FIFA suspends the All Nepal Football Association: national teams and clubs remain outside international competitions
FIFA has suspended the All Nepal Football Association, Nepal's national football association known by the abbreviation ANFA, thereby immediately depriving Nepalese football of the rights arising from membership in the world football organisation. The decision was announced on 24 June 2026, during the 2026 World Cup, but it does not relate to results or events at the tournament itself, rather to a long-running dispute over football governance in Nepal. According to FIFA's official announcement, the Bureau of the FIFA Council suspended ANFA with immediate effect due to, as stated, clear violations of the FIFA Statutes connected with third-party interference. FIFA referred to Article 14, paragraphs 1(i) and 3, which concern the obligations of national associations and the consequences of violating the fundamental rules of membership. The suspension remains in force until further notice, and its lifting will depend on whether Nepalese sports authorities and ANFA find a solution that FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation consider compliant with the rules on the autonomy of national football associations.
What FIFA decided and why the decision matters
According to FIFA's announcement, ANFA's suspension was imposed because of impermissible third-party influence on the association's work, which FIFA treats in its rules as a serious breach of the obligation of independent football governance. In practice, this means that an association that is a FIFA member must conduct its elections, bodies and day-to-day affairs without pressure from state, political or other external actors. FIFA does not dispute that national associations operate within the legal systems of their countries, but under its statutory rules such regulations must not lead to a direct takeover of control over a football association or to the blocking of its electoral process. That is why Nepal's case is viewed not only as a local administrative conflict, but as a question of the relationship between state sports oversight and international football rules. For Nepal, the decision is particularly severe because it does not imply only a formal warning, but immediate exclusion from the international football system governed by FIFA and the AFC.
According to a report by The Himalayan Times, FIFA general secretary Mattias Grafström sent ANFA a letter dated 24 June, and the decision was also sent to the Asian Football Confederation. In that letter, according to the same outlet, the suspension is explained by a months-long unresolved conflict between ANFA and Nepal's National Sports Council, the state body responsible for sports administration. The disputed issue is the electoral process within the football association, which FIFA and the AFC had previously monitored and which, according to local reports, they had requested be continued without external pressure. FIFA's decision does not mean that Nepal has been permanently expelled from world football, but it does mean that all membership rights are suspended until the competent bodies conclude that the conditions for return have been met. According to available information, FIFA or the Bureau of the FIFA Council may lift the suspension even before the next FIFA Congress if the dispute is resolved in a manner acceptable to the international football bodies.
National teams and clubs lose the right to compete
The most direct consequence of the suspension is the ban on Nepalese national teams and clubs competing in international competitions under the auspices of FIFA and the AFC. According to the Kathmandu Post, the decision excludes national selections, club teams and the relevant bodies of the association from the competition calendar until ANFA's status is resolved. This applies to the senior men's national team, the women's national team, younger national selections and clubs that could participate in Asian competitions or other official programmes. The suspension also limits the possibility of arranging official international matches with FIFA members, because such encounters must be approved within the international system. For players and coaching staffs, this means the loss of matches, preparations, points, international visibility and development opportunities that are often difficult to compensate for in smaller football systems.
The decision also has a financial and developmental dimension. According to reports by the Kathmandu Post and The Himalayan Times, ANFA, its members and officials remain without access to FIFA and AFC development programmes, education, courses and forms of institutional support during the suspension. Such programmes usually include the training of coaches and referees, administrative support for associations, youth projects, infrastructure, safety standards and the development of women's football. For countries with a limited commercial football market, international support can have a significant impact on the regularity of competitions, the work of academies and the quality of professional staff. That is why the suspension does not stop at the level of national teams, but spills over to clubs, regional structures, young players, female referees, referees, coaches and administrators who depend on international channels of support.
The long-running dispute between ANFA and the National Sports Council
The background to the decision goes back to a months-long dispute between ANFA and Nepal's National Sports Council, which in the country has the role of state sports regulator. According to The Himalayan Times, at the end of 2025 ANFA informed FIFA of its intention to hold an electoral congress before the expiry of the mandate of the then executive committee in June 2026, and the elections were initially planned for 11 February. That process then became complicated due to a court interim measure and objections from the National Sports Council, which, according to the same report, requested statutory amendments in line with Nepal's Sports Development Act. After the judicial obstacle was removed, ANFA moved the electoral congress to 27 March, but the National Sports Council suspended ANFA's executive committee on 25 March for three months. The Council, according to local media, claimed that the association had not complied with its instructions and that the electoral process had continued without the necessary approval of the national regulator.
Nepal News, in an earlier explanation of the crisis, stated that the National Sports Council based the suspension on provisions of domestic sports legislation, while FIFA and the AFC assessed such a move as unacceptable interference in the autonomy of the football association. The same source states that the disputed issues included approval of the electoral process, amendments to ANFA's statutes and the status of district football associations that participate in the association's structure. According to reports from Nepal, the National Sports Council withdrew the suspension in May, but FIFA and the AFC did not consider that all the consequences of the decisions adopted on 25 March had been removed. Khabarhub, citing joint communication from FIFA and the AFC, reported that the international bodies had requested written confirmation that the National Sports Council's decisions had been fully revoked. Since, according to available reports, the dispute was not resolved within the deadline set by the international bodies, the matter escalated to the suspension approved by the Bureau of the FIFA Council.
Conditions for returning to international football
According to The Himalayan Times, FIFA set two key conditions for restoring ANFA's membership rights. The first is the full and unconditional revocation of the National Sports Council's decision of 25 March, including the effects that decision had on ANFA's executive committee. The second is that ANFA be allowed to complete the electoral process that had already begun, in accordance with the association's own statutes and without external pressure. Such conditions show that FIFA is not seeking only a formal lifting of the suspension, but also the restoration of the process that should give the association legitimately elected leadership. At the centre of the dispute therefore remains the question of who may determine the rules and timetable of elections in a national football association: the state sports body, the association itself in accordance with its own statutes, or a combination of domestic law and international rules with clear limits of authority.
