SAFF Championship:  Nepal to face Maldives

KATHMANDU, August 19: Nepal is to play against Maldives in the first match under the 13th edition of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) football championship.

The match will be held at the National Football Stadium at Male in Maldives on 1 October later this year. 

The SAFF has recently unveiled the time-table of the competition to be held for 13 days. 

In the league round, Nepal will face Sri Lanka on October 3, India on October 8 and Bangladesh on October 10, according to the fixture.

Among the 8 member nations of the SAARC, only five member nations will participate in the SAFF Championship. The Nepali National team is currently in Pokhara in Kaski district under close training. 

There are altogether 28 players undergoing training. 

Meanwhile, Nepal and India will play a friendly match under the SAFF Championship on September 2 and September 5 at Dasarath Stadium in Kathmandu. 

Players undergoing close camp training are Kiran Kumar Limbu, Bishal Shrestha, Deepak Karki, Bikesh Kuthu, Arpan Karki, Suman Aryal, Dinesh Rajbanshi, Gautam Shrestha, Ananta Tamang, Rohit Chand, Suraj Jeu Thakuri and Suman Lama. 

Similarly, Kamal Thapa Magar, Nitin Thapa, Tej Tamang, Rajan Gurung, Pujan Uparkoti Bishal Rai, Santosh Tamang, Sujal Shrestha, Sunil Bal, Manish Dangi, Anjan Bista, Ayush Ghalan, Nawayug Shrestha, Ashish Lama, Abhisekh Rijal and Sishir Lekhi are also in the close camp.