Ending a staggering hiatus of 947 days without a professional domestic league, the football finally rolled again at the ANFA Complex in Satdobato on Wednesday. The kickoff of the National League, featuring 17 teams, comes as a big relief to players, coaches and fans who have endured years of stagnation of the sport. The result of the failure to organise a league for three years has been nothing short of catastrophic. A pool of talented footballers, faced with no platform or income, was forced to move abroad, primarily to Australia, in search of livelihoods—often relinquishing their athletic dreams and a chance to play for their country. The start of this league is a consolation, yet the conditions under which players are being asked to compete are far from professional.

The celebrations are dampened by the glaring inadequacies and systemic failures of the organisers, the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA). One cannot overlook the rushed preparations and administrative flip-flops, which raises serious questions about the sustainability of the beautiful game in the country. ANFA’s initial promise of a robust home-and-away format has already crumbled. In December, the governing body touted this format as a way to modernise the league, but the reality is that the majority of clubs lack even basic training grounds, let alone home grounds. Preparation time has been condemnably short. Coaches have complained that they did not have enough time to train their squads, with some teams having only a week of formal training. This directly impacts player fitness and the overall quality of football.

The structural confusion of the 17-team league format adds to the troubles. By inviting all 14 A-Division clubs (of which 13 accepted) alongside four qualifiers from the President League, ANFA has created a bloated tournament that feels more like an emergency fix than a well-thought-out solution. This redundancy is compounded by the fact that the actual A-Division League is scheduled to start within a month of the National League’s conclusion. The inclusion of the four President League clubs—Laligurans Association, Chitlang FC, Nawa Jana Jagriti and Kakre Bihar—also carries a distinct whiff of internal politics, as these clubs gain voting rights within the ANFA structure. Financing, scouting and the recruitment of foreign talent have also suffered. Foreign players have been the stars of the previous editions of the A-Division, but the rushed timeline and lack of financing have left many clubs struggling to scout or secure quality overseas signings.

Perhaps most alarming is the AFC Club licensing roadblock. ANFA claims the National League winner will qualify for the continental league (AFC Champions League) yet as of now no Nepali club holds the AFC license to do so. The criteria—ranging from youth development programs to financial transparency and stadium ownership—are rigorous, and ANFA’s previous failures to meet these standards have already led to fines and exclusion from international competitions. Relying on the usual excuse of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ to bypass these rules is a gamble that the sport can ill afford.

For the players and the fans, the resurrection of domestic football is a soft victory; for the organisers, it is an opportunity to reflect and reform. ANFA must stop managing the beautiful game without a vision. A league should be a platform for players to show their excellence, not a hurried exercise in damage control by the organisers. If the quality of football is to match the passion of the fans, inadequate preparations seen this year must never be repeated. Otherwise, the sport—which is already in decline in the country, in part due to the rise of Cricket—may reach a stage beyond resurrection.