ANFA President Ganesh Thapa told Republica that Blatter will arrive here on March 8 to attend the inaugural ceremony of the Challenge Cup. “Blatter has accepted our request to grace the Challenge Cup by his presence. [break]
He will be here on a one-and-a-half day visit,” said an elated Thapa. Thapa said that ANFA had requested Blatter to visit Nepal during the Asian Football Confederation´s November 23 meeting in Malaysia that granted Nepal the permission to host the Challenge Cup.
“We are really excited that Blatter confirmed today that he would attend the ceremony. We couldn´t invite him earlier because there wasn´t any such occasion to invite him,” said Thapa.
Thapa said that Blatter would visit ANFA technical center at Chyasal after the opening ceremony, although ANFA is yet to submit its itinerary to FIFA about the world football governing body chief´s visit.
Thapa also informed that ANFA would try to arrange Blatter´s meeting with Nepal´s president and other top politicians of the country.
ANFA also plans to apprise Blatter of its various projects, including the Dream Asia Project which aims at ending violence against women and to make football accessible to street children.
Blatter will also meet with ANFA officials and, possibly, interact with media persons, according to ANFA´s schedule. The AFC Challenge Cup will be held in Kathmandu from March 8 to 19. DPR Korea, Palestine, the Philippines, India, the Maldives, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan and host Nepal will compete in the tournament. The winner of the tournament will get an opportunity to compete in the Asian Cup.
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