KATHMANDU, March 1: The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has signed different agreements for four years for the football development with the Chinese Football Association (CFA) in Lalitpur on Thursday.
The ANFA President Karma Tshering Sherpa and CFA’s acting President and Vice Sports Minister Du Zhaocai signed the agreement papers amid a function organized at Kupandole.
According to the agreement between the two sides, the CFA and the ANFA will organize friendly matches of both men’s and women’s teams and that the CFA will help its Nepali counterpart to build physical infrastructure and in other technical aspects. “China has now emerged as a strong country in the world football. We are confident that this deal between the CFA and the ANFA will prove to be a milestone for football development in Nepal,” President Sherpa said after the signing program. According to Sherpa, while he was attending the FIFA Congress in Qatar, he had a fruitful talks with Zhaocai and that it was at the same time he invited him for the Nepal tour. Now the idea of the time has been materialized, he described the story behind the development.
“We have especially made an agreement on three aspects which includes the participation of clubs from both the sides in both Nepal and China,’’ said Sherpa. “We have planned to include China’s third tier clubs and the local teams to play in a tournament in Nepal.”
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According to him, there will also be friendly matches between the two countries from time to time. “We are lagging behind in terms of physical infrastructure. CFA will help us to that end and will also assist us in the technical aspects as well,’’ Sherpa added. Sherpa said that the agreement will not only help Nepal in the football development, but also in the overall sports with China’s help. He added that both the parties will soon hold discussions to lay the ground to move ahead and make long-term plans.
Zhaocai said that he is excited with the agreement with the ANFA. “Nepal and China have collaborated for the development of sports for long time. We have been helping Nepal in the development of physical infrastructure. This is just the continuation of that,’’ Zhaocai said.
“We will hold more talks in this regard. The understanding will formally begin after we exchange teams to play in tournaments,’’ he added.
Women footballers to get Rs 100,000 each
ANFA has announced Rs 100,000 prize to every member of the Nepal national women’s football team for their performance in India’s Hero Women’s Gold Cup concluded on February 15.
The team defeated heavyweights like India and Iran and went on to the final, but lost 3-1 to Myanmar.
With the result, Nepal returned to the country with Rs 800,000 cash prize for finishing as the runner-up.
Sherpa along with other officials met the team in Biratnagar on Wednesday and announced to reward the team for its performance in India. The team is currently preparing for the SAFF Women’s Championship which will be held at the Shahid Stadium in Biratnagar from March 12 to 22.
The ANFA has said that it will not spare anything to reward the players if the team is to win the SAFF, which the team has not yet won. However, the team is confident on winning the title this time as the tournament will be played at home.
