Nepal Police Club (NPC) was confirmed as winner of the A Division National Football League with a game in hand after Three Star Club held Manang Marshyangdi Club (MMC) for a 1-1 draw at the ANFA Technical Center Ground, Butwal.
MMC needed a victory to make its last match against NPC a title decider, but, despite a big chance to make it happen, its foreign player Zambo missed a penalty few minutes before the final whistle.
With the result, policemen´s 20 points became unattainable to second-placed MMC, which has 16 points. The result also confirmed NPC´s dominance in the domestic football as it is also the winner of the last three A Division Football League titles.
The A Division National League is an ambitious program of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) to develop a league with clubs from around the country competing for the title. It also means confining the extravagant A Division League among the clubs of the Kathmandu Valley.
It´s not the first national league as sports blogger Biplav Gautam pointed out at two ´national leagues´ held in 1998 and 1999. If those two events are to be taken into account, it further reinforces NPC´s dominance as the club, then known as Mahendra Police Club, had won the titles on both the occasions.
With all those league victories and dominance, NPC is however making football leagues dull contests. The continued dominance of NPC on leagues makes football fans believe other clubs merely contest for the second-spot. Although it´s hurting football, it´s not NPC´s fault. It´s the lack of strategy of other clubs that needs to be blamed.
The formula for NPC´s success is simple: discipline. NPC is a disciplined team, more so when it is not playing, and the players regularly practice, which is a part of their job. A football official said that players of other clubs neither practice regularly nor do they have fixed practice sessions. The result is seen at big events like leagues where players need to remain fit for a long time.
NPC´s coach Birat Krishna Shrestha deserves a lot of praise. He played for New Road Team for 10 years as midfielder, but was never a star.
However, as a coach he has proved his caliber grooming the players made available by the club which rarely allows him to recruit players of his choice. But he is good at identifying players´ caliber and finding their best use in the team.
Other top flight clubs have received sponsorship money which allows them to pick the players they want in their teams. With ANFA having ambitious program to include clubs from outside the valley in the national leagues, it would become harder for the Kathmandu-based clubs to remain on the top if they fail to work out a strategy to give a thrust to their competing edge.
Until then, let´s hail NPC–the best football team in the country
