KATHMANDU: Forty days have passed since FIFA suspended the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA), and with the suspension still in place, uncertainty continues to surround Nepali football.

On June 25, the FIFA Council Bureau decided to suspend ANFA until further notice under Article 14 of the FIFA Statutes. As a result, ANFA has lost all membership rights granted under Article 13 of the statutes.

FIFA has made it clear that during the suspension neither ANFA representatives nor Nepali clubs can participate in any international competitions. This has put Nepal’s participation in the SAFF Championship, scheduled to begin in Dhaka on November 4, in serious doubt.

Following the suspension, national team players have begun appealing to FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation, the National Sports Council and the Government of Nepal to help lift the ban. However, the appeals themselves have revealed a clear division among the players.

In a video message released by the Nepal Football Players Association led by Bikram Lama, several prominent footballers including Sabitra Bhandari “Samba,” Deep Karki, Anjan Bista, Eric Bista, Ananta Tamang, Preeti Rai, Laken Limbu, Bimala BK, Ayush Ghalan, Rekha Paudel, Nabin Lama, Anjila Tumbappo Subba, Pooja Rana, Yogesh Gurung, Sanish Shrestha and Rohit Chand urged the concerned authorities to save Nepali football.

A few hours later, national team captain Kiran Kumar Chemjong released a separate video message. Only Preeti Rai and Rohit Chand appeared alongside him, and the clips used in that video were taken from the earlier message released by the players’ association.

The separate appeals, despite having the same objective, have once again brought to the surface the divisions within the national team.

The rift among players is not new. About eight months ago, Bikram Lama, Anjan Bista, Sanish Shrestha, Eric Bista and several other players staged a sit-in protest at the ANFA headquarters in Satdobato demanding the organization of domestic league football. At that time, captain Kiran publicly stated that it was not appropriate for active players themselves to take part in protests.

He had argued that players representing the nation should avoid such demonstrations and that the players’ association should have coordinated with ANFA officials to resolve the issue instead of taking the protest to the streets.

Responding to Kiran’s remarks, Ananta Tamang, a member of the players’ association led by Bikram, said national team players could not ignore the suffering of other footballers. He maintained that players should speak collectively for the welfare of all footballers, not only for themselves.

Since then, the distance between captain Kiran and the group led by Bikram has appeared to widen. While the Bikram group has continued campaigning for the resumption of domestic football, Kiran has largely remained silent.

The separate appeal videos released on Tuesday suggest that the divide that emerged eight months ago still persists, even as Nepali football faces one of its most uncertain periods in recent years.