Friends Club
| Full name | Friends Club[1] |
|---|---|
| Founded | 16 May 1972[2] |
| Ground | Pulchowk Campus, Lalitpur, Nepal |
| Capacity | 10,000 |
| Chairman | Bishwas Bikram Shah |
| Head coach | Urjan Shrestha |
| League | Martyr's Memorial A-Division League Nepal National League (sometimes)[3] |
| 2023 | Martyr's Memorial A-Division League, 11th of 14 |
Friends Club is a Nepali professional football club from the Kopundole neighborhood of Lalitpur. The club is known for nurturing young talent of Nepalese football. Friends Club has produced more than 200 national football players to date.
Since the late 1980s, the club has implemented different training activities for women and children. The team practices on the grounds of Pulchok Campus. National players like Raju Tamang, Bharat Khawas, Sagar Thapa, Nirajan Khadka or Deepak Bhusal are products of Friends Club.
History
Friends Club was established in 1972 as a children's club with a reading-room facility in Kopundol. After a couple of years of its establishment, the club diversified its social activities with a motto of "better health through sports among the people of Kopundol". Eventually, Friends Club established itself as a well-reputed local sports club. It was since late eighties that the club started implementing various training activities for women and children. It also started a health clinic and pathology laboratory which eventually became very popular among the people of Kopundol and surrounding community. In 1996, the club toured to Bangladesh and took part in Bangabandhu Cup.[4]
Achievements
- Tribhuvan Challenge Shield (2): 1985, 1986
- Birthday Cup runner up (1): 2042 (BS)
Head coaching record
updated on 14 May 2020
| Name | Nationality | From | To | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramesh Maharjan | Nepal | 2018 | 2019 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 13 | 25 | 23.08 |
| Marcos Filipe | Brazil | 2019 | 2020 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 30.77 |
League finishes
The season-by-season performance of FC since 2000:
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| Season | League | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | A-Division | 11th |
| 2001–2002 | League not held | |
| 2003-04 | A-Division | 5th |
| 2004 | 5th | |
| 2005–2006 | 12th | |
| 2006–2007 | 7th | |
| 2008–2009 | League not held due to conflicts between ANFA and the clubs | |
| 2010 | A-Division | 8th |
| 2011 | 6th | |
| 2011–12 | National | 7th |
| 2012–13 | A-Division | 4th |
| 2013–14 | 8th | |
| 2015 | National | banned by ANFA[5] |
| 2017–2018 | No league held | |
| 2018–19 | A-Division | 11th |
| 2019–20 | 11th | |
| 2020-21 | Not held due to COVID-19 | |
| 2021–22 | 12th | |
| 2023 | 11th | |
References
- ^ "Friends draw with Satdobato as A Division League begins". All Nepal Football Association (ANFA). 19 November 2021. Archived from the original on 20 November 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
- ^ Team profile: NIBL FRIENDS CLUB (Estd 1972 AD). the-anfa.com. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- ^ Paudel, Nayak (14 January 2026). "Nepal's domestic football resurrects with National League kicking off today https://kathmandupost.com/sports/2026/01/14/nepal-s-domestic-football-resurrects-with-national-league-kicking-off-today". The Kathmandu Post. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
{{cite news}}: External link in|title= - ^ Schöggl, Hans (12 May 2016). "Bangabandhu Cup 1996/97". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- ^ "ANFA Releases First Installment Of Rs 5 Lakhs To All Nine National League Participating Teams". GoalNepal.com. 16 January 2015. Archived from the original on 17 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.