Sagar Thapa (born 21 November 1985) is a

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

from

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

, and was until October 2015 the captain of the national team. He made his first appearance for the

Nepal national football team The Nepal national football team ( ne, नेपाल राष्ट्रिय फुटबल टोली) represents Nepal in International men's football, and is governed by the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA). A member of the As ...

in 2003. Since then, Thapa has represented his country in 50 international matches which puts him behind only Bal Gopal Maharjan and Upendra Man Singh. In October 2015, five members of the

All Nepal Football Association The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) (Nepali: अखिल नेपाल फुटबल संघ (एन्फा)) is the governing body of football in Nepal. It is responsible for the national team as well as club competitions. The or ...

, including Sagar Thapa and Sandip Rai, were arrested for

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

. He was supposed to take 5 lakhs per fixed match.

Early life

Thapa was born in the village of

Machhegaun Machhegaun (Sanskrit: मच्छेगाऊं) is a village and former Village Development Committee that is now part of Chandragiri Municipality in Kathmandu District in Province No. 3 of central Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census i ...

Kathmandu District Kathmandu District ( ne, काठमाडौं जिल्ला; Nepal Bhasa: ये: जिल्ला) is a district located in Kathmandu Valley, Bagmati Province of Nepal. It is one of the 77 districts of Nepal, covers an area of , a ...

, although he spent most of childhood in

Dharan Dharan ( ne, धरान) a sub-metropolitan city in Sunsari District of Province No. 1, Nepal, which was established as a fourth municipality in the Kingdom in 1958. It is the third most populous city in Eastern Nepal after Biratnagar and ...

and

Biratnagar Biratnagar () is a metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Province No. 1. With a population of 242,548 as per the 2011 census, it is the largest city in the province and also the headquarters of Morang district. As per the ...

. When he was in eight grade Thapa was offered a scholarship by the Daffodil School of

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Nepal, Province , subdivision_name1 ...

. In 2001 at the age of 17 Thapa joined

Friends Club 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. It a ...

. Initially he played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

but after a being offered a vacant spot in central defense Thapa made the position his own.

Career

Yeti Himalayan Sherpa Club

Thapa started his career at the

Himalayan Sherpa Club Himalayan Sherpa Club is a Nepali professional football club based in the city of Kathmandu (originally from Hattigauda), that competes in the Martyr's Memorial A-Division League, top flight of Nepali football. They play at the Dasarath Rangasa ...

. His contract expired in 2012, but his decision to leave his club was heavily scrutinized in the media. The main reason why he left was because he felt that the salary of 50,000

rupees Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, ...

per month wasn't good enough, demanding that he and other prominent Nepali footballers should be paid 1

Lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ...

(or 100,000 rupees) per month.

Manang Marshyangdi Club

Thapa captained and played for

Manang Marshyangdi Club Manang Marshyangdi Club ( ne, मनाङ मर्स्याङ्दी क्लब) is a Nepali professional football club based in Kathmandu, that competes in the Martyr's Memorial A-Division League. The club is record champion of Nepale ...

in the domestic league. He also helped

clinch A Division League in 2014. He was previously playing for

. He took the role of interim coach for

after their coach Dilkaji Gurung resigned. Nepali National Football team captain Sagar Thapa has been declared player of the year. All Nepal Football Association ( ANFA ) made such declaration amid a press conference in the Capital on Friday. On the occasion, ANFA awarded an apartment to Thapa. Receiving the award, Thapa said such honor for players have bestowed more responsibility upon them. In January 2015 Thapa announced that he was leaving Manang Marshyangdi after a dispute over his salary.

Three Star Club

Latter that month it was announced that Thapa had signed with

Three Star Club Three Star Club is a Nepali professional football club based in Patan, Lalitpur, that competes in the Qatar Airways Martyr's Memorial A-Division League, the top flight of Nepalese football. The club was previously known as the ''Laxmi Bank ...

for the upcoming 2014–15 Martyr's Memorial A-Division League. On 1 October 2015 Thapa scored his first goal for the club with a well placed free-kick in the thirty-eight minute against

Nepal Army Club Nepal Army Club, also known as Tribhuwan Army Club, is the departmental Army sporting club of Nepal and is based in Kathmandu. In cricket they play top domestic league National League Cricket, and in Prime Minister One Day Cup whereas in footba ...

. Thapa however received significant criticism in the same match as he insulted and yelled at referee

Sharwan Lama Shirvan (from fa, شروان, translit=Shirvān; az, Şirvan; Tat: ''Şirvan''), also spelled as Sharvān, Shirwan, Shervan, Sherwan and Šervān, is a historical Iranian region in the eastern Caucasus, known by this name in both pre-Islam ...

after the latter had issued Thapa a yellow card. In the aftermath Thapa was suspended two games while Nepal Army

Megh Raj KC Megh may refer to * Megh (raga), a classical Indian raga * Meghwal, a people of northwest India and Pakistan * Cyclone Megh, a cyclone in the Arabian sea that struck the island of Socotra in 2015 *Rain. another name for rain in Gujarati Gujarati ma ...

was suspended for his out burst directed at the referee. Sharwan Lama was also penalized for not properly handling the incident.

International career

Thapa made his international debut in a

2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification The qualification process for the 2004 AFC Asian Cup football competition began in March 2003. Out of the 45 AFC members, only Cambodia and the Philippines failed to enter for the tournament. Both China, the hosts and Japan, the reigning champi ...

match against

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

in 2003. Thapa became the permanent captain for his country during the

2010 AFC Challenge Cup The 2010 AFC Challenge Cup was the third edition of the tournament which was held from 16–27 February 2010 in Sri Lanka. India, the defending champions, fielded their under-23 team for this tournament in preparation for the 2010 Asian Game ...

. He is one of the most capped Nepalese footballers of all time with more than 50 appearances to his name. Perhaps his most famous moment for the national team was the last minute goal he scored from a free-kick during the

2011 SAFF Championship The 2011 South Asian Football Federation Championship, sponsored by Karbonn Mobiles and officially named Karbonn SAFF Championship 2011, was the 9th tournament of the SAFF Championship, which held in New Delhi, India. Venue It was originally sc ...

against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

that reminded many of

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...

's memorable strikes.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Nepal's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Thapa is married, with two children.

Match fixing allegations

On 14 October 2015 Thapa, along with teammates Sandip Rai,

Bikash Singh Chhetri Bikash Singh Chhetri ( ne, बिकास सिंह क्षेत्री; born 19 February 1992) is a footballer from Nepal. He played for Nepal national football team in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification and various other tournamen ...

Ritesh Thapa Ritesh Thapa ( ne, रितेश थापा; born 2 April 1986) is a former footballer from Nepal. He made his first appearance for the Nepal national football team in 2003. He played for Nepal Police Club. Club career Thapa was born in Itaha ...

and former

coach Anjan KC were arrested by the

Nepal Police Nepal Police is the national and primary law enforcement agency of Nepal. It is primarily responsible for maintaining law and order, prevention of crime and crime investigation within the jurisdiction determined by the Constitution of Nepal. ...

on suspicion that the group was responsible for match-fixing at the domestic and international level. On 19 October 2015 Thapa and the four others were banned by the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thapa, Sagar 1985 births Living people People from Kathmandu District Nepalese footballers Nepal international footballers Manang Marshyangdi Club players Three Star Club players Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Association football central defenders Sportspeople involved in betting scandals Asian Games competitors for Nepal