Sabitra Bhandari

Sabitra Bhandari (Nepali: साबित्रा भण्डारी), popularly known as Samba,^[1][2] is a Nepalese professional football player who plays as a forward for A-League club Wellington Phoenix FC and captains Nepal women's national team.

Sabitra Bhandari

Bhandari in 2019
Personal information
Full name	Sabitra Bhandari
Date of birth	(1996-05-23) 23 May 1996 (age 29)
Place of birth	Lamjung, Nepal
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Wellington Phoenix FC
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2014–2019	APF
2019	Sethu	7	(15)
2019–2020	Gokulam Kerala	7	(16)
2023	Gokulam Kerala	10	(31)
2023	Hapoel Ra'anana	4	(6)
2024–2025	Guingamp	29	(7)
2025–	Wellington Phoenix	0	(0)
International career‡
2014–	Nepal	60	(66)
Medal record Women's football Representing    Nepal South Asian Games 2016 India 2022 Nepal SAFF Women's Championship Runner-up 2019 Nepal Runner-up 2022 Nepal Runner-up 2024 Nepal WAFF Women's Championship Runner-up 2024 Saudi Arabia
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 3 June 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 6 July 2025

She is the all-time highest goal scorer in Nepalese football history and broke record as the highest woman goal scorer in South Asia with 53 goals^[3]. She made history by being the first Nepalese player to play and score in top tier European league.^[4]. She is also first ever South Asian player to score hattrick in top tier European League.^[5][6]

Career

At club level, Bhandari played for APF Club. Bhandari made into Nepal national team for the 2014 South Asian Football Federation Championship and made her international debut against Bhutan, coming off the bench and sealing an 8–0 victory as a 17-year-old.^[7]

Sethu FC

She joined Indian Women's League side Sethu FC for the 2018-19 Indian Women's League season.^[8][9][10] In her debut match she scored 4 goals for the club against Manipur Police Sports Club on 6 May 2019. She was also awarded with women of the match in her first match with Sethu FC.

She scored in average of two goals a game during her time in India, leading Sethu FC to winning Indian Women’s League title.^[11][12]

Gokulam Kerala FC

Bhandari joined Gokulam Kerala FC for the 2019–2020 season, and eventually won the League championship title and was the league top scorer with 16 goals.

After joining Gokulam Kerala FC again for the 2023 season, she continued her phenomenal prolificacy, managing league top scorer 31 goals, including five hat-tricks, to fire her club to league glory.

This lead her to lifting her third Indian Women’s League trophy.^[13]

Hapoel Ra'anana

In June 2023, Bhandari joined Israeli club Hapoel Ra'anana^[14] with the announcement receiving over 800 comments and thousands of views while the Israeli embassy in Kathmandu invited her to congratulate her personally.^[15] Bhandari made her club debut in August, playing in a cup match against Maccabi Kishronot Hadera, scoring a 90th minute goal in a 2–0 win.^[16][17] She opened the 2024–25 Ligat Nashim season well, scoring all 4 goals in a 4–0 victory over Ramat HaSharon.^[18] She also scored in her second match, a 1–1 draw against Hapoel Petah Tikva.^[19] Afterwards she scored an injury time equaliser against last season's runner-up Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem.^[20] Following the 7 October attack, Bhandari's spell was cut short^[21][22] after scoring six goals in four league games as well as one goal in three cup matches.^[23]

En Avant Guingamp

She made her debut on Feb 3rd, 2024 coming as a substitute on 78th minute. She scored her first goal against Lille OSC on March 2nd, 2024.In her first season, she scored 1 goal in 10 games for Guingamp.^[24]

In 2024–25 season, she scored 6 goals in 19 games making her Guingamp's top goal scorer for 2024–25 season. On March 21, 2025, Bhandari scored brace against Paris Saint-Germain FC. She also scored hattrick against AS Saint-Étienne making her first ever Nepalese and South Asian player to score hattrick in top tier league in Europe.

Wellington Phoenix

In July 2025, Wellington Phoenix announced the signing of Bhandari on a two-year contract.^[25]

International career

Bhandari represents Nepal at the international level. She participated in and even scored a goal against Bhutan at the 2014 SAFF Women's Championship. She represented the country during the 2016 South Asian Games where she scored two goals against Sri Lanka.^[26] She scored the only goal in a friendly victory against Malaysia on 17 December 2016.^[27]

Bhandari then played in Nepal's first match of the 2016 SAFF Women's Championship against Bhutan. She scored six goals as Nepal won 8–0 to open the tournament and scored 5 goals against Maldives in the 2nd group match.^[28]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by Int'l club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Sethu FC	2018–19	Indian Women's League	7	15	—		—		—		7	15
	Total		7	15	—		—		—		7	15
Gokulam Kerala	2019–20	Indian Women's League	7	16	—		—		—		7	16
	2022–23		10	31	—		—		—		10	31
	Total		17	45	—		—		—		17	45
Hapoel Ra'anana	2023–24	Liga Alef North	4	6	—		—		—		4	6
	Total		4	6	—		—		—		4	6
En Avant Guingamp	2023–24	Première Ligue	4	1	—		—		—		4	1
	2024–25		25	6	—		—		—		25	6
	Total		29	7	—		—		—		29	7
Career total			57	73	—		—		—		57	73

