KATHMANDU, June 9: The Nepali national football team is set to get support from a very small crowd in its upcoming AFC Asian Cup 2019 Qualifiers' home match against Yemen on June 13 as All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) is set to release only 700 tickets for the fans.
Nepal, which had begun its continental tournament's qualifiers with a defeat to the Philippines on March 28, is taking on Yemen at the Armed Police Force (APF) Headquarters in Halchowk, which has a capacity of 1000 spectators only.
As the earthquake-damaged Dasharath Stadium is still unavailable to host any match, Nepal's football governing body has chosen APF's stadium for the Asian Cup qualifying match.
ANFA's CEO Indraman Tuladhar said that not being able to host match at the Dasharath stadium is a big loss.
“Not being able to host match at the Dasharath Stadium, which can hold big number of fans, is a big loss for us in terms of monetary value,” said CEO Tuladhar, adding, “But a bigger loss than that is our team will not get support from large number of home fans.”
“This type of match needs backing of big crowd because it is a very important fixture for Nepal. But unfortunately, the national team will lack that important backing,” added Tuladhar.
“We made request to the concerned authorities many times to conclude the repair of the earthquake-damaged Dasharath Stadium before this fixture against Yemen but unfortunately the venue is still unavailable,” added Tuladhar.
The VIP parapet of the stadium is fully damaged by earthquake while the remaining parapet of the stadium is partially damaged.
“We doubt Dasharath Stadium will be completely repaired ahead of our next home match scheduled on September 5 against Tajikistan,” said Tuladhar, “But we want to request the concerned authorities to let us host that match keeping spectators in the parapet which is not damaged.”
Meanwhile ANFA informed that it has completed the preparations to host the match against Yemen. Organizing a press meet at ANFA Complex at Satdobato on Friday, ANFA informed that fans can book the ticket online paying Rs 1000 through its ticketing partner E-Sewa from Saturday. According to ANFA, one person can book two tickets only.
The team from Yemen will land in Kathmandu on June 11, informed ANFA.
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