Early years In the mid-1980s,
FIFA provided financial assistance and sent a number of coaches to help Nepal launch its first youth programme, which was geared towards spotting talent at the grassroots level (such as in schools, for example) and providing young players with the necessary know-how, both on and off the pitch. The initial five-year plan helped half the players groomed under the first youth programme to find a place in the national side, and the team that won the 2 gold medals in the
first and
sixth South Asian Federation (SAF) Games mostly consisted of the players from that youth programme.
Youth investment ANFA asked
FIFA for financial assistance to check the downslide of Nepalese domestic football and in 1998,
FIFA agreed to donate funds through its Financial Assistance Programme (FAP), thereby allowing
ANFA to construct a secretariat along with a football pitch and a hostel in
Kathmandu to launch its youth development programme. The two-year intensive training period for the youth players selected in 1998 produced a number of skilful players, who recently participated in the ninth
South Asian Games (Pakistan, 29 March - 5 April). The same team had earlier topped its group in the
Asian Cup preliminary round in March 2004. However, despite reaching the finals tournament of the
2000 AFC U-17 Championship in
Vietnam, Nepal refused to participate in a biological age test, and as a result was banned from the
2002 AFC U-17 Championship. This, along with the
Maoist uprising left manager
Stephen Constantine to resign. In 2002, endeavours to develop football received a further fillip when
FIFA awarded a Goal programme to Nepal. Thanks to this project,
ANFA has constructed regional football centres that include hostels, office secretariats and playing grounds in three major towns in three different regions. ANFA built these centres to focus on spotting hidden talent in villages or schools around the nation. These centres will also provide the necessary coaching and physical training, and in the long-term, the nation as a whole will benefit with more regional football sides on a par with the clubs of
Kathmandu.
Recent years Nepal was fined by the
Asian Football Confederation for fielding over-age players during the
2014 AFC U-16 Championship. Since the fine, the
All Nepal Football Association has put in place several necessary age checks as part of selection/trials. The most recent team has qualified for the
2016 AFC U-16 Championship, making it the first Nepal U-16 team to achieve a back-to-back qualification in history. However, the team was then excluded from the tournament due to player
Manish Karki failing an
MRI bone test. Nepal was penalized and ruled to have forfeited all three of their qualification group matches where the ineligible player was fielded by a 3–0 scoreline. ==Stadium==