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Nepal	2014	-	1
	2015	-	1
	2016	-	13
	2017	-	1
	2018	-	1
	2019	-	20
	2020	-	0
	2021	-	0
	2022	-	2
	2023	-	4
	2024	-	11
	2025	-	11
Total		56	65

International goals

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	12 November 2014	Jinnah Sports Stadium, Islamabad, Pakistan	Bhutan	8–0	8–0	2014 SAFF Women's Championship
2.	13 February 2016	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Shillong, India	Sri Lanka	2–0	4–0	2016 South Asian Games
3.				3–0
4.	26 December 2016	Kanchenjunga Stadium, Siliguri, India	Bhutan	1–0	8–0	2016 SAFF Women's Championship
5.				2–0
6.				3–0
7.				5–0
8.				6–0
9.				7–0
10.	28 December 2016		Maldives	1–0	9–0
11.				2–0
12.				3–0
13.				4–0
14.				6–0
15.	2 January 2017		India	1–2	1–3
16.	11 November 2018	Thuwunna Stadium, Yangon, Myanmar	Myanmar	1–0	1–1	2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
17.	11 February 2019	Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar, India	India	1–0	2–1	2019 Women's Gold Cup
18.				2–0
19.	13 February 2019		Iran	2–0	3–0
20.				3–0
21.	12 March 2019	Sahid Rangsala, Biratnagar, Nepal	Bhutan	2–0	3–0	2019 SAFF Women's Championship
22.	16 March 2019		Bangladesh	2–0	3–0
23.	20 March 2019		Sri Lanka	3–0	4–0
24.	22 March 2019		India	1–1	1–3
25.	9 April 2019	Bahtoo Stadium, Mandalay, Myanmar	Indonesia	1–0	2–1	2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
26.				2–1
27.	8 September 2019	Central Stadium Karakol, Kyrgyzstan	Kyrgyzstan	1–0	8–2	Friendly
28.				2–0
29.				6–2
30.				7–2
31.	10 September 2019		Tajikistan	1–0	1–0
32.	12 September 2019		Uzbekistan	1–?	2–3
33.				2–?
34.	5 December 2019	Pokhara Rangasala, Pokhara, Nepal	Maldives	1–0	3–0	2019 South Asian Games
35.				2–0
36.				3–0
37.	6 September 2022	Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu, Nepal	Bhutan	1–0	4–0	2022 SAFF Women's Championship
38.				2–0
39.	16 February 2023	Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai, India	India	1–2	2–2	Friendly
40.				2–2
41.	5 April 2023	Dasarath Rangasala, Kathmandu, Nepal	Vietnam	1–4	1–5	2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
42.	13 July 2023	Bir Sherestha Shaheed Shipahi Mostafa Kamal Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh	Bangladesh	1–1	1–1	Friendly
43.	20 February 2024	King Abdullah Sports City Reserve Stadium, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia	Syria	1–0	4–1	2024 WAFF Women's Championship
44.	22 February 2024		Iraq	1–0	5–0
45.				2–0
46.				3–0
47.				4–0
48.				5–0
49.	24 February 2024		Palestine	1–0	4–0
50.				2–0
51.	27 February 2024	Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia	Lebanon	1–1	2–1
52.	24 October 2024	Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu, Nepal	Sri Lanka	2–0	6–0	2024 SAFF Women's Championship
53.	27 October 2024		India	1–1	1–1
54.	20 February 2025		Lebanon	1–0	1–0	2025 Vianet Championship
55.	23 February 2025		Myanmar	2–2	2–2
56.	29 June 2025	Milliy Stadium, Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Laos	2–0	9–0	2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
57.				4–0
58.				6–0
59.				7–0
60.	2 July 2025		Sri Lanka	2–0	8–0
61.				3–0
62.				4–0
63.	5 July 2025		Uzbekistan	1–2	3–3 (2–4 p)
64.				3–3

Honours

Sethu FC

• Indian Women's League: 2018–19

Gokulam Kerala

• Indian Women's League: 2019–20, 2022–23^[29]

Individual

• Indian Women's League Top Scorer: 2019–20, 2022–23^[30]
• Top Goal Scorer of 2016 SAFF Women's Championship,
• Best Player of Pradhansenapati International women's football tournament 2013,
• Seventh National Game Of Nepal 2013 women's football top goal scorer,
• 2019 Pulsar Sports Award woman's Player Of The year.^[31]

See also

• List of top international women's football goal scorers by country