“Our team won the All Nepal Football Association’s elections carrying the banner of ‘Pankaj’s five guiding principles’,” said Bir Bahadur Khadka, ANFA’s senior vice-president, during a press meet in Kathmandu on Monday, organised by four executive committee members. “The five principles were: supporters our strength, capable members in our institution, collective trust our foundation, athletes our assets, and good governance our promise.”

Pankaj Bikram Nembang’s clear and powerful message resonated deeply with the football community. Through these guiding principles, Nembang, currently the president of the ANFA, not only earned widespread trust but also ushered in the beginning of a new era in Nepali football leadership, defeating the sitting president, Karma Tsering Sherpa, by six votes in the elections on June 20, 2022.

“However, President Pankaj Bikram Nembang has failed to uphold those commitments,” Khadka, who contested the elections under Nembang’s panel, asserted. “Fans are outraged by ANFA’s actions—driven by the self-serving interests of the president, alongside general secretary Kiran Rai.”

Including Khadka, the other three members present at the press meet were vice-president Birat Jung Shahi and executive committee members Rabindra Chand and Rupesh Adhikari.

According to the four, the failures of ANFA’s leadership—specifically president Nembang and general secretary Rai—have resulted in the entire executive committee being blamed.

“Therefore,” the members stated, “we respectfully request the president and general secretary to step aside in time to prevent Nepali football from facing further damage.”

Among the concerns raised by the four were lack of interest in investigating the Makwanpur incident where six ANFA Academy students died in a landslide last year, neglecting stakeholders (clubs, players, coaches, referees and fans), failure in protecting and utilising football infrastructure, non-transparency in economic activities, shortage of motivation to players, and inability to implement programmes tabled in the general assembly.

“But our major concern, of late, is the failure to organise the division leagues (A, B and C Divisions), national league, district league, women’s league and school league consistently,” Chand said while reading out a press statement.

It was not the first time that the ANFA received backlash for not organising the domestic leagues, which are the backbone of a country’s football. National players have been raising concerns over it multiple times, while the media sector has been echoing the same.

On Tuesday, it had been 856 days since the ANFA failed to organise the Martyr’s Memorial ‘A’ Division League, Nepal’s top-tier club competition. This failure has led dozens of footballers to fly abroad, stay jobless and leave the sport altogether.

Further, at a time when the A Division League has not been organised even in the traditional style of a centralised venue, the ANFA declared a home-away format with a fixed date: December 24, 2025, to July 10, 2026. But none of the A Division clubs have its own ground.

The clubs have already expressed their inability to play under the home-away format on such short notice. Organising a press meet on Saturday, a day before the 14 A Division clubs were called for a meeting by the ANFA, nine of the clubs—Himalayan Sherpa, NRT, Friends’, Shree Bhagawati, Church Boys United, Manang Marsyangdi, Satdobato Youth, Sankata and Machhindra—said it was impossible under the current roadmap. The clubs were coordinated by former ANFA president Sherpa.

The nine clubs also submitted a list of suggestions to the ANFA. But when they reached the ANFA Complex in Lalitpur for the meeting on Saturday, the ANFA called it off, citing a lack of homework. However, it did not seem the only reason, as there were a couple of dozen Nepali football fans demonstrating peacefully with placards that demanded reforms in Nepali football and questioned the inability to host the A Division League, in front of the ANFA Complex from the first hour.

A group of ‘Gen Z’ representatives also held a meeting with the ANFA officials at the ANFA Complex on Tuesday, where they submitted a memorandum. The meeting, which at one point nearly turned into a scuffle, was conducted in the presence of Nepal Police officers due to security reasons.

As criticisms and questions mounted, the ANFA called a press meet on Tuesday. Journalists expected the ANFA to clarify the concerns regarding whether the A Division League would be organised or not, but no proper answers were received.

The summary of the press meet, in which general secretary Rai had a long talk that went on for over an hour, was: There will not be a home-away format this time, but they will hold a top-tier league soon.

Rai suggested beginning the league, either the A Division or a national league, around the previously fixed date, i.e. at December end.

“But which league will be organised will be decided after a meeting with the clubs after the festival of Chhath [October 27],” Rai said.

Similarly, ANFA’s Chief Executive Officer Indraman Tuladhar, who is also the president of Sankata FC, shared his views briefly, saying, “The clubs plan to take part in the league because it will pave the path to participating in the AFC’s club competition.”

The lack of a top-tier league prevented Nepal’s participation in the AFC competition this season. The ANFA had planned a knockout tournament as a replacement, but it too did not take place.

Meanwhile, at a time when concrete answers were not being received, when a journalist asked ANFA general secretary Rai to rate ANFA’s performance out of 10 as a layman, Rai, with a laugh, said, “10/10.”

Similarly, when another journalist asked if he and the ANFA were serious regarding the development of Nepali football, Rai questioned, “Should I have to cry to show that I am serious?”