How big a fantasy is it to expect Nepal’s national team to have a player in a top English club? Well, if the Nepali authorities are serious, it could soon be a reality.

Not only in England, the country that hosts the world’s most popular football league—the English Premier League, the Nepali national men’s team could have well-trained footballers of Nepali origin who play for top clubs from across Europe, the global football powerhouse.

The trend of Nepalis flying abroad for employment and educational purposes has accelerated in recent years. And with many not returning, millions of Nepalis are currently settled across the world. As a result, youngsters from Nepali-origin parents have taken up different sports, especially football, on foreign soil. And some of them have been associated with the top clubs and academies of Europe.

Nepali-origin players in the UK

Born in Maidstone, UK, on February 1, 2009, Saurap Sampang joined Arsenal Academy when he was just eight years old. A box-to-box midfielder, Arsenal proudly states that Sampang helped their U16 team win the 2024/25 Premier League Cup.

“The run to the final saw us top a challenging group that included Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Birmingham City, and Michael Donaldson’s side produced a standout performance in the quarter-finals by winning 3-1 away at Manchester City with Hashi netting a brace and Saurap Sampang adding another,” Arsenal writes in an article about the title-winning game.

The calibre of Sampang can be guessed by his call-up for the England U15 team. And how big an addition he can be to Nepali football can only be imagined. As per Arsenal, one of the giants of the English Premier League, Sampang is eligible to play for Nepal.

“Having been called up to the England under-15s, Saurap is also eligible to represent Nepal,” writes Arsenal on their website about 16-year-old Sampang.

The Kathmandu Post tried to reach out to Sampang’s parents for comments, but they said they were out of town and could not speak now.

There is another big name of Nepali origin in the footballing scene of the United Kingdom: Kiban Rai.

Rai is currently part of Aldershot Town FC, a club that is playing in the National League of England. He became the first player of Nepali descent to sign a professional contract with an EFL club—with Newport County of Wales in June 2023.

After 30 appearances for Newport County of South Wales, alongside a short stint at Merthyr Town on loan for the remainder of the 2024-25 season in January, he joined Aldershot Town in June this year.

While he joined Merthyr Town for a short time, his play time was cut further short by an injury. But Rai was part of Merthyr when the club lifted the Southern League Premier South title. Moreover, while at Newport County, Rai played against Manchester United during their FA Cup fixture on January 28 last year.

“Kiban is first and foremost a really exciting prospect,” the then Aldershot Town Manager, Tommy Widdrington, said on Rai’s signing. “Having played in the EFL as a teenager tells you the quality is in there, and having met and chatted with him, I feel we can provide him with the kind of platform his skill set requires.”

Widdrington also clarified, “I understand there will be conjecture connecting Kiban with the Aldershot connections with the Nepali community, but, as I explained to Kiban himself, he is here on merit, and we are looking forward to working with him because of his football ability.”

Another Nepali-heritage footballer making his mark in English football is 24-year-old Bivesh Gurung who is currently with Dover Athletic after signing a contract in October this year.

A product of Maidstone United’s youth setup, Gurung landed a scholarship at Crystal Palace in 2017. He then had spells in Norway and Sweden before joining Margate FC and then returning to Maidstone, where he, with 16 appearances in the National League, was part of the squad that won the National League South title in 2022.

He had signed for Folkestone Invicta in September this year and made five appearances for the club before joining Dover Athletic.

Those in different parts of Europe

A Nepali citizenship-holder, Sashwat Rana, 18, is currently playing for Sweden’s Malmo FF, the boyhood club of Sweden’s legendary striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic where he signed his first professional contract.

Born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark, Rana also played for Copenhagen for two years before joining Malmo in November this year.

Rana was inducted into the academy of Hellerup IK at the age of seven, and then scouted by Lyngby Boldklub, before joining the biggest Danish club, FC Copenhagen, at the age of 15. Rana played for Copenhagen against the youth teams of clubs like Paris Saint-Germain and Dortmund before joining Malmo.

Gorak Ghale is another Nepali-origin teen playing in Europe. Ghale was 16 years old when he signed his first pro contract with RSC Anderlecht, Belgium’s most-successful club in European competitions, in June last year. The 117-year-old Anderlecht, a top-tier component of Belgian club football, has won the UEFA Europa League once, and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and the UEFA Super Cup twice each.

Ghale, a midfielder, reached Anderlecht from Antwerp and signed a contract until 2027. Anderlecht, after signing Ghale, described him thus: “Gorak is a creative and dynamic midfielder who mainly plays in the 8 and 10 position. The young Belgian with Nepalese roots is also often decisive with a goal or assist.”

