If anything is considered the 'next big thing' in world sports, it is women's football. The way women's football is expanding and becoming more popular shows that this is exactly why it is causing a stir in the global sports market. It has glamor and sensation.

Realizing all these facts, the International Football Federation (FIFA) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFP) are now giving equal importance to women's football. Coincidentally, at this very moment, Nepali women's football is taking a flight that it has never taken before. Flight is based on both popularity and potential. 

The Four Nations Cup International Women's Championship is currently underway in Kathmandu. Along with Myanmar, one of the powers of Asian women's football, Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon are also competing in this tournament. Nepal will be the host. As expected, Myanmar and Nepal have reached the final before the last day of the league stage.

Before that, these two teams Nepal and Myanmar will face each other to stay at the top of the group. Nepal has defeated Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon. Therefore, the Nepali women's team has two very important matches against Myanmar. One match is on Sunday and the final on Wednesday. Women's football in Southeast Asia is considered to be the strongest in Asia. So in the next 5 days, Nepal will go through a test. The women's team will play against Myanmar twice. Its results will help to prepare a framework. It can give a picture of where Nepali women's football is going.

"Our full focus will now be on these two games and we will make a strategy accordingly," says Rajendra Tamang, the head coach of the Nepalese team. It has been seen during the competition, there is no shortage of spectators to buy tickets for Nepali women's football. Even in the match against Lebanon, around 12,000 spectators were officially present at the Dasharath Rangshal. Whenever Nepal will play two matches, the audience will be crowded.

Just at this time, General Secretary of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) Kiran Rai promises, 'Our biggest priority is women's football and we are planning the program accordingly. We have given the slogan of qualifying for the World Cup. We are all positive about women's football. On top of that, the Nepalese government has also seen positive investment in Nepali women's football. That's why we are all very enthusiastic.'

Women's football getting busy The year 2081 was historic in many ways for domestic women's football in Nepal. Earlier, women players used to have only one complaint, we didn't get to play at all. But this year the selection was first in Surkhet. Then the first round of the league took place. The league didn't end just then, the second round matches were also over. Even before that, the playoffs took place. It consisted of a mix of eliminators, qualifiers and finals. This is the first time that there have been so many games in such a long time.

'Women's league will be made more detailed and organized in the coming year,' says Sanjiv Mishra, competition director of ANFA, 'We have got many talented new and young players in this league as well. We have a current generation of players, there are also players who can take their place.' 

There is another reason to be excited about women's football. Now soon women's knockout competition will be held in Elam, Nepalgunj and Chitwan.

The female player had one desire, to go and play in Mofusal. Now that too is being completed. It will make women's football even busier. Alongside will be regular international friendly matches in the FIFA window. General Secretary Rai says, 'Now we will make better use of the time we get in the FIFA window. We will make the coaches of the national team more systematic and regular. Women's football still has similar problems. By reducing that, we will strengthen and organize Nepali women's football.' 

There is a specific reason for keeping games in the FIFA window. Striker Savitra Bhandari and captain and goalkeeper Angela Tumbapo Subba are playing professional club football in Europe. Savitra is playing in France and Angela in Greece. They are only released by the club to play for the country during the FIFA window. Savitra arrived in Nepal on the morning of the opening match of the Four Nations Cup. She entered the field only in the second half.  According to

tournament director Mishra, FIFA has set two more windows in April and May. International friendly matches will be held on both these occasions. The goal of all this is to prepare for the Asia Cup qualifiers to be held in June-July. This will be a very important selection for Asian women's football. Because it will serve not only as the Asia Cup, but also as a qualifier for the World Cup and the Olympics. The World Cup will be held in 2027 and the Olympics in 2028.

The 'draw' of this selection is yet to come out. So far 33 teams have said to play this selection. These teams will be divided into 8 groups. The top team at the end of the league stage will play in the Asia Cup. The next Asia Cup will be held in Australia. A total of 12 teams will participate in it. Nepal is in 133rd place in the ranking of FIFA. Talking about Asia only, Nepal is in 20th place. That's why Nepal's chances in the selection are strong.

'If we can advance women's football in a systematic manner, Nepal has a lot of potential at the international level,' adds Mishra, 'what is needed for this is a planned program. We should be able to focus on age group football, we should be able to establish an academy. There is no lack of popularity of football in Nepal. If we move forward at this pace, we can make good progress in women's football. APF club represented Nepal in its first edition. What does that mean now that the team that will win the domestic league of Nepal, will get to play regularly in the biggest club football in Asian football. That has also excited Nepali women's football. Now it is possible to reach international competitions through club football.

changed image

When Nepal was playing against Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon in the Four Nations Cup, chants in the name of Preeti Rai were heard in the stadium at different times. Everyone was saying in unison, 'Preeti, Preeti'. She is one of the most popular players in Nepali women's football. As far as his performance is concerned, it is rare to find a player with the same skill as him. He is an exceptionally talented player from Nepal's point of view.

That same Preeti says, 'The society's view of female football players has changed now. Nowadays, wherever we go, all Nepali women are enthusiastic about talking about football. All are positive.' According to him, women's football began to get a lot of attention after the WAF Championship in Saudi Arabia in 2024. Nepal was limited to runners-up in that tournament, but the football played by Nepal there was the best ever.

Moreover, the history of Nepali women's football is around half a decade, while it is about to touch 40 years since it started playing international football. The first generation players struggled and played football in the 80s and 90s. When asked the players of that generation, they say, 'At that time, they used to question whether women would play football.' But times have changed now. Also the image of Nepali women's football as a whole. Priti herself says, "Nowadays, the chances of Nepali women's football have increased."

Angela is the second female player to play football in Europe. Before that, Savitra played in Europe for the first time. She plays in the top division of France. Rekha Poudel plays for the UAE team. Angela says, "Once the doors of European football are opened for Nepali female players, that order will increase." All that is needed for that is hard work. As it is often said in football, nothing is taken for granted in this game. If you want to get something