Kathmandu, Aug. 27 -- When FIFA suspended the All Nepal Football Association on June 24, leading to Nepal's exclusion from the SAFF Championship draw, it appeared to confirm the worst: Nepali football was completely cut off from the international stage.

This led football stakeholders, including fans, to wonder if football was dying a slow death in Nepal. After all, the country's domestic football scene has been in tatters for quite some time now. The country's A-Division football league has not been held for over three years. The National Sports Council and ANFA have been in loggerheads, which has further hamstrung the domestic scene, and which, in fact, led to the FIFA suspension. The country's football has been in free fall, with no li...