From historic cricket achievements and a surge in international medals to turmoil in football and lingering governance disputes, 2025 unfolded as a year of sharp contrasts for Nepali sports—one where athletes continued to excel on the global stage even as administrative failures and controversies cast long shadows at home.

As we enter into a new year, the Post looks back at some of those major achievements and incidents in Nepali sports during the last one year period:

The year of cricket

It was a fantastic year for Nepali cricket. One of the big reasons: the upgrade of the home of Nepali cricket, the TU International Cricket Stadium. Within eight months, the ground saw proper seatings with concrete parapets and six floodlights to make the stadium capable of hosting night matches.

And it was on those seats and under the lights that Nepali fans watched some of the great names in cricket—such as South African Faf du Plessis and Australian Chris Lynn—play for the franchises of the Nepal Premier League in the second season (November 17 to December 13), which was won by Lumbini Lions. Likewise, the induction of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, one of the legends of the game, as the head coach of defending champion Janakpur Bolts also raised the standard of the NPL this year.

But before the ‘Festival of Himalayas’ started, Nepali cricket had many more things to celebrate. The year 2025 started with the U19 women’s team participating in their maiden T20 World Cup, and the senior men’s team qualified for the 2026 T20 World Cup after finishing as the top two teams of the Asia & EAP Qualifiers in Oman in October. It was Nepal’s third qualification for the World Cup, and the first time for a consecutive edition.

In May, Nepal women’s team also created history after qualifying for the T20 World Cup Global Qualifier for the first time. Nepal is hosting the Global Qualifier in January 2026 in what is the biggest ICC event taking place in the country to date.

Similarly, as the NPL Season 2 was midway, Nepal women’s blind cricket team returned home as the runner-up of the inaugural Blind Women’s T20 World Cup.

The U19 men’s team also qualified for the Asia Cup in the year.

Further, Nepali cricket showed it was on the right path after bringing in Stuart Law as the head coach of the men’s team and Harshal Jayant Pathak to lead the women’s side.

Football scene in disarray

2025 was another year when the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) failed to organise the Martyr’s Memorial ‘A’ Division League. And with the youngsters revolting to bring a major change in the country on September 8 and 9, Nepali footballers also took to the streets demanding major changes in Nepali football.

The failure of Nepali football’s governing authorities was also marked by the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) suspension on Dasharath Stadium, which prohibited the home of Nepali football from hosting international matches of the AFC and FIFA.

Further, Nepal women’s first UEFA pro-license holder head coach Patrick de Wilde did not stay to complete his one-year tenure. After working for only a month, where he helped the team showcase a different and better football than the past at the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers in Uzbekistan in July, the Belgian resigned after criticising the mismanagement and unwarranted intervention from the ANFA.

Nepal’s men’s head coach Matt Ross, another pro-license holder, also did not complete his one-year tenure. He resigned in October, eight months into his job. It was later found that Ross had not informed players of his plan to resign, while the ANFA has also not revealed why Ross left halfway.

Meanwhile, at the tail end of the year, on December 30, ANFA, to the surprise of many, held the opening game—between Sankta FC and Machhindra FC—of the U18 League, with no other fixtures revealed and held after that. And on December 31, the executive meeting of the governing body of Nepali football decided to hold early elections without completing the elections at the district and provincial levels.

The only big things that happened in Nepali football in 2025 was the arrival of two footballing legends—Italian wall Gianluigi Buffon and one of the world’s best-ever left-back, the Brazilian Roberto Carlos—in March and April for the 3rd KP Oli Cup and 3rd Nepal Super League, respectively.

Another big thing marked by Nepal in football was when Dasharath Stadium hosted the inaugural SAFF Women’s Club Championship in December.

Too many tussles

Except for football, other sectors of Nepali sports also saw several disputes and tussles in 2025. The main conflict was between the Nepal Olympic Committee and the government.

The NOC, which saw a newly elected team led by Jeevan Ram Shrestha for a straight third term after amending the statutes, was not accepted by the then government with Teju Lal Chaudhary as the sports minister.

Even with the new government formed after the Gen Z uprising, the current Minister for Youth and Sports Bablu Gupta is yet to make public the stance of the new government on the NOC, whose building in Satdobato remains padlocked.

The Gen Z uprising also led several athletes to speak out on the discrimination, politics and corruption in their respective sports.

International medals

This past year, Nepali athletes won a lot of international medals in different sports.

Nepali athletes bagged four gold and silver each alongside 14 bronze medals in the 6th Asian Savate Championship in February in New Delhi, India.

The Nepali women’s kabaddi team also secured a bronze medal at the 6th Asian Women Kabaddi Championship in Iran in March.

Youngsters representing Nepal Yoga Sports Association bagged two gold, a silver and three bronze medals at the 16th World Yoga Sports Championships (April 5 and 6) in Malaysia.

From April 4 to 6, Nepali karateka Arika Gurung bagged a gold medal at the Australian Open Karate Championship, while four others won a bronze each in the event. Gurung also bagged a silver at the K1 Youth League in February. She also won a bronze at the Karate 1 Premier League in Morocco.

Nepali karatekas also won over 50 medals, including 21 gold, at the 9th South Asian Karate Championship in Sri Lanka in July.

At the Kasad 6th Asian Taekwondo Open Championships in Indonesia, Abhishek Baral won a silver. The 21st WATA International Taekwondo Championship in April in Japan saw Nepali taekwondoins bag four gold, five silver and seven bronze medals.

Nepal’s No 1 amateur Sadbhav Acharya was part of three international gold medals in golf in 2025. He clinched the medals at the 38th Bangladesh Amateur Golf Championship and 28th Faldo Junior Tour.

There were also two gold and a silver medal for Nepal at the International Hapkido Championship in Kyrgyzstan in June. Nepal’s martial artists also clinched three gold and a silver at the World United Martial Arts European Championship in the UK on June 29.

Nepal’s men’s and women’s teams also finished as the runners-up in the 2025 Kho Kho World Cup in New Delhi after both the teams lost to India in the final.

Not to forget, Nepali boxer Chandra Bahadur Thapa also made history by winning bronze at the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championship in Dubai, UAE.

Trail running, a sport where Nepali runners are dominating the world, also saw some major accolades in the year. Sunmaya Budha had one of her best years winning gold medals at the 2025 Anta Hong Kong 100, 2025 Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100K, and a silver medal at the Long Trail 82k category in the WMTRC2025 in Spain. Nepal’s Arjun Kulung Rai also clinched gold at the North Face 100km Ultra Trail Challenge in Hong Kong.

In the e-sports category, Nepal’s Horaa Sports finished ninth in the PUBG Mobile World Cup.

Palesha Goverdhan, Nepal’s first medallist in the Paralympics, won a bronze at the 10th Asian Para Taekwondo Championships in Malaysia. Renu Tamang also bagged a bronze at the Asian Youth Para Games in the UAE.

There were many more accolades by Nepali athletes globally. A result showcasing the determination of Nepali athletes amid lack of sufficient training and resources.