Everyone knows this fact, it is easier to win the World Cup than to qualify for it. No one knows this better than Italy. Italy, a world football powerhouse, has been stopped in the qualifying stage three times. The Italian media has considered this series of failures a disaster for football there.

With just a few days left before the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, it is common to look back on its qualifying journey. What is Nepal's World Cup qualifying journey really like? The question is natural. What is the reason for Nepal's World Cup qualifying journey to be linked to Italy? Nothing special, but the current coach of the Nepali national team is from Italy.

He is Guglielmo Arena. Before him, another Italian coach also managed the Nepali team. He was Vincenzo Alberto. In fact, he is the first Italian coach to manage the Nepali team. Under his leadership, Nepal also played in the World Cup qualifiers. During the last SAFF Championship 2023 held in Bengaluru, India, I had the opportunity to talk to him at length on many topics.

At that time, the topic of Italy's failure in the World Cup qualifiers came up. He used to say, 'There can be no greater pain for Italian football than not being able to qualify for the World Cup.' Linking Nepal to the World Cup qualifiers, he said, this journey is never easy, for anyone. Be it Italy or Nepal. Playing in the qualifiers for Nepal is also big in itself.

Nepal's World Cup qualifiers journey began a little over four decades ago. This journey itself has certainly been difficult, at times extremely disappointing. But on some occasions it has been pleasant. When talking about Nepal's participation in international football, this qualifier journey cannot be missed. In particular, some memorable and historic performances are associated with this World Cup qualifier.

The first time Nepal played in the World Cup qualifiers was in 1985. This was the time when the Nepali national team was filled with golden generation players under the leadership of Rupak Raj Sharma. A year later, more and more Nepalis watched the 1986 World Cup in Mexico for the first time. Television had entered Nepali homes, but it was not a common practice.

30 years of historical gold

Many World Cups were watched in homes where there was a television. That World Cup was won by Argentina and Diego Maradona was also present among Nepali football fans. For Nepali football fans, that World Cup was like their first love. That is why it is said that if Nepalis still support a particular team in the World Cup, it is Argentina. However, it has nothing to do with Nepal.

If we were to go back to Nepal's first World Cup qualifiers, Nepal was in the group of South Korea and Malaysia. Nepal's first qualifier was held at the Dasharath Stadium. That was a historic day, March 2. The coach was the famous Joe Keener. After returning to England from Nepal, he also coached Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United. Nepal lost 2-0 in that match against South Korea.

Those who watched that match live still say that Nepal should have won. South Korea finally qualified for that World Cup. Since then, South Korea has not missed any edition. What's more interesting is that Argentina and South Korea were in the same group in the league stage. The journey of the first World Cup qualifiers was largely pleasant for Nepal.

Then in 1989, Nepal played the World Cup qualifiers for the second time. It was not pleasant. The captain was Ganesh Thapa. Nepal's group included South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Nepal had conceded 28 goals in 6 qualifying matches. After that, Nepal had to wait until 1997 to play the next World Cup qualifier. The captain was Rajukaji Shakya. This World Cup qualifier was also uneventful.

Nepal was placed in the group of Japan, Oman and Macau this time. The first match against Macau ended in a 1-1 draw. In this way, Nepal collected its first points in the qualifiers and Hari Khadka became the first goal scorer for Nepal in the World Cup qualifiers. The time was, the 22nd minute of the match. The 2001 World Cup qualifiers are the most memorable so far.

Nepal lost the matches against Iraq and Kazakhstan. But it managed to win two brilliant matches against Macau. After winning the first match 4-1 against Macau, the second match was an even better 6-1 win. Neerajan Rayamajhi was outstanding in this selection. He also scored a historic hat-trick. Neerajan alone scored 7 goals in that selection. Neerajan also topped the list of highest goalscorers in the first round of that World Cup selection.

Nepal did not play the next World Cup selection. The reason for not playing the World Cup selection was prepared after Nepal's extremely poor performance in the 2003 Asian Cup selection. At that time, Ganesh Thapa was the leader of the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA). In this way, a generation did not get to play the World Cup selection. This is also one of the worst decisions of his tenure. Nepal also paid a fine to FIFA for not playing the same selection.

In 2007, Nepal participated in the World Cup selection once again. It was limited to two matches. Nepal lost both matches against Oman. There were two big features of this World Cup qualifier. One is that Nepal played this World Cup qualifier under the coaching of the legendary Shyam Thapa. By the time this World Cup qualifier was played, the products of ANFA Academy had started to make their way into the national team.

The 2011 World Cup qualifier was also good, except for one particularly big loss. In the first round of the qualifiers, Nepal eliminated Timor Leste. Then they faced Jordan. In the first match against Jordan, Nepal was defeated 9-0. The coach at that time was Graham Roberts. After that match, he said, ‘I have never suffered such a bad defeat in my entire playing career.’

Later, Nepal managed to draw 1-1 against the same team at the Dashrath Stadium. The player who scored the historic goal was Bharat Khawas. The 2015 World Cup qualifiers were also fine. Nepal's only opponent was India. India won one match and the other ended in a draw. At that time, the Indian team was coached by Stephen Constantine. He had been Nepal's coach for a long time before that.