Nepali football is about to get very eventful as fans can look forward to cheering on multiple national teams in important upcoming matches at the Asian and South Asian levels. The junior and senior teams, in men’s and women’s categories, will be in action against several opponents in the upcoming months.

Of the several tournaments, the closest one is the SAFF U19 Men’s Championship, being held in India in May. The tournament between six teams, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, kicks off on May 9 with the final on May 18.

Nepal will face their group opponents—host India and Sri Lanka—on May 11 and 13, respectively. Nepal’s young boys would require at least one win in the group to enter the playoffs. The tournament will take place at the Golden Jubilee Outdoor Stadium in Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh.

The junior boys will then be followed by the senior men’s team as they face Laos in the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers-Third Round on June 10. The senior men’s team will reach Laos only after a friendly with Hong Kong, China, on June 5.

Nepal are playing Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam in the qualifiers in a double round-robin format. Nepal lost the first group game against Malaysia 0-2 on March 25, while the faceoff against Laos will be their second game out of six.

The men’s team does not have any other fixtures, except the Asian Cup Qualifiers, after returning from Laos. After Laos, Nepal will return to the qualifiers on October 9 against Vietnam. The second round will then begin with Vietnam visiting Nepal on October 14.

Meanwhile, after the men’s team play consecutive games abroad with Hong Kong and Laos, fans will have the women’s national team to cheer for, that too against Laos.

The senior women’s team, which is waiting for a UEFA pro-license holder coach, is facing Laos in the first game of the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification group stage on June 29.

Before that, Nepal will visit Thailand for a two-match friendly. As revealed on Sunday, the women’s team will play a friendly behind closed doors on May 30 and the second on June 2 with fans in attendance.

And the newest addition to the list of games is the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers. As per the group draws revealed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Monday, Nepal are in the five-team Group A. The qualifiers will see 25 teams in action across six groups—five of four and one of five.

Nepal’s group opponents include host Bhutan, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia and North Korea. The qualifiers, taking place in a single round-robin format, begin on August 2 and end on August 10.

ANFA announces players for closed camp

Of the four tournaments, the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has announced a closed camp for three teams—senior men’s, senior women’s and U19 boys.

For the senior men’s team to travel to Hong Kong and Laos, head coach Matt Ross called 30 players on Monday. Meanwhile, Ross has made some changes to the initial squad from the one he had called before the game against Malaysia and Singapore last month.

Amrit Shrestha, Kuldip Karki, Kushal Deuba, Santosh Khatri, Srijan Raj, Sudip Gurung, Suraj Jeu Thakuri and Yogesh Gurung are the new names in the closed camp. They replaced Abhishek Baral, Tshering Lama, Randip Poudel, Anjan Rai, Aashish Gurung, Samir Tamang, Dinesh Henjan and Ashok Khawas.

“I saw many new talents in the Nepal Super League,” said Ross in a touchline interview during the third season, which concluded on Saturday. “They were not even on my radar,” he added, citing high chances of new faces to be called up for the national closed camp.

Likewise, with ANFA in the process of selecting a new head coach for the senior women’s team, Rajendra Tamang has been called back in the meantime. And Tamang, on Sunday, called up 48 players for a closed camp targeting the Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers in May.

Regarding the SAFF U-19 Championship, ANFA has appointed Urjan Shrestha as the head coach. And Shrestha finalised his 23-member squad on Saturday.

Subash Bam Thakuri, the former U16 and U17 skipper who made his senior debut against Singapore last month, is the only player to have been called up into both the U-19 and senior teams.