What old newspapers reveal about Kathmandu’s World Cup fever in the 80s and 90s

A look at how newspapers chronicled football fever in Kathmandu before the internet age—from Maradona heartbreak and excitement over NTV to fears of loadshedding.

“Thank you for the nice coverage to the preparations for the ensuing World Cup football in Mexico,” writes Lalit Shrestha from Chhetrapati, Kathmandu in a letter to the editor titled “Mexico ‘86” to The Rising Nepal (TRN) on May 27, 1986. “The news about the different teams, their aspirations, strengths and weaknesses that appear almost daily in your paper are also informative. However, we also hope that you will maintain the coverage also when the games actually start on May 31. As we do not own any TV sets, we have pinned all our hopes on TRN.”