It will be the second time that Nepali club has failed to participate in the continental club championship of the region. The Asian Football Confederation recently announced the tie-sheet of the playoffs that didn’t feature any Nepali club. The All Nepal Football Association (Anfa) was unable to send any club to the tournament after the devastating 7.9M earthquake halted footballing activities in the country.

“We had to stop the National League due to the earthquake and the preparation for the AFC Cup was also scheduled during the same time,” informed Anfa CEO Indra Man Tuladhar. Last year, Manang Marshyangdi Club couldn’t participate in the AFC Cup because of its failure to generate funds for the tournament.

The AFC Cup is a second tier tournament of the regional governing body after the AFC Champions League. The country with high Fifa rankings and strong domestic structure qualify directly for the group stages. Nepal, ranked lowly in Fifa, have to go through playoffs from where they can make it to the group stages played in home and away format.

Bhutan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh and Macau are participating in the playoffs for the 2016 edition. AFC has replaced the President’s Cup –a tournament of low-ranked Asian countries–by the AFC Cup and Club Champions League from this year.

MMC, who had claimed the Martyrs Memorial ‘A’ Division League two years ago, had got themselves an opportunity to participate in the playoffs after they entered the final of the President’s Cup that was held in Sri Lanka last year.