Nepal’s national football team trio Bimal Gharti Magar, Anjan Bista and Ananta Tamang are set to play with Spain’s non-league club Marbella United FC in their April pro tour in Holland, Germany and Belgium.

The trio was approached by an international agent in Nepal who connected the three players with Marbella. They will head to Spain once Marbella send an invitation to them to participate in their tour game after signing a contract. Marbella is a nomadic club of Spain who are targeting to get into the fourth division of Spanish football—Tercera Division—by 2017.

The Tercera Division comprises of 360 teams divided into 18 regional groups in two pool—East and West. At the end of the season, the first four teams in each group qualify for promotion playoffs for Segunda Division B, the third tier of Spanish football.

“We are happy to get the invitation to play in the tournaments. If we do well there, we can open doors for further opportunities,” said Gharti Magar. The 18-year old striker is one of the most talked about Nepali footballers of the new generation having spent several months with academy teams of four top tier clubs in two European countries. The teen footballer had undergone two-month training-cum-trial with Belgium top tier clubs FC Anderlecht, Gent and FC Brugge after spending two weeks with the Netherlands’ outfit FC Twente for the same purpose for two weeks.

Gharti Magar, however, returned home to play international tournament with the national and age-group teams with no progress made in his brief European adventure. He was also said to have been approached by a top tier Indian I-league outfit but following the suggestion from his agents, he had decided to travel to Europe.

Gharti Magar’s U-19 teammates Tamang, a centre-back, and 17-year old midfielder Bista had gone for a trial with Gangtok Himalaya, a second division I-league club,

soon after the 12th South Asian Games held in Guwahati but returned

without any contract.

“Its a good chance for us. We will try to prove ourselves and our target will be to go through the second trial which can subsequently knock our doors after the tour games. This can also give a message that Nepal have good footballers,” said 18-year old Tamang. The Marbella team usually plays friendlies against ‘B’ team of Spanish La Liga along with Division 3, 4 and 5 clubs in exhibition games.