The "home match" against the UAE scheduled for 24th of June under the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers will not be held in Nepal after the Dasharath stadium's standards are not met.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has written to All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) to find a neutral venue for this. AFC representatives visited the Dashrath Stadium on 20 and 21 Baisakh. After their report, AFC has sent a letter to ANFA that Dasharath Stadium is not eligible to host the tournament," ANFA General Secretary Kiran Rai told Naya Patrika.

The representative of AFC said that the surface of the ground is not level, the soil surface is not smooth, flood lights and security are not guaranteed. The AFC had given ANFA until Saturday (May 11) to correct these deficiencies and demonstrate a competitive basis. The National Sports Council (Rakhep), which has the responsibility of supervision, requested the AFC through ANFA to provide international recognition on Friday.

However, AFC sent a letter to ANFA on Saturday saying that the match will not be played at Dasharath Stadium and to find a neutral venue.

UAE, Yemen, Bahrain and Nepal are in Group H along with Nepal in the second round of World Cup Qualifiers. Only one out of four matches played by Nepal has been played at Dasharath Stadium. One home match was played in Bahrain while two matches were played in UAE and Bahrain.

Five months ago, a match against Yemen was held as part of the World Cup qualifiers at Dashrath Stadium. However, Nepal could not organize the 'home match' against Bahrain, which was supposed to be held at Dasharath Stadium . Because Nepal's ground was not level, the match went to Bahrain. ANFA General Secretary Rai said that Nepal will propose to use Saudi Arabia as a neutral venue. "We will now talk to the Saudis," he told the newspaper.

National sports council says they are unaware about the decision made by AFC.