Kathmandu, February 29. The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has unveiled the newly appointed coach of the Nepali national football team, Guglielmo Arena, to the media by organizing a meet and greet program on Friday.
Arena, who arrived in Nepal a week ago, was officially appointed as the head coach by the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) on Thursday.
Arena and ANFA General Secretary Kiran Rai signed the agreement on Thursday, with Rai handing over the appointment letter to Arena. Arena has been appointed as Nepal’s head coach for a one-year term.
Guglielmo, who made his first public appearance with the media on Friday, expressed his happiness at being appointed as Nepal’s coach. “I am very happy to be the new head coach of the Nepal national team,” he said at the beginning. Then, in an interaction with the media, he shared his thoughts on his plans for Nepali football.
Arena has been appointed as the head coach by ANFA for a one-year term.
He said that Nepali players have potential and the aim is to increase the number of good players. “We have studied Nepali players. There are 20-25 talented players. We want to increase that number and build a good team in the future.”
Arena’s first test match against Hong Kong
Nepal is scheduled to play the SAFF Championship in 2026, and before that, it has one match left in the third round of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. But Guglielmo Arena’s first match as Nepal’s head coach will be against Hong Kong.
Nepal is playing a friendly match against Hong Kong at its home ground, Dashath Stadium, on March 26. Nepal is going to play a friendly match against Hong Kong before the match against Laos as part of the Asian Cup qualifiers.
Arena also said that his next focus will be on the matches against Hong Kong and Laos.
“The next two games are against Hong Kong and Laos. The fans always look for results and we will try to make them happy by getting good results.” Laos also has a new coach and there have been some changes. We will play to the best of our ability,” Arena said.
He also informed that training and preparations for these games will begin next week.
After the match against Hong Kong, Nepal will play against Laos in the final match of the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Arena will also watch Nepal’s training in that match.
After that, the main tournament that Nepal will play this year is the SAFF Championship. Although Nepal has set a lot of goals to win the SAFF, it has not been able to win it yet. Reaching the final in 2022 is Nepal’s biggest achievement so far.
Therefore, no matter which new coach comes to Nepal, the goal will be to win the SAFF Championship, and that is what ANFA expects from the coach.
Technical Director Hari Khadka also said that winning the SAFF would naturally be the goal. He also said that there will be no drastic changes in football all at once.
When asked about this, Arena could not give a clear answer. “I think I will answer this question after a few weeks of work.”
How was the arena chosen?
The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) had opened applications for the head coach of the men’s football team. More than 800 players applied in the application process and the technical committee made a shortlist and finally selected Arena as the head coach, ANFA spokesperson Suresh Shah said.
ANFA Technical Director Hari Khadka said that 10 coaches were initially selected from the applicants, and from those, three were selected, and Arena was finally selected.
“There were 800 plus applications from coaches. We shortlisted 10 out of them and selected one from 3. Even when selecting a coach, everything has to be in order. Some of the coaches were high-profile,” Khadka said.
He said that while interviewing the trainers, they also considered past experience and salaries.
“After talking to three people, we selected him (Arena) based on their interests, past work experience, and salary. His contract is for one year. ANFA will take care of all his food and accommodation arrangements.”
Khadka informed that the contract is currently for one year and a decision will be made to extend it based on his performance.
Arena said that he had previously studied Nepal’s game while coaching Laos, which is why he applied to become Nepal’s coach.
Who is Guglielmo?
Guglielmo Arena, 52, born in Switzerland, is an Italian coach. He is a licensed professional coach.
Arena has experience working in leagues in various countries, including Zambia and Morocco. He also worked as a coach for the Laos U-23 team.
He speaks three languages: English, French, and Italian.
He has coached in over 300 sports in Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Arena has two decades of football coaching experience. He coached a club in Burkina Faso in 2003-4. Since then, he has coached clubs in leagues in Benin, Morocco, Singapore, Algeria, UAE, Oman, China, and other countries. He also coached the Laos U-23 football team in 2023.
Arena last coached Meghrouz de Fas in the Moroccan top division, Botolo Bro, during the 2024-25 season, when Abdelhay Ben Soltane left the club midway through the season.
Guglielmo Arena was appointed head coach of the national team by Laos in June 2023 and was also given responsibility for the Laos U-23 team. However, he did not coach any matches for the Laos national team. Arena left the Laos team in September 2023.
Source: Govindaraj Nepal-Onlinekhabar
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