# 2015 Nepal National League

The 2015 Nepal National League also known as the RedBull National League for sponsorship reasons was the 2nd edition of Nepal National League. The winners Three Star Club received 1 Crore or 10 million rupees ($149,278 USD).
Red Bull energy drink was the main sponsor. San Miguel Beer was also a co-sponsor of the competition.
The league featured 9 teams from Kathmandu and the rest of Nepal.
The league was heavily affected by the April 2015 Nepal earthquake, with play being suspended from late April, resuming in September.

## Teams

A total of 9 teams featured in the league. The teams are Nepal Police Club, Nepal Army Club, Manang Marshyangdi Club, Nepal APF, Three Star Club, Far Western FC, Morang XI, Lumbini FC, and Jhapa XI. Machhindra Football Club, Himalayan Sherpa Club, Saraswoti Youth Club and Friends Club became unable to take part due to the ban by ANFA Makwanpur DFA were supposed to take part in the league but where disqualified for not filling out the required entries, while Sankata Boys Sports Club had earlier pulled out.

### Stadia and locations

| Club | Location | Stadiums |
| APF Club | Kathmandu | Dasarath Rangasala Stadium$^1$ ANFA Complex |
| Far Western FC | Kailali | Dhangadhi Stadium ANFA Complex$^2$ |
| Jhapa XI | Jhapa | Doma Lal Rajbanshi Stadium |
| Lumbini FC | Rupandehi | ANFA Technical Centre ANFA Complex$^2$ |
| Manang Marshyangdi Club | Kathmandu | Dasarath Rangasala Stadium$^1$ ANFA Complex |
| Morang XI | Morang | Sahid Rangsala |
| Nepal Army Club | Kathmandu | Dasarath Rangasala Stadium$^1$ ANFA Complex |
| Nepal Police Club | Kathmandu | Dasarath Rangasala Stadium$^1$ ANFA Complex |
| Three Star Club | Lalitpur | Dasarath Rangasala Stadium$^1$ ANFA Complex |
Remarks: $^1$ Dasarath Rangasala Stadium was heavily damaged due to the April 2015 Nepal earthquake. $^2$ Matches shifted to ANFA Complex due to violent protests in the region.

### Personnel and sponsoring

| Team | Coach | Captain | Shirt sponsor |
| Nepal Police Club | Birat Krishna Shrestha | Ju Manu Rai | Nepal Telecom |
| Nepal Army Club | Megraj KC | Raju Tamang | Samsung Nepal |
| Manang Marshyangdi Club | Raju Kaji Shakya | Anil Gurung | Laxmi Hyundai |
| APF Club | Krishna Thapa | Ganesh Lawati | Agni Inc. Mahindra |
| Three Star Club | Rajendra Tamang | Santosh Sahukhala | Ruslan Vodka |
| Far Western FC | Kiran Shrestha | Birendra Chand | Sudur Biscuits |
| Morang XI | Kumar Pradhan (caretaker) | Komal Khawas | Buddha Air |
| Lumbini FC | Yam Gurung | Dilip Chettri | Jagadamba Cement |
| Jhapa XI | Bhagirath Ale | Prabesh Katwal | Rum Pum |

#### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Three Star Club | Anjan KC | Mutual consent | 13 September 2015 | 5th | Rajendra Tamang | 13 September 2015 |
| Morang XI | Paras Chaudhary | Banned | 25 September 2015 | 9th | Kumar Pradhan (caretaker) | 25 September 2015 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Three Star Club (C) | 16 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 32 | 9 | +23 | 35 | 2017 AFC Cup qualifying round |
| 2 | Nepal Army Club | 16 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 38 | 6 | +32 | 33 | |
| 3 | Manang Marshyangdi Club | 16 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 29 | 9 | +20 | 31 | |
| 4 | Jhapa XI | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 23 | 13 | +10 | 27 | |
| 5 | APF Club | 16 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 29 | 25 | +4 | 23 | |
| 6 | Far Western FC | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 26 | 33 | −7 | 20 | |
| 7 | Nepal Police Club | 16 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 29 | −15 | 13 | |
| 8 | Lumbini FC | 16 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 10 | 43 | −33 | 8 | |
| 9 | Morang XI | 16 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 44 | −34 | 7 | |

## Results

| Home \ Away | APF | FWF | JHA | LUM | MMC | MOR | NAC | NPC | TSC |
| APF Club | | 3–5 | 1–2 | 5–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–3 |
| Far Western F.C. | 0–0 | | 0–2 | 4–0 | 0–6 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 |
| Jhapa XI | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 0–1 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Lumbini F.C. | 2–3 | 1–3 | 1–3 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–5 | 1–4 | 0–1 |
| Manang Marshyangdi Club | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | | 7–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Morang XI | 1–4 | 1–5 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–4 |
| Nepal Army Club | 1–0 | 7–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 7–0 | | 3–0 | 1–1 |
| Nepal Police Club | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | | 2–2 |
| Three Star Club | 4–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | |

