KATHMANDU: Nepal is making preparations to play friendly football matches with Oman and Timor Leste.

Both the games will be played in Doha, Qatar in the lead-up to the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. The Qatar Football Association announced the schedule for the friendly match on Wednesday.

Accordingly, Nepal will play friendly matches against Timor Leste on May 28 and Oman on June 3.

Following the friendly matches in Qatar, the Nepali team will leave for Kuwait for AFC Asian Cup 2023 third-round qualifying games.

Nepal is in Group A also including Kuwait, Indonesia, and Jordan. The qualifying games will be held from June 8 to 14. Nepal is scheduled to play its first match against Jordan on June 8. Nepal will then play its second match against Kuwait on June 11 and another match against Indonesia on June 14.

It may be noted that the head coach of the Nepali national football team, Abdullah Almutairi, has announced a 23-member squad under the captaincy of Nawayug Shrestha.

Other players in the team are Deep Karki, Bishal Sunar, Tikendra Singh Thapa, Bikas Khawas, Bikas Tamang, Gautam Shrestha, Rajan Gurung, Shiv Gurung, Suman Aryal, Akash Budha Chhetri, Erik Bista, Nirkumar Rai, Pujan Uparkoti, Roshan Rana Magar, Santosh Tamang. , Sensehang Andambe, Sunil Bal, Suraj Thakuri, Ayush Ghalan, Darshan Gurung, George Prince Karki and Manish Dangi.