They came, they saw, they left: The coaches Nepal couldn’t keep

Guglielmo Arena, the Swiss-Italian coach hired to modernize Nepali football, has departed the country, marking another disappointing chapter in the nation's football history. Arena, who arrived with aspirations of injecting a Pep Guardiola-inspired high-tempo, possession-based philosophy into the national squad, saw his plans dissolve following FIFA's suspension of the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) on June 24.

Arena's tenure was remarkably brief, lasting just over three weeks and encompassing only a single match, a 1-0 loss to Laos on March 31. Despite the initial defeat, he remained optimistic about the team's potential for the SAFF Championship. However, the FIFA suspension rendered further training and competition impossible, leading Arena to quietly return to Italy and decide against resuming his contract.

His exit highlights a persistent issue in Nepali football: the inability to retain foreign coaches who arrive with ambitious plans. Arena's story is a microcosm of a larger trend, where numerous tacticians have been brought in to reform the national team, only to be overwhelmed by Nepal's chronic administrative dysfunction. This cycle of hiring and premature departures has consistently hampered the development of the sport.

Tracing back to Rudi Gutendorf, the German coach who introduced modern football to Nepal in the 1980s, and his successor Jochen Figge, who led the team to its historic first gold medal at the 1984 South Asian Games, the narrative of promising foreign influence being cut short by internal issues has been a recurring theme. Arena's departure, driven by administrative turmoil, continues this unfortunate legacy.

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