Kathmandu, April 19 -- On March 7, the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) proposed a league-cum-knockout tournament as a replacement for this year's A Division League. The reason for the proposal was to claim the slot provided by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to Nepal in the AFC Club Competition.

Basically, the winner of Nepal's Martyr's Memorial A Division League qualifies for the AFC Challenge League. It was under this process that Church Boys United (CBU), winner of the 2023 season, faced Bhutan's Paro FC in August last year.

However, with no league being organised in 2024 and 2025, ANFA has no club to send as Nepal's representative in the pathway to Asia's top-tier club competition.

"We decided on the league-cum-knockou...