Kathmandu, November 2:

National Sports Council (NSC) on Thursday asked the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) to furnish details of the foreign-based players of the Machhindra Club, who fielded four Nigerians — three players and a coach — without having proper documents. Machhindra brought Nigerian players Nnajiuba Eze Collins, Kehinde Idris Olayike and Okegbemiro Abdulganiyu Olawale and coach Tope A Fuja at the Martyrs’ Memorial San Miguel ‘A’ Division League match against Nabil Three Star Club.

The four Nigerians are in Nepal on a tourist visa and the NSC, after the instructions from the Home Ministry and the Immigration Department, had directed ANFA not to register the foreign nationals who do not have working visa.

Machhindra have already requested NSC to allow the players to play pending their visa procedures. “We were notified about the requirements only on Thursday and we already started the procedures,” said Machhindra president Sunil Kapali.

“We were directed not to allow the foreigners having tourist visa in any sports and we notified the ANFA about it three months ago,” said NSC member secretary Jeewan Ram Shrestha. “We came to know that some foreign-based players played for Machhindra Club today, so we asked the ANFA about the incident,” he said.

Asked about the NSC letter, ANFA president Ganesh Thapa said that he was unaware of it. “I have not received the letter yet, but we will sort out the issue by Friday,” he added. “I have called the Machhindra Club officials to discuss the matter tomorrow and hopefully we will be able to find a way out,” he added.

Meanwhile, Nabil Three Star Club filed a protest against Machhindra FC for not following the tournament rules and regulations. “We filed protest against the Machhindra FC as the International Transfer Certificates (ITC) produced by them do not meet the FIFA requirement and the players did not have the work permit,” said Three Star president Lalit Krishna Shrestha.