Unless a miracle happens on Wednesday, Nepal are all set to miss a tournament of the South Asian Football Federation for the first time in history. SAFF’s September 30 deadline to lift the country’s FIFA suspension expires on Wednesday.

SAFF has been very flexible in Nepal’s case. During the group draw ceremony on August 1, the South Asian footballing body had granted Nepal a window of two months to settle the issues, have the suspension lifted and open the path to participate in the 15th SAFF Men’s Championship, which is being held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in November.

While Nepal were not drawn into any of the two groups, SAFF had declared it’d include Nepal in the group of the hosts if Nepal succeeds in having the FIFA suspension—which was imposed on June 24—lifted by September 30.

“We had given the window because we believed that Nepal could solve the problem and have the suspension lifted,” Purushottam Kattel, SAFF’s general secretary, told the Post over phone. “We will wait for any official confirmation from either FIFA or the AFC until tomorrow [Wednesday] regarding whether Nepal can be allowed to participate or not.”

It will be no less than a miracle if Nepal get to participate in the SAFF Championship because the tussle between the All Nepal Football Association and the state is only getting bitter over time. And it is not something that FIFA, which suspended Nepal over third-party interference, would love.

The recent steps include the arrests of ANFA treasurer Rabindra Joshi and account officer Sanjiv Pandey by the Central Investigation Bureau on September 18. The CIB has also taken CPUs and laptops from the ANFA Complex in Satdobato, Lalitpur, for investigation.

“We received requests from the Prime Minister’s Office, Home Ministry and the National Sports Council to probe ANFA,” Additional Inspector General of Police Uma Prasad Chaturbedi, chief of CIB, told the Post. “The investigation is revolving around the financial aspects of jersey purchase and sale, sale of 2026 FIFA World Cup tickets and venue change with Bahrain for Nepal’s home fixture.”

CIB is yet to coordinate with FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

“We are only looking into the financial aspects—for instance whether or not the agreed amount with Bahrain was transferred to ANFA’s account or not,” Senior Superintendent of Police Anupam Shamsher JBR, CIB’s spokesperson, told the Post. “But if it seems necessary, we will also coordinate with the governing bodies of international football.”

CIB also informed that ANFA executives are under surveillance. “Senior ANFA officials might also be called for investigation,” AIGP Chaturbedi added. “From what it looks like, this investigation could take some time.”

While the investigation is underway, the Ministry of Education and Sports has been in regular conversation with former and active footballers. A team of the Nepal Football Player Association had also met with Sasmit Pokharel, Minister for Education and Sports, on Monday.

“The meeting focused on long-term solutions of Nepali football,” said Bikram Lama, president of NFPA. “The minister shared that the government was in talks with FIFA and the AFC.”

The NFPA has been demanding that Nepali football return to normalcy—with an unhindered club football cycle. However, Nepal are now at the verge of missing their first major SAFF tournament.

“We are aware that our footballers will not be participating in SAFF, which has been the major platform for Nepali football for decades,” Lama said. “It is a big blow for Nepali football.”

Making public the Cabinet’s decision on Tuesday, Minister Pokharel, who is also the government spokesperson, said that the investigation into ANFA would be lengthy as there are many cases from a long time ago to be investigated.

When the Post inquired with some of the officials from the under-suspension ANFA, they argued that it was the fault of the government that Nepal were missing SAFF Men’s Championship.

“If ANFA is allowed to perform autonomously, as mentioned in the Statutes, FIFA will remove the suspension,” said a senior official under the condition of anonymity as he was speaking against the state. “Our government, meanwhile, is only trying to destroy the current committee of ANFA due to personal interest.”

As the tussle continues, SAFF fears that the tournament’s craze will decrease without Nepal.

“After Bangladesh—the hosts—SAFF Men’s Championship would have created a big buzz in Nepal,” Kattel said. “The tournament would have also been more competitive with Nepal in it.”