Ten footballers skipped the national team training camp without seeking permission on Wednesday and have been “out of contact” with the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) officials, jeopardising Nepal’s preparation for the upcoming third and final round of the AFC Asian Cup Group ‘A’ Qualifiers set for June.

A 25-member national squad have been training at the Dasharath Stadium for the past two weeks. After the closed camp, they are scheduled to travel to Qatar, where the national team are scheduled to play two international friendlies against Afghanistan on May 25 and 29 to fine-tune their preparation for the qualifiers before departing to Kuwait. They are also scheduled to play a friendly match against a local team in Kuwait before kicking off their qualifying campaign against Jordan on June 8.

National team manager Madhusudan Upadhyay confirmed that the national footballers “left the camp and have not come into contact since”.

“The boys had gone to the hotel after finishing Tuesday’s training. But in the evening I learned that 10 members of the national squad had left the hotel,” Upadhyay told the Post.

“I have been trying to contact them on their cell phones since I learned the news but none of them are answering,” he added.

According to Upadhyay, the players who left the camp include Bishal Rai, Ananta Tamang, Bimal Gharti Magar, Anjan Bista and Rohit Chand, among others. Chand has been rehabilitating for the past few days after he sustained an injury.

Skipper Kiran Kumar Limbu has yet to join the camp as the goalkeeper is currently playing professional football in Maldives.

According to sources, the national footballers have taken such an unpleasant step just months ahead of their crucial games owing to some sort of dispute with head coach Abdullah Almutairi.

But the issue remains unclear.

The Kuwaiti coach has dragged himself into controversy many times—the latest coming last week when the coach kept the players from speaking to the media in a controlled press briefing, inviting criticisms for controlling the national squad with an iron fist.

Just days before that, the coach had come under fire after publicly announcing that Nepal had no chance of qualification to the 2023 AFC Asian Cup finals because his men were drawn in a rather tough group.

Nepal are drawn alongside hosts Kuwait, Jordan and Indonesia in Group 'A' for the qualifiers to be played in the single round robin format from June 8 to 14. After opening their campaign against Jordan, Nepal will play the hosts on June 11 before facing Indonesia on June 14. The winners of all six groups and the five best runners-up will qualify for the finals set to take place in June and July next year in China.

The coach also announced his resignation on social media three times due to his spat with the ANFA officials but has somehow managed to hang around, even extending his contract for at least two years.

“So far, what I have learned is that the coach told them something that made the players upset to the point of protest. But none of the players have shared anything with me,” added Upadhyay.

“They looked well during the training as well as the meeting. I have no idea what caused their dissatisfaction.”

“I talked to the coach regarding the issue. He told me that he hasn't said anything to the players,” he said. “I also talked to the other footballers of the squad but they told me there is no issue.”

“I have not been able to find out what exactly happened in the camp because the players would not respond to my calls. They have even left the Facebook group chat,” Upadhyay said. “All concerned authorities have been informed about the incident. The disgruntled players have refused to respond to other ANFA officials as well.”

The footballers had been staying at the United Business Hotel in Tripureshwar for three days.

According to Upadhyay, the players had objected to staying at ANFA hostel in Satdobato citing a lack of proper facilities.

“Therefore, we had arranged their accommodation at United Hotel,” he said.

“I hope we can establish contact with the players by tomorrow. If they come to contact, I will make efforts to hold a meeting among the protesting footballers, ANFA president Karma Tsering Sherpa and coach Almutairi so that we could dig into the root of the problem.”

No players were available for comment when tried to be contacted by the Post.