KATHMANDU, March 1: The FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Nepal and Bahrain will not be held at the Dasharath Stadium as the one and  only international stadium of Nepal does not meet the required standards to host international tournaments, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said in a letter written to the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA).

BARCELONA, Aug 27: FIFA suspended Luis Rubiales as president of Spain's football federation on Saturday for kissing Spanish Women's World Cup player Jenni Hermoso on the lips, and banned him from making contact with her.

KATHMANDU,   Feb 12: The Nepali National Women’s Football Team will be leaving for India on Monday for the FIFA friendly matches to be played against India on Feb 15 and 18 in Chennai.

The first single of the official soundtrack to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been released. Upbeat and with an infectious groove, Hayya Hayya (Better Together) is heavy with RnB and reggae influences, and is already available across music streaming platforms.

KATHMANDU, March 22: Ahead of qualification matches for the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Amnesty International has called on FIFA to use its leverage with the Qatari authorities to help end the abuse of migrant workers.

ZURICH, Dec 18: Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski was named The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2020 on Thursday, beating off competition from last year’s winner Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

MANCHESTER, Nov 23:The head of African football, Ahmad Ahmad, has been banned from football for five years by FIFA following an ethics investigation by world soccer’s governing body.

BERN, June 12: Players will be allowed to play for up to three clubs, instead of two, during the course of a season in a temporary rule change to alleviate the effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic on the sport, FIFA said on Thursday.

BERN, June 3: World soccer’s governing body FIFA has joined sports leagues, teams and players around the globe to express solidarity amid outrage over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in police custody in the United States.

MANCHESTER, Jan 2: Two goals from Gabriel Jesus helped a nervy Manchester City earn a 2-1 victory over Everton at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, as new manager Carlo Ancelotti suffered his first Premier League defeat since taking charge of the Merseyside club.

DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar will begin sifting through fan feedback from the Club World Cup to see how it can provide supporters with a successful World Cup in 2022, but cultural differences will be a tricky challenge to surmount.

ZURICH, Dec 24: FIFA has banned Bahrain defender Sayed Baqer for 10 matches for ‘discriminatory behaviour’ in a World Cup qualifier against Hong Kong, soccer’s world governing body has said.

SHANGHAI, Oct 24: China will host the first edition of the new, expanded 24-team Club World Cup in 2021, FIFA president Gianni Infantino told reporters on Thursday following a meeting of the global soccer body’s decision-making council in Shanghai.

KATHMANDU, Oct 17: Yet another game and old problems repeats in Nepal national football team. The fact that Nepal lost 5-0 at the hands of Australia in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers (AFC) was a lesson that it had a lot to do if it was to withstand the attacking superiority of the teams in its group. But, giving away the game with sloppy passing and very few attacking threats saw it get beaten 3-0 by Jordan on Tuesday.

ZURICH, Sept 25:  The Swiss parliament on Wednesday approved Attorney General Michael Lauber for a third term, opting for continuity despite disciplinary proceedings against him triggered by his handling of a soccer corruption probe.

Sept 19: 6 things to know by 6 PM today

September 19, 2019 18:00 pm

Your daily dose of missed important news of the day.

ZURICH, Sept 19: FIFA president Gianni Infantino has told Iran it is time to allow women into football stadiums and the global soccer body expects “positive developments” starting with their next home match in October.

KATHMANDU, Sept 10: Although having suffered a humiliating loss to Kuwait in its first match of second-round qualifiers of FIFA World Cup, Nepal on Tuesday thrashed Chiese Taipei 2-0 in a match held at Taipei Athletic Stadium.

KATHMANDU, Aug 17: Nepal national football team head coach Johan Kalin on Friday announced a 23-member squad for the upcoming friendly with Malaysian Super League Champion Johor Darul Ta’ Zim Football Club.

KATHMANDU, July 26: Nepal has dropped a position in the latest FIFA Rankings of July.

LYON, July 8: The United States won a record-extending fourth women’s World Cup with a 2-0 victory over the Netherlands on Sunday as second-half goals from Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle confirmed their status as the leading power in the women’s game.

LYON, July 4: FIFA has denounced “ill-informed and unjustified” criticism of its president, Gianni Infantino, after the coach of the Afghanistan women’s national team called him “disgusting” over the handling of sexual abuse investigations.

KATHMANDU, June 19: Qatar Airways, an official airline and partner of FIFA, has congratulated Ukraine for winning the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Ukraine beat South Korea 3-1 in a thrilling final to lift the title in Lodz, Poland, on Saturday.

SAO PAULO, June 11: This month’s Copa America will be the third in four years but for those suffering from an overdose of South American soccer there is an end in sight. Only not just yet.

