Nepal Police Club emerged as the champions of the ANFA U16 Youth League after defeating Jawalakhel Youth Club 6-0 in the last league-stage match at Chyasal Stadium on Monday.

The hope for the title would be over for Nepal Police Club (NPC) had Machhindra Club defeated Friends’ Club Kopundole (FCK) in the second-to-last match of the league played parallelly at the ANFA Complex.

Before the two matches on Monday kicked off, Machhindra and NPC were on equal points: 58 from 25 matches. Machhindra were, however, above NPC on the points table on goal difference (GD). Machhindra had a GD of 80 while NPC had 57.

Thus, a win for Machhindra would have crowned them champions. But FCK foiled their dreams with a 3-2 win.

Machhindra conceded an early goal with Aryan Kaji Thapa giving FCK the lead in the fourth minute. But before the first half concluded, Machhindra bounced back with Rahul Kumar Yonjan scoring the equaliser in the 21st minute and Bikash Thapa giving the lead in the 45th.

The second half, however, favoured FCK. Soojan BK made it 2-2 with only three minutes into the second half, while Puran Shrestha scored the winning goal in the 90th minute for FCK.

The loss led Machhindra to lose the title, while the win took FCK to third place on the points table.

In the final match of the league played at Chyasal Stadium, Nepal Police Club (NPC) needed either a win or a draw to emerge as the champions.

And while NPC were trying to score as many goals as possible against Jawalakhel to challenge the large goal difference gap with Machhindra, they erupted in joy when they found out that, around three kilometres away, the result came in their favour.

With Abhishek Kumar Shrestha opening the goal for NPC in the second minute, a brace from Rijan Raj Gautam and one from Samir Kumar saw NPC lead 4-0 within the first 45 minutes. Kumar scored his second individual goal two minutes into the second half, and Gautam made it 6-0 to complete his hat-trick in the 84th minute.

In the league played between 14 teams in a double round-robin format, Jawalakhel saw themselves finish 11th in the table after the loss against NPC.

NPC, on the other hand, travelled three kilometres from Chyasal Stadium to the ANFA Complex in Satdobato to receive the trophy. With the trophy, NPC also bagged a cash prize of Rs100,000.

Samir Kumar of NPC was adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, while Machhindra’s Bikash Thapa, with 20 goals in the tournament, was awarded the Highest Goal Scorer. At the end of the league, Machhindra, with 108 goals, were the only club to score 100+ goals in the tournament.

Similarly, Bishesh Gurung of Manang Marsyangdi Club, which finished fourth in the league, was feted with the Best Goalkeeper award.

Satdobato Youth Club finished at the bottom of the league with only one win in 26 matches. Tribhuvan Army Club were above Satdobato with four wins, bested by Planning Boyz United in goal difference.