Kathmandu. Nepali national women’s football team has been eliminated from the group stage of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 qualifiers. Nepal was eliminated from the group stage after losing 4-2 to Uzbekistan in a tiebreaker in the decisive match.

In the final match of Group ‘F’, the match was decided through a tiebreaker after the scheduled 90 minutes of play ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw.

Geeta Rana and Sabita Rana Magar scored goals for Nepal in the tiebreaker. But Nepal was defeated after captain Savitra Bhandari Samba and goalkeeper Anjana Rana Magar’s shots failed.

Uzbekistan showed aggression at the start of the match and scored the first goal in the second minute. Then, in the 11th minute, Uzbekistan doubled the lead with an own goal. The Uzbek captain’s shot hit the foot of defender Samiksha Ghimire and turned into a goal.

Savitra Bhandari Samba scored for Nepal in the 24th minute. Her powerful shot from outside the box hit the net to make it 2-1.

But in the 38th minute, Uzbekistan was awarded a penalty when Nepali defender Saraswati Hamal handled the ball. On that occasion, Shoimov scored to extend Uzbekistan’s lead again.

Nepal made a comeback against Uzbekistan, which was reduced to 10 players, in the second half. Uzbek player Igrasheva was sent off after a bad tackle on Savitra towards the end of the half.

In the 71st minute, captain Samba scored her second individual goal to make the score 3-2. Two minutes later, she completed her hat-trick to tie the game at 3-3. Although there was a possibility of a historic comeback for Nepal, that dream remained unfulfilled in the tiebreaker.