ANFA president election on October 24

The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has decided to hold election of new president and a vice-president on October 24 in Kathmandu.

The post of president and vice president had remained vacant in the football governing body of Nepal since last year. ANFA had been without a president after FIFA, the international football governing body, slapped a 10-year ban on its long serving president Ganesh Thapa on November 16 last year for misconduct while at the helm of ANFA. Similarly, the position of vice president had been vacant since June 12 last year after its senior vice president Lalit Krishna Shrestha was electrocuted at his home.

Two days after ban on Thapa, ANFA had nominated its senior Vice President Narendra Shrestha as its acting president. A meeting of ANFA held on Tuesday decided the date for the election.

Earlier in May, FIFA had written to the ANFA asking it to hold presidential election to replace disgraced Thapa. According to a statement issued by ANFA, the decision to hold the election will be corresponded with FIFA and AFC for guidelines.

Banned Thapa was elected as ANFA president for the sixth time on October 24, 2013 for a four-year tenure. This means the newly elected president and vice president will have tenure of about 14 months.

The executive committee meeting has also decided to lift ban on Himalayan Sherpa Club and Friends Club. Four top-tier clubs including Himalayan Sherpa and Friends Club were banned by ANFA on August 2014. The ban on two other clubs -Saraswati and Machhindra – were lifted a year later while ban on remaining clubs were intact. The meeting under presidency of then President Thapa had imposed ban on those clubs after they publicly questioned transparency of ANFA and filed complaints against Thapa alleging him of corruption and misconduct.

The meeting also decided to form a five-member election committee comprising ANFA legal advisor Sujit KC (coordinator), advocates Sagar KC and Suman Kumar KC, Amar Singh Shah (member) and a National Sports Council representative. A five-member Appeal Committee was also formed under the leadership of advocate Gopal Krishna Ghimire. Advocates Buddhi Katuwal is the assistant coordinator, while Ganga Sagar Khatri, Suresh Kumar Paudel and Rajesh Maharjan are the members of the committee.

The meeting decided to lift the ban imposed on Himalayan Sherpa Club and Friends Club if they furnish written commitment of following ANFA statute and also agreed to provide Rs 1,000,000 to clubs competing outside the SAARC region and Rs 500,000 competing within South Asia.