Friends looking for new booters

KATHMANDU, Aug 5: "There are 18 A-division clubs and every A-division club is facing crunch as there is scarcity of quality players".Rajiv Paudel, president of A-division side Friends club, unhesitatingly gave the statement and claimed his club is coming forward with the programs to get rid of the problem.



Friends Club is kicking off a football-training course for youngsters from Friday.[break]



"All Nepal Football Association has been running academy but we are still facing scarcity of players. We (Friends Club) think, it would be better if clubs ran academies and ANFA helped us," said Paudel. "We are taking steps in this direction," added Paudel.



Friends Club have asked youngsters of 17-23 years of age to come to the 6-month training course. Altogether 380 boys from more than 30 districts have applied for it.



Friends Club organizing a press conference on Thursday announced they would pick up 40 from among the 380 players after conducting a weeklong selection camp beginning Friday. The top 40 will go through the 6-month training and at least 25 players would be selected from the 40. The last 25 will get club contracts.



"We´ll sign contracts with the players for five years after the final selection. The selected players would get chance to play for the club or we´ll sell them to other A-division clubs," said Coach Mrigendra Mishra.



Mishra and Ramesh Maharjan will conduct the training course for players. "We will look after players´ qualities of passing, receiving, dribbling, shooting, heading, speed of execution, physical fitness and discipline," Coach Mishra explained the selection criteria.



"We had spent around 3.5 million rupees in the last season but our investment went down the drain because of match-fixing scandal in the league," claimed Paudel. "We got only small return from the prize money," added Paudel. He appealed to the private sector to invest in youth development.



Friends Club have finished in 8th position of the last season of Martyrs Memorial League and their key players are leaving the club. Midfielder Nirajan Khadka and Deepak Bhushal have joined Manang Marshyangdi Club while Noor Raj Kaphle has joined the Armed Police Force. Friends have suspended goalkeeper Rupesh Shrestha alleging he was involved in matchfixing and Friends lack at least five players now.

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