Former Captain Sagar Thapa and goalkeeper Ritesh Thapa as well as three others were arrested last month.

Police said significant sums of money were found in their bank accounts from suspected match-fixers in South East Asia.

The athletes allegedly deliberately lost a number of qualifiers.

"The government has charged the five footballers arrested last month with treason and has sought a life sentence as punishment," Bhadrakali Pokharel, registrar at the Special Court in Kathmandu, told AFP news agency.

Mr Pokharel said they were charged under a 1989 act that anyone "causing or attempting to cause disorder with the intention of jeopardising Nepal's sovereignty, integrity or national unity, shall be liable for life imprisonment".

The footballers are expected to be presented before a court on Monday.

Football's world governing body Fifa has been embroiled in a series of alleged corruption scandals in recent months.

-BBC