The ANFA President League’s group-stage fixtures concluded at Gauritar Stadium in Hetauda on Friday. The tournament saw 10 participating teams being divided into two groups of five each, where the teams of each group competed in a single round-robin format.

The 10 teams had won their respective district leagues and progressed to the ANFA President League through the provincial leagues.

In the league-cum-knockout format of the President League, the top two teams from each group book a place at the National League, where the six top-placed teams from the 2023 Martyr's Memorial ‘A’ Division League are waiting.

Meanwhile, the top two teams from each group compete against each other—the group’s winner vs the opposite group’s runner-up—in the semifinals. The winners will then enter the final and play for the President League title.

Laligurans Association Club and Chitlang FC finished as the top two teams of Group A while Nawa Jana Jagriti Yuwa Club and Kakre Bihar Youth Club were the top two teams of Group B.

Here is a look at some key statistics and details of the league before the top four teams compete in the semifinals on Sunday.

Complete clean sheet for Laligurans

There was only one club in the tournament which did not concede a single goal. It was the Laligurans Association Club (LAC).

Representing Kaski district, Laligurans played two goalless draws—with Bijay Sports Club and Deurali Youth Club—and registered two wins—4-0 over Jana Jagriti Yuba Club and 3-0 over Chitlang FC—to finish as Group A’s topper with eight points.

Laligurans’ head coach Kiran Shrestha kept his faith in goalkeeper Anjal Shrestha in the first three fixtures of the club, while he used his two remaining goalies—Ayushman Gurung and Mandip Ghale Gurung—in their last group match against Deurali on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Hairans Club of Tanahun conceded the most number of goals: 14. Yet, Hairans only had a goal difference of minus 3 as they also scored 11 goals in return.

Shrestha’s team will be put to the test against Kakre Bihar Youth Club, the runners-up of Group B, in the first semifinal on Sunday; it will be followed by Group B winner Kakre Bihar YC vs Group A runners-up Chitlang FC.

Kakre Bihar, which represents Surkhet, had equal points alongside Nawa Jana Jagriti Yuwa Club of Bara, but the latter bested in goal difference. Nawa Jana Jagriti had scored 15 goals and conceded three, while Kakre Bihar conceded five in response to 10 goals scored.

Nonetheless, both Kakre Bihar and Nawa Jana Jagriti were unbeaten in their group stage fixtures. They registered wins against the three other opponents, while playing a 1-1 draw against each other.

Three joint-highest scorers

There were three players with the highest number of individual goals in the group stage.

Laligurans’s Ashish Gurung, Kakre Bihar’s Anish Gharti Chhetri and Nawa Jana Jagriti’s Sujan Dangol scored four goals each; further, they all had a hat-trick each.

There are a total of four players who have completed a hat-trick in the tournament so far. The fourth is Bijay Sports Club’s Niroj Chaudhary.

The three leading goal scorers have their teams in the semifinals, allowing them to increase their scores. However, they are not in comfortable positions in goal tally.

A total of six players took their tally to three goals. Except for Chaudhary, the other five were Bijay Sports Club’s Aron Thapa, Chitlang’s Bigyan Khadka, Kakre Bihar’s Ashish Chapagain, Hairans Club’s Anish Maharjan and Nawa Jana Jagriti’s Pratap Sing Rai.

A total of 42 players had their goal accounts in the President League, while there was only one with an own goal. Sujan Khatri of Hairans Club scored an own goal in the 2-7 loss against Nawa Jana Jagriti.

Nine players scored two goals each, while 24 players could only open their account with one each.

Awards for winning teams, best players

The player who finishes as the leading goal scorer will bag a purse of Rs25,000. The same amount is awarded to the best goalkeeper. The most valuable player of the tournament will get Rs50,000.

Similarly, the team that wins the final of the ANFA President League will receive a cash prize of Rs1 million and the ‘champions trophy’. The runner-up will get Rs500,000 and a trophy. There is a Rs50,000 cash prize for the team that wins the fair play award.

Nonetheless, all the participating teams were provided Rs700,000 each as preparation costs.

Still, the major award for the top four teams is participation in the National League, as it is a chance to play against the best clubs in the country.

National League when?

The National League should be organised annually as part of ANFA’s yearly calendar, and even under the ANFA Statutes. However, the tournament was proposed from December 24 this year as a consolation for the inability to organise the Martyr’s Memorial ‘A’ Division League.

Yet, the recent developments suggest that the authorities and stakeholders—including the Ministry of Youth and Sports, ANFA, A Division clubs and players—are doing their best to kick off the A Division League by March next year.

In a meeting between the A Division clubs, ministry and ANFA in the past few days, there were arguments that the National League should be postponed if the A Division League is to be held.

However, if it is later decided that the A Division League will not be held, there is a high possibility that the National League will be postponed for at least another month due to the delays for the top-tier league.