Kathmandu, October 21:

After the successful completion of the first Goal Project, All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) is likely to get the second phase of Goal Project from the international governing body, said Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) Development Officer Manilal Fernando today.

Fernando, also the vice president of the Asian Football Federation and chairman of AFC Media Committee, was here to receive the Gorkha Dakshin Bahu IV conferred by King Gyanendra here at Royal Palace on Friday. AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam — who was scheduled to arrive this morning to receive the award — could not attend the function as his flight got delayed by more than three hours due to adverse weather in Kathmandu and was compelled to return from Qatar airport.

ANFA president Ganesh Thapa received Supradipta Birendra Prajatantra Bhaskar III, while Three Star Club players Upendra Man Singh and Bal Gopal Maharjan got Trishakti Patta IV. Others to receive Gorkha Dakshin Bahu IV from football included former Three Star coach Dhruba KC, ANFA general secretary Narendra Shrestha, vice president Kishor Rai, and treasurer Birat Jung Shahi.

“I am extremely happy to get the honour, and thankful to the Royal family for their good response,” said Fernando, who got an opportunity to chat with King Gyanendra and Crown Prince Paras along with other Royal family members for half an hour. “I found the Royal family members — especially Crown Prince Paras — very keen to develop the football in Nepal,” he added.

Fernando also said that he was planning to invite Crown Prince Paras to Sri Lanka during next year’s South Asian Games to be held in Colombo. “I will ask the Sri Lankan government to officially invite Crown Prince, and I am sure that he will accept the invitation provided he is free at that time,” he said.

“I always wanted to invite Crown Prince to Sri Lanka and SA Games will be a perfect opportunity to invite him to give away gold medals to the winners,” he added. Fernando said that Nepal was about to get the second phase of Goal Project in near future. “After completing the first phase, ANFA is about to get approval for the second one, which will have budgets for bigger training centres in two venues,” he said. ANFA built three Technical Centres — one each in Lalitpur, Dharan and Bhairahawa — in the first phase. “We will meet in Zurich on November 7 and hopefully Nepal will be selected for one of the 15 to 20 countries to receive the project,” said Fernando, adding some 30 countries have claimed for the project.

Fernando, a lawyer by profession and a successful businessman, also said that Nepal was being considered as the co-host for the next year’s AFC Challenge Cup. “Ganesh (Thapa) has asked for my support and he will get serious consideration from our part. Most probably Nepal and Bangladesh will host the tournament jointly,” he added. AFC Executive Committee meeting in Colombo on November 28 will take the final decision.