Kathmandu Kickers Pvt Ltd on Tuesday unveiled Scottish coach Leigh Manson for its newly announced Kathmandu Football Clinic. The Clinic—a football academy—is set to come into operation from Friday.

Kickers President Nabin Pande said they hired the Scottish national with a long-term vision for growth of football from the grassroots to the professional level.

"Nepal has a great future and potential in football but poor marketing has cost us dearly. It would be impossible to explore the potential of young players if we depend solely on state mechanisms. Thus we have enrolled an experienced coach with a long-term vision to help the growth of players," said Pande.

Pande, also the president of Bayern Munich Fan Club Nepal, had been providing coaching for the grassroots and youths and also a refresher course for coaches through Kickers for four years before it was suspended in December last year following the Covid-19 outbreak.

The 54-year-old Manson, who has been in the coaching job for more than two decades, said: "I am happy to be in a country like Nepal which has a huge craze in football. I am here for a long-term project. The enthusiasm of Pande and football as THE number one sport in the country motivated me to come to Nepal."

Mason, who coached premier division clubs in the Philippines including former champions Global FC for seven years, also has coaching experiences in Japan. Mason claimed to have spent nearly a decade in Japan where he designed football programmes with Nike.

"I am hoping to stay in Nepal for a long term programme but I have been informed that players have a very short term contract. It would be difficult to make an impact with short-term programmes," said the Scottish who will start training age group players from 6 to 9, 10 to 13, and 14-16 years in the beginning. The training will take place at Cupon Sports Centre in Budhanilkantha.