Dasharath Stadium used to be packed when A-Division clubs were in a contest. But on Friday, even a musical concert from one of the leading artists of the country could not bring back those days at the home of Nepali football.

Backing the musical concert of Sajjan Raj Vaidya, the organisers tried inaugurating the National League-2082 after two days of four matches on Friday with a noisy crowd. Even from the small crowd present on Friday, many left after the musical presentation was over.

The fifth match of the National League saw two big and popular A-Division clubs—Machhindra FC vs New Road Team (NRT)—in action. But the crowd was minimal on Friday despite the domestic football returning to Dasharath Stadium after over 900 days.

After two days of National League, which has 13 A-Division clubs and four mofussil clubs qualified from the ANFA President League, at ANFA Complex, the current top-tier club competition reached Dasharath Stadium.

It was Rs100 per ticket during the last two days of the league at ANFA Complex. At Dasharath Stadium on Friday, a ticket at the general stand and the VIP stand were Rs799 and Rs1,499, respectively.

Even when it was only Rs100 for a ticket at ANFA Complex, the crowd could be counted. Thus, the decision to increase the ticket price at Dasharath Stadium was questioned from the very beginning.

The only time the tickets of the general stand and the VIP stand were not Rs500 and Rs1,000, respectively, was during the final of a football tournament.

Still, the football between two of the most cherished football clubs of the country entertained the small crowd that remained at the stadium.

The match ended in favour of Machhindra as they won 1-0, while NRT failed to capitalise on several chances they created.

While the first half ended goalless, the only goal of the match came from Alik Shrestha in the 63rd minute.

After the win, Machhindra’s head coach Prabesh Katuwal said, “NRT are a team who train regularly like the departmental clubs. And to beat them was a positive to take from the game.”

Both the teams had two foreign players each. And they both made two substitutions each in the match.

While Machhindra had Saurav Limbu replaced by Nikhil Tamang in the 78th minute, Pema Tamang replaced Utsab Rai in the 87th. For NRT, Rajiv Lopchan and Bigyan Khadka were replaced by Rohand Khadgi and Shota Atsumi, another foreigner, in the 67th and 89th minutes, respectively.

It was the first match of the tournament for both teams.

“We played well, but we could not score,” said NRT’s head coach Surendra Kumar Shrestha. “We will improve in the upcoming days.”

There are three matches on Saturday. Chitlang FC face Nawa Jana Jagriti Club at 12pm at ANFA Complex. The remaining two matches—beween Tribhuvan Army FC and Manang Marsyangdi Club (2pm) alongside Planning Boyz United and Nepal Police CLub (6:30pm)—are at the Dasharath Stadium.

The ticket price for the match at ANFA Complex for Saturday is Rs499 for the general stand and Rs799 for VIP stand. Meanwhile, for the two matches at Dasharath Stadium, the ticket price for the general and VIP stands is Rs299 and Rs499, respectively.