating in the football tournament. The winner of the final on February 3 will get a prize of Rs 12 lakh 1 thousand and the runner-up will get Rs 6 lakh 1 thousand. In the last edition, Tribhuvan Army won the title by defeating Three Star.

Meanwhile, Sahara Club will award this year's best national football player award to Sanish Shrestha. Club General Secretary Ramji Prasad Adhikari informed that the talent selection committee meeting decided to award the honor to Shrestha. Sanish will be honored with Rs 50,555 at the opening ceremony. Khem Bahadur Gurung, an honorary member of the club, has been providing the prize money.