The Kathmandu Post reported that the mandate of the executive committee led by president Pankaj Bikram Nembang had already expired, which further complicates the institutional way out of the crisis. FIFA's member associations page lists Nembang as ANFA president, while Kiran Rai is listed as general secretary, which are key functions in communication with international football bodies. If the elections remain blocked, the association will face a dual crisis: international suspension and internal uncertainty over legitimate leadership. If the elections continue without an acceptable agreement with the state sports regulator, the risk is the continuation of domestic legal disputes and challenges to decisions. For that reason, the solution will probably have to include both legal harmonisation and political willingness to preserve football's autonomy without completely excluding the national regulatory framework.
FIFA's principle of autonomy for national associations
FIFA insists in its legal documents that members must manage their affairs independently and without undue influence from third parties. According to FIFA's official legal documents, national associations have obligations that include respecting FIFA's statutes, regulations and decisions, and in the event of a serious breach of those obligations they may be suspended. Article 14, to which FIFA referred in the ANFA case, is in practice often connected with association autonomy, electoral procedures and the protection of football institutions from political or administrative pressure. FIFA presents such a rule as a guarantee that football decisions are made by football bodies, not by external actors who may have political, regulatory or other interests. Critics of such a model in some countries sometimes warn that national associations must nevertheless be accountable to domestic legislation, but FIFA and the confederations regularly draw the line where a state body directly suspends, appoints, dismisses or blocks the electoral bodies of an association.
The Nepalese case therefore has broader significance than a single administrative decision. It shows how sensitive the relationships are between international sports rules and domestic laws in countries where sport is formally under the supervision of public bodies. The National Sports Council claims, according to local reports, that it acts to implement domestic regulations and ensure sports organisations' compliance with national laws. FIFA and the AFC, on the other hand, according to the same reports, believe that such oversight must not turn into managing football elections or nullifying the association's autonomy. In that tension, Nepal must find a solution that will be sufficiently convincing both for domestic institutions and for the international football system.
Reactions from Nepal and the possible effect on players
AFP reported that ANFA spokesperson Suresh Shah described the suspension as an extremely serious issue for Nepalese football and said that the association was consulting stakeholders in order to have the suspension lifted. According to the same agency report, Shah warned that the decision hits players the hardest because it closes international opportunities to them and disrupts the plans of those who are only trying to build a career. AFP also carried a statement by Ram Charitra Mehta, a member of the secretariat of the National Sports Council, who said that the government had not wanted such an outcome and that alternative ways of resolving the crisis were being sought. Those statements indicate that neither side publicly presents the suspension as desirable, but so far no concrete plan that would immediately satisfy FIFA's conditions has been officially confirmed. Until that happens, Nepalese football remains in a state of administrative isolation.
The most visible effect will be felt by the national teams, but in the long term the greatest price could be paid by players and clubs from the domestic system. Nepal News had already warned during an earlier phase of the crisis that domestic competitions, friendly matches and preparation programmes had been affected by uncertainty surrounding ANFA. According to that report, postponements, withdrawals from competitions and problems with organising matches further burdened clubs and national-team programmes. In football environments with fewer international matches, every missed opportunity to play against stronger opponents also means slower player development, less exposure to scouts and a weaker rhythm for national selections. Women's and youth football are particularly vulnerable because they often depend on continuity in development programmes, regional tournaments and the education of professional staff.
A crisis that goes beyond one association
The All Nepal Football Association is formally a member of the Asian Football Confederation, and according to FIFA's association profile its headquarters are in Lalitpur, in the wider Kathmandu area. Although Nepal is not among Asia's strongest national football teams, football has significant social visibility, and international appearances give players and fans rare opportunities for regional and global affirmation. That is why the suspension is not only an institutional problem, but also a blow to competition planning, sponsorships, youth development and confidence in the national football administration. Clubs without an international pathway find it harder to retain ambitious players, while national selections without official matches lose rhythm and continuity. If the suspension is prolonged, the consequences may become visible only after several seasons, through the weaker development of generations that were supposed to gain international experience at a crucial stage.
The solution will depend on the speed with which the National Sports Council, ANFA and the international football bodies agree on the limits of jurisdiction. According to available information, for FIFA it is crucial that the decisions that blocked the electoral process be revoked and that ANFA be allowed to complete the elections under the association's rules. For Nepalese institutions, on the other hand, the challenge is to show that they respect domestic law while not creating the impression of direct management of the football association. Such a compromise will not be merely a technical issue, because it will determine how relations between national sports legislation and international rules are resolved in the future. Until then, Nepal remains outside FIFA and AFC competitions, while its clubs, national teams and development programmes await the restoration of ANFA's membership rights.
Sources:
- FIFA – official announcement by the Bureau of the FIFA Council on the suspension of the All Nepal Football Association and the reference to Article 14 of the FIFA Statutes (link)
- FIFA Legal & Compliance – official legal documents and FIFA's statutory framework used for context on members' obligations (link)
- FIFA Member Associations – official profile of the All Nepal Football Association with basic information about the association and officials (link)
- The Himalayan Times – report on FIFA's letter to ANFA, the conditions for lifting the suspension and the chronology of the electoral dispute (link)
- Kathmandu Post – report on the consequences of the suspension for national teams, clubs and development programmes (link)
- Nepal News – explanation of the background to the dispute between ANFA and the National Sports Council and its impact on domestic football (link)
- The Guardian / AFP – agency report with reactions from ANFA and the National Sports Council after the suspension (link)