Sabitra Bhandari

Sabitra Bhandari was unveiled as the Wellington Phoenix women’s team’s fourth visa signing for the 2025-26 Ninja A-League in July.

The Nepal striker, popularly known as Samba, has been a prolific goal scorer for both club and country.

Bhandari started her senior career at APF FC in Kathmandu before moving to Sethu FC in the Indian Women’s League in 2019.

She found the back of the net more than 60 times in just 24 matches in India and secured a move to Hapoel Ra’anana in 2023.

Bhandari cut short her time in Israel as a result of the ongoing Gaza conflict and joined En Avant Guingamp in France in early 2024.

She made history in March 2024 when she scored her first goal for En Avant Guingamp and became the first Nepalese player to play and scored in a top tier European competition.

Bhandari made her senior debut for Nepal as a 17-year-old in 2014 and has gone on to become their record goal scorer.

She has found the back of the net 66 goals in 60 matches for Nepal.

> 2024-25 season

Sabitra Bhandari was En Avant Guingamp’s leading goal scorer, finding the back of the net six times.

Bhandari scored a hat-trick against AS Saint-Étienne in their final game of the season to secure a 3-2 win. She also netted twice against Paris Saint-Germain.

She continued to star for Nepal and remarkably scored three hat-tricks in three matches in the 2025 AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualification tournament.

“I am really excited to come to the Phoenix, score lots of goals and make the fans super happy,” Bhandari said.

“When I heard about the Phoenix’s ambitions for next season, it was easy for me to make the decision to join.”