Your daily dose of missed important news of the day.

MANCHESTER, May 23: The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be held with 32 participating teams and not an expanded 48 teams, organizers FIFA said on Wednesday.

April 11: 6 things to know by 6 PM

April 11, 2019 18:00 pm

Your daily dose of missed important news of the day.

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 11: The chances of FIFA increasing the number of teams at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from 32 to 48 is 50/50, the president of soccer’s governing body Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday.

Your daily dose of missed important news of the day.

Asia's football chief and FIFA's second-in-command Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa received a fresh, four-year term on Saturday, triggering complaints from campaigners who said regional soccer was in "crisis" over human rights.

KATHMANDU, April 4: Nepal has retained its previous 161st position in the latest FIFA ranking. It has managed to secure third place among the South Asian countries with India topping the group being in the 101st position in the ranking.

FIFA’s Adjudicatory Chamber of the Independent Ethics Committee has found Kokou Hougnimon Fagla, a referee and football official affiliated to the Togolese Football Association, guilty of having accepted bribes to manipulate an international friendly match in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

Manchester City will be banned by FIFA from making signings in the next two transfer windows after they broke rules related to the protection of youth players and third-party ownership, according to a report in the Sun newspaper.

LONDON, March 7: Fifa is pressing ahead with plans to expand the 2022 World Cup despite the concerns of some officials in the host nation, Qatar, whose support the project requires. The move, a politically perilous project but one heavily backed by Fifa's president, Gianni Infantino, would grow soccer's biggest championship to 48 teams ahead of schedule and require navigating some treacherous regional rivalries.

Nepal’s FIFA ranking unchanged

February 8, 2019 12:58 pm

KATHMANDU, Feb 8: Nepal has stayed intact in the 161st position, according to the latest FIFA World Rankings published on Thursday.  India, despite dropping six places down to the 103rd place, still is at the top of the South Asian rankings.

KATHMANDU, Nov 29: Nepal has slid a position in the FIFA rankings published lately.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino appears hugely hopeful that he has stumbled upon the long-lost secret to filling one of the world’s greatest voids: peace in the Middle East.

KIGALI, Oct 27: FIFA will raise the prize money for the Women’s World Cup from $15 million to $30 million starting with next year’s edition in France, president Gianni Infantino announced on Friday, though critics immediately said the increase was not enough.

KATHMANDU, Oct 14: Former FIFA Assistant Referee Kiran Giri has accused the current leadership of the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) of being prejudice toward him for being humiliated in Thailand where he went to take part in the Referee Instructor Course, which kicked off this week.

LONDON, Oct 13: Former UEFA president Michel Platini has filed a lawsuit for “slanderous denunciation” and “criminal conspiracy” against FIFA in a bid to prove he was the victim of a plot by organization officials to ban him from football.

LONDON, Sept 25: The following is a factbox on Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric, who won the Best FIFA Men’s Player award for 2018 on Monday.

LONDON, Sept 25: Real Madrid’s Croatia midfielder Luka Modric was named Best FIFA Men’s Player of the Year for 2018, while Orlando Pride’s Brazil forward Marta won the women’s award at a ceremony on Monday.

LONDON, Sept 3: Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah have been nominated as finalists for The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award, world football’s governing body announced on Monday.

July 25: France’s World Cup star Kylian Mbappe joined regulars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on the shortlist for The Best FIFA Men’s player award, world soccer’s governing body announced on Tuesday.

Award winners: FIFA World Cup 2018

July 16, 2018 07:53 am

July 16: France clinched its second World Cup title with a 4-2 win over Croatia in a dramatic final in Moscow featuring a series of firsts and a pitch invasion orchestrated by Russian protest group Pussy Riot.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has sent a letter to the head of the Football Association of Thailand with an official invitation to attend the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final Match in Moscow - if the boys are rescued in time.

For teams and fans alike, Saturday 30 June is when things get serious in Russia. And by the time the whistle goes to start the Round of 16 fixture between Uruguay and Portugal, the teams will already be aware of who lies in wait for the victors in the quarter-finals.

The knockout stages of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia begin on Saturday, with France and Argentina set to meet in Kazan for the first Round of 16 encounter. These two heavyweights of international football are always among the favourites to lift the Trophy, and boast of some of the game’s biggest superstars, from Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann to Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria. It is a duel to warm the hearts of every devotee of the beautiful game.

The group stage draws to a close on Thursday with one of its most eagerly anticipated games, the calendar serving up a delicious showdown between England and Belgium. Both will be vying for top spot in Group G as they lock horns in Kaliningrad.