Nepal’s final woes continue: A look at 13 heartbreaking defeats

Nepal’s women’s football team continues to struggle in finals, unable to break its long-standing jinx. With their 13th final defeat, the elusive championship title remains out of reach.

The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) hosted the first-ever four-nation International Women’s Football Championship, featuring Myanmar, Lebanon, and Kyrgyzstan. In front of over 15,000 spectators at Dasharath Stadium on Wednesday, Nepal fell to Myanmar 2-0, once again settling for the runner-up spot.

This is not the first time Nepal has lost in a final—nor the second or third. It marks their 13th final defeat, a record rarely seen in world football. Despite hopes of finally clinching a title, Nepal failed to overcome Myanmar, which sits 48 places higher in the FIFA rankings. Two second-half goals sealed Nepal’s fate.

A history of near misses

Nepal’s women’s team has been competing internationally for nearly four decades and has shown remarkable progress in the last 15 years. However, their pattern of reaching finals only to fall short has remained unchanged.

Nepal holds the unwanted record of being the most frequent finalist in the SAFF Women’s Championship without a title. They have played in six SAFF finals and lost all of them. The trend extends to the South Asian Games (SAG), where they have lost three finals, and other tournaments like the Hero Gold Cup, Nadezhda Cup, WAFF Women’s Championship, and now the International Women’s Championship—each with one final defeat.

In total, Nepal has lost seven finals to India, two each to Bangladesh and Myanmar, and one each to Uzbekistan and Jordan.

Their most recent final appearance before this was in October 2023, when they lost 2-1 to Bangladesh in the SAFF Women’s Championship at home. Earlier, in February 2024, Nepal reached the WAFF Championship final in Saudi Arabia but lost to Jordan 5-3 in a penalty shootout.

A growing challenge from Bangladesh

While India has historically been Nepal’s biggest hurdle in South Asia, Bangladesh has emerged as another major obstacle. Nepal has now lost back-to-back SAFF finals against Bangladesh.

Nepal did manage to defeat India twice in SAFF semifinals, but Bangladesh has proven to be their new challenge. Since the SAFF Women’s Championship began in 2010 in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Nepal has lost four finals to India and two to Bangladesh.

Their past final defeats to India include 1-0 in 2010, 3-1 in 2012, 6-0 in 2014, and 3-1 in 2019. Against Bangladesh, they lost 3-1 in 2022 and 2-1 in 2024.

In SAG football, Nepal has also suffered three final defeats to India—3-1 in 2010, 4-0 in 2016, and 2-0 in 2019. Additionally, in 2019, Nepal lost to Myanmar in the Hero Women’s Gold Cup final and to Uzbekistan in the Nadezhda Cup final.

In 2023, Nepal made history by reaching the final of the WAFF Championship, but they fell to Jordan in a penalty shootout.

Another heartbreak at home

Once again, Nepal faltered in an international final on home soil. Although Myanmar is a stronger side with a higher ranking, Nepal had held them to a 2-2 draw in the group stage, raising hopes of a competitive final.

Nepal managed to contain Myanmar in the first half and even created two promising scoring chances but failed to convert. That proved costly as Myanmar took control in the second half, scoring twice while Nepal struggled to respond.

Despite the overwhelming support from thousands of home fans, Nepal’s wait for a championship title continues. The players left the pitch disappointed, while supporters were once again denied the joy of seeing Nepal lift a trophy.

Here is the table version of Nepal’s 13 final defeats: