KATHMANDU, JULY 21

The second executive committee meeting of the All Nepal Football Association was postponed indefinitely after senior vice-president Bir Bahadur Khadka and 11 others refused to sign the minute book for attendance, here today.

General Secretary Kiran Rai said President Pankaj Bikram Nembang postponed the meeting because of unfavourable conditions. 'Senior Vice-president Bir Bahadur Khadka and other office bearers did not cooperate in certain issues creating problems in conducting the meeting and President Nembang postponed it indefinitely,' Rai said.

One month into the elections, the ANFA executive committee has been divided into three groups led by Nembang, immediate past president Karma Tsering Sherpa and former president Ganesh Thapa. The group led by Thapa has accused Nembang of unilaterally appointing General Secretary, Treasurer and International Relations Head in the first meeting.

Khadka, who was elected as the senior vice-president from Nembang's panel last month, and vice-presidents Birat Jung Shahi and Deepak Khatiwada have been strongly lobbying to appoint Gaurav Thapa - son of former ANFA President Ganesh Thapa, who is facing 10-year ban from international body, FIFA, on corruption charges - as joint General Secretary. Gaurav was working in the Asian Football Confederation when Ganesh Thapa's case surfaced in FIFA's investigation and he resigned from the AFC.

The second meeting, who was originally scheduled for Monday and postponed due to ill health of President Nembang, was expected to make key appointments including three joint general secretaries and CEO among others.

Meanwhile, 12 office bearers of the ANFA submitted a memorandum to President Nambang demanding the sacking of International Relations Head Nabin Pande. Senior Vice-president Khakda, Vice-presidents Shahi and Khatiwada along with Members Mahendra Chhetri, Bikash Narayan Shrestha, Purushottam Thapa, Bhojraj Shahi, Rabindra Chand, Anil Malla, Sarila Shrestha, Tika Lama and Bharat Budhathoki have signed the petition submitted to Nembang.

In the letter, the officials said the appointment of Pande was against the ANFA statute which prohibits the appointment of a foreign national. German citizen Pande, who was also appointed as the IR Head in the previous committee, had resigned after altercation with the then President Sherpa. ANFA General Secretary Rai said all the 19 office bearers had agreed to appoint Pande in the first meeting. 'I am not sure about the protest as the decision was made unanimously in the previous meeting,' said Rai. 'As we have received a memorandum, we will discuss the matter in executive committee meeting,' he added.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 22, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.