## Season statistics
### Top goalscorers

    As of matches played on 17 October 2015.
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Nawayug Shrestha | Nepal Army Club | 14 |
| 2 | Karna Limbu | Jhapa XI | 13 |
| 3 | Ganesh Lawati | APF Club | 10 |
| 4 | Santosh Sahukhala | Three Star Club | 8 |
| 4 | Tek Bahadur Budathoki | Nepal Army Club | 8 |
| 5 | Olawale Afeez | Three Star Club | 7 |
| 6 | Anil Gurung | Manang Marshyangdi Club | 6 |
| 6 | Cedric Aba | Far Western FC | 6 |
| 6 | Jagjit Shrestha | Three Star Club | 6 |
| 6 | Ranjan Bista | APF Club | 6 |
| 7 | Bharat Khawas | Nepal Army Club | 5 |
| 7 | Binod Karki | Nepal Police Club | 5 |
| 7 | Tanka Basnet | Nepal Army Club | 5 |
| 8 | Bimal Gharti Magar | Far Western FC | 4 |
| 8 | Ju Manu Rai | Nepal Police Club | 4 |
| 9 | 10 players | 10 players | 3 |
| 10 | 19 players | 19 players | 2 |
| 11 | 34 players | 34 players | 1 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | Club | Against | Result | Date |
| Karna Limbu | Jhapa XI | Lumbini FC | 1–3 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine | 6 April 2015 |
| Cedric Aba | Far Western FC | Lumbini FC | 4–0 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine | 12 April 2015 |
| Nawayug Shrestha | Nepal Army Club | Nepal Police Club | 3–0 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine | 17 September 2015 |
| Binod Karki | Nepal Police Club | Lumbini FC | 1–4 Archived 2017-11-01 at the Wayback Machine | 24 September 2015 |
| Santosh Sahukhala | Three Star Club | Morang XI | 1–4 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine | 24 September 2015 |
| Ganesh Lawati | APF Club | Morang XI | 1–4 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine | 26 September 2015 |
| Nawayug Shrestha | Nepal Army Club | Morang XI | 7–0 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine | 4 October 2015 |
| Ganesh Lawati | APF Club | Lumbini FC | 5–1 Archived 2017-11-01 at the Wayback Machine | 8 October 2015 |
| Rawi Paswan | Manang Marshyangdi Club | Morang XI | 7–1 Archived 2017-11-04 at the Wayback Machine | 11 October 2015 |

### Own Goals

| Player | Club | Against | Date |
| Rupesh Tamang | Morang XI | Three Star Club | 25 January 2015 |
| Ritesh Thapa | Nepal Police Club | Lumbini FC | 24 September 2015 |

## Awards

All Nepal Football Association awarded the following awards for the National League season.
* Best goalkeeper : Kiran Chemjong (Three Star Club)
* Best defender : Devendra Tamang (Jhapa XI)
* Best midfielder : Bishal Rai (Manang Marshyangdi Club)
* Best forward : Nawayug Shrestha (Nepal Army Club)
* Best coach : Rajendra Tamang (Three Star Club)

## Controversy

The conditions of many stadiums has been heavily criticized as many; including the national stadium, are in poor condition.
Some Jhapa XI fans were left feeling aggrieved after the venue was moved from Chandragadhi, where there was a well maintained stadium to the Domalal Stadium in Birtamod, which is smaller but in a more central location.
It was initially decided that matches would only be played on weekends so teams had adequate rest time and venues wouldn't be overused, but the ANFA decided to revert this decision and schedule matches one after the other, which vexed many team officials and supporters. Nepal Army Club coach Megraj KC publicly criticized the cramped schedules saying that they would hurt team performances.
Jhapa XI were unable to train on a proper pitch before an away match against Nepal Police Club on 3 April. Instead of being allowed to train in the Police Club's Dasarath Stadium they were instead made to train on the Tudhikhel grounds, whose surface is composed of sand and rocks not grass and is not a proper football pitch. Jhapa coach Bhagirath Ale publicly criticized the ANFA for refusing to grant them permission to train at the national stadium, although he stated that the improper practice session would not have an effect on Jhapa's performance against the police club.

## Effects of the April earthquake and subsequent May aftershock on league play

Following the 25 April the National League was immediately suspended by the ANFA as the Country was in a State of emergency. Many of the venues were damaged. The Dasarath Rangasala Stadium, which was already in poor shape and in need of repair before the earthquake was rendered completely unplayable as it sustained severe damaged to the stands, grounds, and many of the walls surrounding the stadium collapsed. Following the quake and subsequent aftershock the vast majority of players and staff of the respective teams took time off to help, Bikram Lama spent time delivery relief supplies in Sindhupalchowk for example, and many charitable matches and tournaments were also held to raise awareness and money.
On 8 July the ANFA announced that the National League would resume in mid September.

## Prizes

The winning club will receive 1 Crore while the runners up 50 Lakhs and the third place team is set to receive 25 Lakhs. The fourth placed will get 15Lakhs and 5th place will get 7 Lakhs Coaches and players who are the recipients of individual awards will each be gifted a motorbike.