Nepal’s women’s team has always been unlucky in the final. After losing in the 13th final, Nepal’s ‘runner-up’ tag has not yet been removed, and the final jinx has not yet been broken.
ANFA had invited Myanmar, Lebanon, and Kyrgyzstan to organize the International Women’s Football for the first time, with four nations participating. Nepal was again limited to the runner-up after losing 2-0 to Myanmar in the championship final held at the Dasharath Stadium on Wednesday in front of more than 15,000 spectators.
This is not the first time that Nepal has lost in the final. Not the second, third, or fourth. The 13th final defeat. No team has lost so many finals in world football. In a way, this was unfair.
Nepal had lost in the final 12 times before. There was hope of winning in the 13th final. But Nepal had no strength against Myanmar, which is 48 places higher in the rankings. Nepal was defeated by two goals after failing to organize in the second half.
Nepal’s women’s team has been playing international football for almost four decades, and in the last one and a half decades, Nepal has been performing well at the international level. In the meantime, Nepal has played 13 finals. But again, Nepal has maintained the old tradition of reaching the final and losing.
Nepal has lost the most in the SAFF Women’s Championship final. So far, Nepal has lost 6 times in the SAFF finals. Similarly, Nepal has lost more than once in the South Asian Games (SAG). It has lost 3 times in the SAG and 1 time each in the Hero Gold Cup, Nadezhda Cup, WAF Women’s Championship, and now the International Women’s Championship.
Despite playing in the finals for the most number of 6 times in the SAFF Women’s Championship’s 15-year history, Nepal is still without a title.
Nepal has lost 7 times in the finals against India in all categories, twice each against Bangladesh and Myanmar, and once each against Uzbekistan and Jordan.
Nepal last played the final of the SAFF Women’s Championship on home soil in October. In the final held at the Dashrath Stadium, Nepal lost to Bangladesh 2-1. Similarly, this is the third consecutive time that Nepal has lost in the women’s football final in the last year. In February 2024, Nepal lost to Jordan in a penalty shootout in the final of the WAAF Championship held in Saudi Arabia and was denied the title.
While India has previously been an obstacle for Nepal in SAFF or SAG in South Asia, now Bangladesh has also started to become a challenge for Nepal.
Nepal has recently started performing well against the five-time SAFF Women’s Championship champion, India. However, Nepal has lost to Bangladesh in the final twice in SAFF.
Nepal has also defeated India in the semi-finals twice in SAFF. However, in the last two editions, the new team, Bangladesh, was seen as a new challenge for Nepal.
Nepal has previously lost to India four times and to Bangladesh twice in the finals of the SAFF Women’s Championship, which began in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in 2010.
Nepal, which lost to India 1-0 in 2010, 3-1 in 2012, 6-0 in 2014, and 3-1 in 2019, lost to Bangladesh 3-1 in 2022 and 2-1 in 2024.
Similarly, Nepal has lost to India three times in SAG women’s football since 2010. In the 11th SAG held in Bangladesh in 2010, Nepal lost to India 3-1 in the final. In the 12th SAG held in India in 2016, Nepal lost to India 4-0 in the final, and in the 13th SAG held in Nepal in 2019, Nepal lost to Myanmar in the final. Last year, Nepal reached the finals of the West Asian Football Association (WAFA) Championship for the first time. But Nepal missed out on the title when it lost to Jordan in the final on penalties.
Now, Nepal has missed out on the finals of an international tournament held on home soil. Although Myanmar is far ahead of Nepal in the rankings, Myanmar’s level is also good. But in the league stage of the same tournament, Nepal had sent a message that it could compete with Myanmar by holding Myanmar to a 2-2 draw.
In the final too, Nepal had held Myanmar to a standstill in the first half. Even though Nepal had two good opportunities to score in the first half, they failed to make good use of them. Nepal paid the same price in the second half.
Myanmar played well in the second half and scored two goals. Nepal tried to score but failed. Nepali players were disappointed when they were defeated once again in front of thousands of spectators. The fans’ desire to see the Nepali women’s team lift the trophy has not yet been fulfilled.