2024 SAFF U-20 Championship

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]

2024 SAFF U-20 Championship
Tournament details
Host countryNepal
Dates18–28 August 2024
Teams6 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions Bangladesh (1st title)
Runners-up   Nepal
Tournament statistics
Matches played9
Goals scored20 (2.22 per match)
Attendance10,387 (1,154 per match)
Top scorer(s)Bangladesh Mirajul Islam
(4 goals)
Best player(s)Bangladesh Mirajul Islam
Best goalkeeperBangladesh Mohammad Asif
Fair play award   Nepal
2023
2025

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

Venue

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

Lalitpur
ANFA Complex
Capacity: 6,000
2024 SAFF U-20 Championship

Participants teams

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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.

Draw

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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]

Seedings

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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

Schedule

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

Match officials

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Referees
  •   Bituraj Barua
  •   Ugyen Penjor
  •   Senthil Nathan
  •   Afsheen Naseer
  •   Shyamlal Danuwar
  •   Mohamed Jafran Athambawa
Assistant referees
  •   Md Nuruzzaman
  •   Hem Kumar Sunwar
  •   Dipesh Manohar Sawant
  •   Raeef Rauf
  •   Sahadev Shrestha
  •   Lahiru M. Jayaneththi

Players eligibility

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Players born on or after 1 January 2005 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team has to register a squad of minimum 16 and maximum 23 players.[citation needed]

Group stage

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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.

Group A

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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
Source: GSA
(H) Hosts
Sri Lanka  0–1    Nepal
Report Nirajan Dhami   23'
Attendance: 2,500
Referee: Ugyen Penjor (Bhutan)

Bangladesh  2–0  Sri Lanka
Report
Referee: Senthil Nathan (India)

Nepal    2–1  Bangladesh
Report
Attendance: 483
Referee: Afsheen Naseer (Maldives)

Group B

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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
Source: GSA
Bhutan  0–1  India
Report
  • Monirul Molla   36'
Attendance: 223
Referee: Shyamlal Danuwar (Nepal)

Maldives  1–2  Bhutan
  • Ish Aafu Mohamed Firaq   54'
Report
  • Jetsuen Dorji   21'
  • Ngawang Chopel   90'
Attendance: 73
Referee: Bituraj Barua (Bangladesh)

India  1–0  Maldives
  • Manglenthang Kipgen   90+5'
Report
Attendance: 440
Referee: Mohamed Jafran Athambawa (Sri Lanka)

Knockout stage

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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.

Bracket

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Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
25 August–ANFA Complex
 
 
    Nepal (p)1 (4)
 
28 August–ANFA Complex
 
  Bhutan1 (1)
 
    Nepal1
 
26 August–ANFA Complex
 
  Bangladesh4
 
  India1 (3)
 
 
  Bangladesh (p) 1 (4)
 

Semi-finals

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Nepal    1–1  Bhutan
Nirajan Dhami   78' Report Jetsuen Dorji   56'
Penalties
  • Ram Thapa  
  • Abinash Syangtan  
  • Semanta Thapa 
  • Jiyarat Shekh  
4–1
  •   Jetsuen Dorji
  •   Jigme Namgyel
  •   Ugyen Dorji
Referee: Senthil Nathan (India)

India  1–1  Bangladesh
  • Rickey Meetei   75'
Report
  • Asadul Molla   36'
Penalties
  • Gangte  
  • Pramveer  
  • Gwgwmsar Goyary  
  • Manjot Singh Parmar  
  • Akash Tirkey  
3–4
Attendance: 3,243
Referee: Shyamlal Danuwar (Nepal)

Final

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    Nepal1–4  Bangladesh
Report
Attendance: 3,425
Referee: Mohamed Jafran Athambawa (Sri Lanka)

Winner

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

Awards

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

Fair Play Award Best goalkeeper Most valuable player
    Nepal   Mohammad Asif[6]   Mirajul Islam[7]

Statistics

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Goalscorers

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

4 goals

3 goals

  •   Nirajan Dhami

2 goals

1 goal

Source: GSA

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Nepal to host SAFF U20 Championship". ANFA. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Kazi Md. Salahuddin Re-Elected As President". SAFF. 2 July 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  3. ^ "সাফ নিয়ে বিশাল পরিকল্পনা কাজী সালাউদ্দিনের". www.footballbangladesh.com (in Bengali). 16 September 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Magical Mirajul helps Bangladesh to maiden SAFF U-20 title". www.thedailystar.net. 28 August 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  5. ^ "সাফ অনূর্ধ্ব-২০ চ্যাম্পিয়নশিপের ড্র অনুষ্ঠিত হলো ঢাকার ইন্টার কন্টিনেন্টাল হোটেলে". www.dhakapost.com (in Bengali). 8 June 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  6. ^ "টুর্নামেন্টের তিন সেরার পুরস্কারই বাংলাদেশের ঘরে". www.somoynews.tv (in Bengali). 28 August 2024. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  7. ^ "SAFF U-20 Champs: Bangladesh creates history by winning first-ever title crushing Nepal 4-1 in final". www.unb.com.bd. 28 August 2024. Retrieved 29 August 2024.