Rupees 5m for one match. That is what the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) made after the Nepal-Bangladesh opener of the SAFF Championship’s at Dashrath Stadium on Saturday.
20 thousand supporters were packed into stadium where 15 thousand sat in the open parapet while around 2500 found themselves in the Grand Stand. The 15 thousand open parapet ticket each cost Rupees 300 and 2500 Grand Stand at Rupees 700 each took the gate receipts well beyond Rupees 5M.
The stands were filled well before the match and the capacity crowd cheered every pass and tackle openly demonstrating their passion for the national team. As long as Nepal remains alive in the tournament ANFA funds are sure to be enriched by the same amount for every match. If Nepal reaches the final that ANFA could be looking a Rupees 25m pay-out.
It was the learnt that the Nepal government has allocated an amount of $10m to construct a well furbished stadium and hopes to have it ready within the next five years. Four places in the valley have already been primarily selected and by the end of the year the final location will be finalised. The stadium will be able to seat 40 thousand. Creating a perfect mixture of tourism with football will be the country’s top priority. In the future Nepal plans to host the high profile exhibition matches with English premier league giants such as Manchester United, Liverpool etc.
No country in the region now has a fan based advantage over Nepal when it comes to football. While football is undoubtedly the premier sport of the masses in Nepal the ´beautiful game´ is at best a distant second to cricket in terms of popularity in other South Asian countries. Nepal seems set to capitalize on this opportunity.
