The story of world football is told through countless individual journeys, many of them rooted in hometown clubs. One such journey began at Malmo FF, where Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic took his first professional steps. And the club has now occupied space in the consciousness of Nepali football fans after a Nepali youngster signed a professional contract with the Swedish giants.

Sashwat Rana, 18, signed a professional contract with Malmo FF on November 20. Rana was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on July 27, 2007, to Bibek Rana, a former national-level karateka of Nepal who left for Denmark in 2002, and Susila Hamal.

Entry to football

Sashwat started playing football from his early days with his father, a local-level player back in Nepal, who could not stop playing football whenever he was free. And when Bibek witnessed Sashwat’s passion with the ball, he got him into the academy of a local football club—Hellerup IK—at the age of seven.

He spent five years at HIK before being scouted by Lyngby Boldklub, where Sashwat spent two years. And then he got into the biggest Danish club—FC Copenhagen—as a youth player at the age of 15. He played for Copenhagen at under-age tournaments for two years.

He made his U19 debut for Copenhagen, where he also played against the teams of Paris Saint-Germain and Dortmund, in February 2023 against Malmo FF, the club Sashwat joined a year later.

With Malmo FF

Despite living in Denmark, Sashwat’s father had him join the club in Sweden due to various reasons. One, it was nearer than the training facility of Copenhagen.

The Rana family lives near the Denmark-Sweden border. And Malmo was also feasible under the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players for Sashwat, who was below 18 years. The section ‘Protection of Minor’ in the FIFA regulation states, “The player lives no further than 50km from a national border, and the club with which the player wishes to be registered in the neighbouring association is also within 50km of that border. The maximum distance between the player’s domicile and the club’s headquarters shall be 100km. In such cases, the player must continue to live at home, and the two associations concerned must give their explicit consent.”

While Sashwat, a left-back by position, signed for Malmo ahead of the 2024 season, he made his senior debut for Malmo on February 18 last year, in a training match against Falkenbergs FF. He signed his professional contract with Malmo, an A-team contract that extends until 2028, on November 20 this year. With that, Sashwat became the first Nepali male footballer to sign a professional contract with a European club.

Sashwat was also part of the squad for Molmo that won the Ligacupen, the Swedish League Cup for U19 teams, on May 28 this year.

“Sashwat is an exciting player with great development potential. During his two years with us, he has become an offensive outback,” said Ola Toivonen, assistant sporting director of Molmo FF, on Sashwat’s signing. “Defensively, he’s taken steps this season, but it’s an area where we see he can take further steps. It will be fun to follow his journey into senior football.”

Likewise, as quoted in the article on his signing on Malmo’s website, Sashwat said, “I’m very happy to sign up for a big club like this. I’ve evolved a lot since I got here, so it’s been two very good years. I’m looking forward to taking the step into senior football and adapting to that level. Of course, I long for the day when I make my debut at Eleda Stadion. I look forward to the years to come and make an impression in the club.”

And while he looks forward to his senior debut with the club, he is aiming for the same with the Nepali national team.

Called by Nepal

Sashwat has been in contact with Rohit Chand, who became only the second Nepali footballer to win 100 caps for the country in the match against Vietnam in October, for quite some time. And it might be because of that, Sashwat’s availability was known to Nepali football.

As per credible sources, Nepal’s former head coach Matt Ross had contacted Sashwat before the friendlies with Bangladesh in September. However, he could not join the team due to club commitments.

Similarly, Sashwat was sought for the SAFF U19 Championship. He was called for the closed camp, but things did not go as planned for him.

Nonetheless, one thing is certain: Sashwat, who holds a Nepali citizenship, wants to play for Nepal. He is currently in Nepal for a family function and is said to return to Denmark within a few days.

As heard through his family members, Sashwat dreams of playing in the Premier League. He is a big fan of Lionel Messi, but he loves to play like Marcelo. If everything goes well, Nepali fans will get to see a good player in the left-back position of the senior Nepali men’s team soon.

He had also won the Pannahouse Invitationals Panna World Championship, a 1v1 football event, in 2020. He had represented himself as a player of Nepal then.

The videos of Sashwat playing show that he is quick with the feet, can dribble, make quality passes and clean tackles, and even score.