Dasarath Stadium in Kathmandu is Nepal’s biggest, with a capacity of 25,000. In 1988, 93 people died there when supporters attempted to flee a hailstorm and a crush developed in the tunnel exit because the stadium doors were locked. The ground was renovated in 1998 for the following year’s South Asian Games and again for the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup. It hosts the Nepal national team as well as various domestic clubs.
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Stories
Sepp Blatter causes a stir with his views on part-time refereeing, writes Steve Menary
When Sepp Blatter announced that referees at all World Cup finals from 2014 onwards must be full-time, he caused consternation among many ambitious match officials. “Some people say there’s not enough money to pay them, but there always seems to be plenty in the professional leagues,” said Blatter. This prompted particular concern among Germany’s part-time officials. When Blatter recently clarified his position he did not back down, insisting that German football association must “establish a system in which the referees are its employees”.
John Duerden says that despite an influx of money across the continent, clubs and governing bodies remain haphazard in their organisation
“A team that has scored just one goal in four matches has eight points. I am simply too amused to try and find an explanation to this,” said Uzbekistan’s Olympic coach Vadim Abramov of United Arab Emirates’ resurgence in the qualifying group. Amusement was not the general reaction after the worst of the wildly varying standards of professionalism in Asian football were revealed once again.
Awarding spot-kicks from open play breaks the law of cause and effect, argues Ian Plenderleith
Since being appointed manager of Iraq last August, Zico has repeatedly made it clear that his principal aim is to guide the troubled nation’s football team to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil. Despite being well positioned to lead the 2007 Asian champions to the tournament in his homeland, the 58-year-old has discovered that winning over the Iraqi media is a more complicated issue.
John Duerden on the Afghan national team who, only ten years after their reformation, nearly won their first international trophy
Comedian Jasper Carrott used to joke that he grew up thinking his favourite team as a child were actually called “Birmingham City-nil”. Kids these days could be forgiven for thinking that the adjective “war-torn” was permanently attached to Afghanistan. Yet, for a few short days in December, the nation’s football team was making different kinds of headlines.