2025 SAFF U-17 Championship

2025 SAFF U-17 Championship
Tournament details
Host country	Sri Lanka
Dates	15–27 September 2025
Teams	7 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	India (7th title)
Runners-up	Bangladesh
Tournament statistics
Matches played	12
Goals scored	43 (3.58 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Muhammad Abdullah; (6 goals)
Best player	Nazmul Huda Faysal
Best goalkeeper	Md Alif Rahman
Fair play award	India
	← 2024 2026 →

The 2025 SAFF U-17 Championship was the 10th edition of the SAFF U-17 Championship, an international football competition for men's under-17 national teams organized by South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The tournament was played from 15 to 27 September 2025 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.^[1]^[2]^[3]

India are the defending champions, who won their seventh title by defeating Bangladesh (4)2–2(1) goals penalty shootout in the final on 27 September 2025.^[4]

Venue

All matches were played at the Colombo Racecourse Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Colombo	Colombo
Colombo Racecourse Stadium
Capacity: 10,000

Participating teams

The following seven teams are participated in the tournament.

Team	Appearances	Previous best performance
Bangladesh	10th	Champion (2015, 2018)
Bhutan	8th	Fourth place (2017)
India	10th	Champion (2013, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024)
Maldives	8th	Group stage (2011, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022)
Nepal	10th	Runners-up (2013, 2017, 2019, 2022)
Pakistan	6th	Champion (2011)
Sri Lanka (Host)	8th	Semi-finals (2022)

Draw

The draw ceremony of the tournament was held in Hotel InterContinental, Dhaka, Bangladesh on 20 July 2025. The seven participants was divided into two groups which Group A consist three teams & followed by Group B four teams.^[5]

Draw pot

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

Draw result

Group A
Pos	Team
A1	Sri Lanka
A2	Bangladesh
A3	Nepal

Group B
Pos	Team
B1	India
B2	Pakistan
B3	Bhutan
B4	Maldives

Match officials

The following officials were chosen for the competition by SAFF tournament committee.

Referees

Md Alamgir Sarker (†)
Pema Tshewang (†)
Ashwin Kumar (†)
Afsheen Naseer (†)
Shyam Lal Danuwar (†)
Kasun L. Weerkakkody (†)

Assistant Referees

SM Junayed Sharif
Hem Kumar Sunwar
P Muralitharan
Harish Karki
Dilawar Khan
Lahiru M Jayaneththi

Match Commissioner

Sudhir M Chembazhi
De Silva Jayasooriya

Referee Assessor

Mohamed Ameez

(†): working as both referee and assistant

Players eligibility

Players born on or after 1 January 2009 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team has to register a squad of minimum 16 players and maximum 23 players, minimum two of whom must be goalkeepers.

Group stage

Times listed are UTC+5:30 Sri Lanka Standard Time (SLST).

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.

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
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;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellows, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bangladesh	2	2	0	8	0	+8	6	Qualified for Knockout stage
2	Nepal	2	1	1	2	4	−2	3	Qualified for Knockout stage
3	Sri Lanka (H)	2	0	2	0	6	−6	0

Source: SAFF
(H) Hosts

15 September 2025

19:00

Nepal	2–0	Sri Lanka
S. Kumar 54', 90+3'	Report

Colombo Racecourse Stadium, Colombo

Attendance: 1,220

Referee: Ashwin Kumar (India)

18 September 2025

19:00

Bangladesh	4–0	Nepal
S. Islam 30' O. Rahman 49' M. Arif 50' M. Manik 65'	Report

Colombo Racecourse Stadium, Colombo

Attendance: 179

Referee: Afsheen Naseer (Maldives)

21 September 2025

19:00

Bangladesh	4–0	Sri Lanka
M. Arif 18' Rifat 48', 63', 89'	Report

Colombo Racecourse Stadium, Colombo

Attendance: 1,742

Referee: Pema Tshewang (Bhutan)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	India	3	3	0	10	2	+8	9	Qualified for Knockout stage
2	Pakistan	3	2	1	11	5	+6	6	Qualified for Knockout stage
3	Bhutan	3	1	2	1	5	−4	3
4	Maldives	3	0	3	2	12	−10	0

Source: SAFF

16 September 2025