2024 SAFF U-20 Championship

2024 SAFF U-20 Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Nepal
Dates	18–28 August 2024
Teams	6 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Bangladesh (1st title)
Runners-up	Nepal
Tournament statistics
Matches played	9
Goals scored	20 (2.22 per match)
Attendance	10,387 (1,154 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Mirajul Islam (4 goals)
Best player(s)	Mirajul Islam
Best goalkeeper	Mohammad Asif
Fair play award	Nepal
← 2023 2025 →

The 2024 SAFF U-20 Championship was the 6th edition of the SAFF U-20 Championship, an international football competition for men's under-20 national teams from South Asia region, organized by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF).^[1] The tournament were played in Lalitpur, Nepal from 18–28 August 2024.^[2][3]

Bangladesh are the defending champions, who won their maiden title by defeating Nepal 4–1 goals in the final on 28 August 2024.^[4]

The all matches were played at the ANFA Complex in Lalitpur, Nepal.

Lalitpur
ANFA Complex
Capacity: 6,000
Lalitpur class=notpageimage| 2024 SAFF U-20 Championship

The following six participants were participated in the tournament.

Team	Appearances	Best performance
Bangladesh	6th	Runners-up (2017, 2019, 2022)
Bhutan	5th	Fourth place (2017, 2019)
India	6th	Champion (2019, 2022, 2023)
Maldives	6th	Third place (2019)
Nepal	6th	Champion (2015, 2017)
Sri Lanka	3rd	Group stage (2019, 2022)

•  Pakistan withdrew from the competition on 11 July 2024.

The draw ceremony of the tournament was held at Hotel InterContinental, Dhaka, Bangladesh on 8 June 2024. The seven participants were divided into two groups, A consisting of four and B of three teams.^[5]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
India    Nepal (hosts)	Maldives  Bangladesh	Bhutan  Pakistan	Sri Lanka

Group A

Pos	Team
A1	Nepal
A2	Bangladesh
A3	Pakistan
A4	Sri Lanka

Group B

Pos	Team
B1	India
B2	Maldives
B3	Bhutan

Phase	Date
Group stage	18–23 August 2024
Semi-finals	25–26 August 2024
Final	28 August 2024

Referees

Assistant referees

• Md Nuruzzaman
• Hem Kumar Sunwar
• Dipesh Manohar Sawant
• Raeef Rauf
• Sahadev Shrestha
• Lahiru M. Jayaneththi

Players born on or after 1 January 2006 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team has to register a squad of minimum 16 and maximum 23 players.^{[citation needed]}

• Times listed are UTC+05:45 Nepal Standard Time (NST).

Key to colours in group tables
	Group winners and runners-up advance to the semi-finals

Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings.

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
9. Drawing of lots.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Nepal (H)	2	2	0	0	3	1	+2	6	Qualified for Knockout stage
2	Bangladesh	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	3
3	Sri Lanka	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3	0
4	Pakistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	India	2	2	0	0	2	0	+2	6	Qualified for Knockout stage
2	Bhutan	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3
3	Maldives	2	0	0	2	1	3	−2	0

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• In the knockout stage, if a match finished goalless at the end of normal playing time, extra time would have been played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner.

	Semi-finals				Final
	25 August–ANFA Complex
	Nepal (p)	1 (4)
					28 August–ANFA Complex
	Bhutan	1 (1)
					Nepal	1
	26 August–ANFA Complex
					Bangladesh	4
	India	1 (3)
	Bangladesh (p)	1 (4)

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6th SAFF U-20 Championship 2024 Champions
Bangladesh First title

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Fair Play Award		Best goalkeeper		Most valuable player
Nepal		Mohammad Asif		Mirajul Islam[6]

There have been 20 goals scored in 9 matches, for an average of 2.22 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Source: GSA

• 2024 SAFF U-17 Championship
• 2024 SAFF Women's Championship