A 17-member Nepali national futsal team is all set to leave for Misiones, Argentina, on Thursday to compete in the 12th Futsal World Championships slated for March 31 to April 7.

It will be the first occasion that a Nepali team, governed by Nepal Futsal Association (NFA), will be participating at the World Championship. In the 16-team tournament, Nepal are drawn in Group ‘D’ with Canada, France and Catalonia. Nepal are scheduled to play their first match against Canada on April 1, Catalonia the following day before wrapping up their group campaign with a match against France on April 3.

Samir Jung Karki will captain the team comprising of 12 players. Kamal Bista is the team coach while NFA Vice President Santosh Parajuli is the head of the delegates and Rajendra Thapa Magar the assistant coach. Govinda Raj Paudyal is the team manager and Sanjay Legal is accompanying the team as referee.

Bista said the Nepali players were picked up through open selection two months earlier in Kathmandu. “The team had been training ever since and we are hopeful of pulling good results,” said Thapa adding that they trained at the artificial turf instead of standard wooden floor due to lack of infrastructure.

Nepal’s head of delegates Parajuli said they were granted wild card entry after finishing runners-up in the Asian Championships in Pakistan in December last year. “Our target is to make it to quarter-final rounds as one of the two top teams of the group. We expect to Canada,” said Parajuli.

Brazil, Argentina, France, Russia, South Africa, Pakistan, Australia, Bolivia, Cambodia, Italy are among the other teams to compete in the tournament. NFA is registered at the National Sports Council (NSC) but does not require affiliation with FIFA or All Nepal Football Association as it has its own world body Association Mundial de Futsal (AMF).