On the decision to include Ghale in the U18 squad of Anderlecht from the next season, Mikkel Hemmersam, the club’s training director, had said, “Gorak is a central midfielder who has good two-footedness and can be played out in different attacking positions. He is a player who embodies the DNA of RSC Anderlecht, so we are very happy that he has signed a contract with the club.”

Rehan’s journey from Palpa to PSG Academy

While the above-mentioned players were born and raised in Europe, a boy from Palpa district of Nepal has found his way into the academy of French giants Paris Saint-Germain in Turkey.

Born in Rampur of Palpa on August 16, 2009, Rehan Shah got a chance to apply for Turkey while he was around 14 years old. “I was studying at Madarsa Noorol Huda Basic School in Rampur when our principal suggested that I apply for an educational programme in Turkey,” Rehan told the Post over the phone from Tekirdag, Turkey. “I was selected, and then I arrived in Turkey in 2023.”

He was not old enough to take the risk of travelling far from home and living on his own. The eldest son of the family, Shah, who has two younger brothers back home and his father working in Saudi Arabia, decided to take his own care abroad. His family relented.

“First, my father said no. But after a little more consideration, he said okay,” Shah said. “I feel I have learnt a lot about life after living alone and looking after myself.”

In Palpa in his younger days, Shah was often called by neighbouring villages to represent their teams in various local tournaments. He also tried to enter the national football scene.

“It was probably for the SAFF U17 Championship in 2022 that I entered the district selection. I was then called for the provincial selection,” Shah recalled. “But I sustained an injury, and it was over for me. It was then that the door for Turkey opened.”

Carrying his love for football, Shah went to Turkey with the sole aim of studying.

However, as things unfolded, it felt like destiny had taken him there not for higher education but for football.

“I was playing for the school team in a tournament where many scouts had arrived. After a match, an individual asked me to join the PSG Academy, which I accepted,” Shah recalled the incident before entering the Academy in May. “I have received the highest scholarship of 77 percent among the inductees to the Academy.”

Shah has been studying at the International Martyr Munir Alkan Anatolian Imam Hatip High School in Turkey. And while spending his weekends training at the PSG Academy, he also plays for his school team.

“I play as a left-winger and a midfielder based on how the team needs me in a match. I use both my feet. I will use this opportunity to improve more and find my way to some of the biggest clubs in Europe,” Shah, a fan of Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona, said.

Asked how much of a change he found in the footballing structures of Nepal and Turkey, he said, “A big difference. The way football is played and players are developed from early childhood is not something we see in any part of Nepal.”

To the question of if he wanted to play for Nepal, Shah responded: “Why not?”, but quickly added: “I would, however, not play in a Nepali club football.”

It is common for footballers to opt for bigger clubs abroad than stay at home clubs. But at a call, they make themselves available for the national team’s matches.

“I also aim to do the same,” Shah said. “I would play in clubs abroad, and return to the country during the national team’s games.”

Shah wants to enrol at a university in Turkey after completing his high school.

Will they play for Nepal?

During his one year as the head coach of the Nepal men’s team, Abdullah Al Mutairi kept raising an issue: Nepal should be able to search for players abroad.

Al Mutairi pressed the issue further during the 2021 SAFF Men’s Championship hosted by the Maldives. He did so after Nepal’s 3-2 win over Sri Lanka, a match where Marvin Hamilton-Omole scored a banger from around 25 yards for Sri Lanka. Hamilton, who was born in England to a Nigerian father and a Sri Lankan mother, represented Sri Lanka through his mother’s roots.

“Normally, South Asian players cannot score a goal like this,” Al Mutairi had said. “Only players with training in Europe, even if in the lower division, can achieve such a feat.”

Al Mutairi’s successor, Vincenzo Alberto Annese, had a similar concern.

Annese got upset after Nepal was knocked out of the SAFF Men’s Championship group stage in India in 2023. “We should search for players who have trained abroad,” Annese had said.

Al Mutairi and Annese tried their best to take Nepali football to greater heights, at least in South Asia. But their challenges kept piling as other South Asian countries were bringing back players playing abroad and strengthening their squads.

Even Matt Ross, Nepal’s first UEFA pro-licence holder coach, had tried to bring in players with Nepali heritage to his squad. But he, too, failed.

As some sources say, Rana was called to represent Nepal during the tenure of Annese and Ross.

While that did not happen due to his club commitments, Rana, a left-back who dreams of playing in the English Premier League, wants to represent Nepal in the future.

There potentially are many more such players around the world, playing professional football at the top level and eligible to represent Nepal. Nepali football fans have been following them on social media, expressing gratitude for making Nepal proud and requesting that they play for the country.

Like Rana, some players want to represent Nepal at the international stage. But there are also players, such as Kiban Rai, who want to play for their current country.

The big question is: Is the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) ready to bring them back and invest in them?