The former coach believes that the arrival of players from his own country who have played for foreign clubs will raise the level of football in a country like Nepal.
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During his time in Nepal, Kuwaiti coach Abdullah Almutairi raised the issue of recruiting players abroad for national football. He tried to give more importance to this issue during the 2021 SAFF Championship in the Maldives.
The reason was the brilliant goal scored by Marvin Hamilton in the match Nepal played against Sri Lanka. He was a Sri Lankan-born player born in England. Nepal won the match in Male 3-2.
He scored a powerful goal against Nepal from outside the penalty area. ‘Such a goal is not usually scored by South Asian players,’ said the then Nepali team coach Almutairi, ‘for this you need a player who has trained in Europe, even if he is a player from the lower division there.’
After Nepal’s challenge in the SAFF Championship to be held in India in 2023 ended, Italian coach Vincenzo Alberto looked worried. He also said, ‘We also have to look for players abroad now.’ Before Almutairi and Alberto’s eyes, other South Asian countries had already started recruiting foreign players of their own origin. Both the coaches had two more questions on this subject, ‘Is the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) ready for this?’ The second and more important question was, are the Nepali origin players playing abroad ready to play for the country?’
The answer to this was given by one player, that too with pride and pride. Shashwat Rana, who signed a professional contract with FC Malmo of Sweden last week, was in Kathmandu for personal reasons. Due to his professional contract, he was unable to speak directly to the Nepali media. But the intention of this 18-year-old left-back was clear, ‘Yes, I want to play for Nepal, I want to represent Nepal in international football.’
Imagine what it would be like if a player from the top division of England played for the Nepali national team. This is really possible. Currently, Nepali origin players are playing in Europe with big clubs. As the number of Nepalese immigrants to Europe has increased, their children are now learning football at a higher level there, which could ultimately benefit Nepali football.
Born in 2009, Saurap Sampang joined the Arsenal Academy when he was eight years old. He is now a leading player in his age group at Arsenal. Due to his impressive contribution, Arsenal won the 2024-025 U-16 Premier League Cup. Arsenal proudly wrote on their website, ‘Saurap also scored a great goal against Manchester City.’
Saurap is such a good player that he has even been offered to play for the England U-15 team. Meanwhile, Arsenal has written that he can also play for Nepal if he wants. Kiwan Rai is also playing at a higher level in England. He is currently associated with Aldershot Town FC. He is playing in the National League. In 2023, he played for Newport County in Wales.
Similarly, 24-year-old Vivesh Gurung is playing for Dover Athletic. In the early days, he was associated with the Crystal Palace academy. He has also played in Norway and Sweden. So is Gorak Ghale, who has signed a professional contract with Anderlecht in Belgium until 2027. As everyone knows, this club is the most successful club in Belgium.
Anderlecht also never tires of praising these players of theirs. All the names we have mentioned so far are the children of Nepali parents born abroad. A player born in Palpa is trying to catch up in Europe. He is Rehan Shah. He is in Turkey and is associated with the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) academy there. Rehan was born in Rampur, Palpa in 2009. He went to Turkey in 2023, as part of an educational program. While in Palpa, he used to play football, even in village-level tournaments. Once he was about to be included in the U-17 SAFF Championship team, but an injury prevented that from happening. Then he went to Turkey to study. While playing school football there, he caught the eye of the PSG academy. He is a left winger.
In an interview with Kantipur, he said, ‘My dream is to play for a big club in Europe.’ He also says, you just have to get a chance, you have to play for Nepal. Maybe, the names we have named now are just a few representative characters. There may be other similar names. If they are to play for Nepal, they will have to complete legal procedures on some occasions.
An example of the benefits of playing foreign players of their own origin can be Bangladesh. Hamza Chaudhary currently plays for Bangladesh, but his professional workplace is Leicester City. He also played in the Premier League. When he came, the attraction of Bangladeshi football is different now. Nowadays, playing foreign players of their own origin has become commonplace in international football.
If we return to Almutairi's context, he used to say, 'The arrival of players who have played abroad will increase the level of football in any country.' Some may think that even if foreign players come, domestic players will lose opportunities. But no, this is a possibility that opportunities will increase. In that sense, it is necessary to repeat the same question, is ANFA really ready for this?
