The 2025 SAFF U-19 Championship was the 7th edition of the SAFF U-19 Championship, an international football competition for men's under-19 national teams from South Asia region, organized by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The tournament was played in Yupia, India from 9–18 May 2025.[1]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | India |
| Dates | 9–18 May 2025 |
| Teams | 6 (from 1 sub-confederation) |
| Venue | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  India (4th title) |
| Runners-up |  Bangladesh |
| Third place |  Maldives Nepal |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 9 |
| Goals scored | 36 (4 per match) |
| Attendance | 31,668 (3,519 per match) |
| Top scorer | Danny Meitei (5 goals) |
| Best player | Mohammed Arbas |
| Best goalkeeper | Suraj Singh Aheibam |
| Fair play award | India |
← 2024 2026 → | |
On 18 May 2025, India won their fourth title by beating Bangladesh 4–3 on penalty in the final after a 1–1 draw at the end of the regular time.[2]
Venue
editAll matches were played at Golden Jubilee Stadium in Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh, India.[3]
| Yupia | |
|---|---|
| Golden Jubilee Stadium | |
| Capacity: 15,000 | |
Participants teams
editThe following six national teams participated in the tournament.[4]
| Team | Appearances in the SAFF U-19 Championship |
Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh | 7th | Champions (2024) |
 Bhutan | 6th | Fourth place (2017, 2019) |
| India (Host) | 7th | Champions (2019, 2022, 2023) |
| Maldives | 7th | Third place (2019) |
| Nepal | 7th | Champions (2015, 2017) |
 Sri Lanka | 4th | Group stage (2019, 2022) |
Players eligibility
editEach team had to register a squad of minimum 16 and maximum 23 players. Players born on or after 1 January 2007 were eligible to compete in the tournament (as per FIFA eligibility rules of underage competitions[5]).
- Squads
Team squads
| Bangladesh[6] |
Bhutan[7] |
India[8] |
Maldives[7] |
Nepal[9] |
Sri Lanka[10] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Draw
editMatch officials
edit- Referees
- SM Jashim Akhter
- Harish Kundu (†)
- Zaheer Hussain (†)
- Nabindra Maharjan (†)
- Md Jafran Athambawa (†)
- Ugyen Penjor (†)
- Assistant Referees & Fourth Official
- Shohrab Hossain
- Sourav Sarker
- Tshering Phuntsho
- Raeef Rauf
- Prakash Bhujel
- L. Dhanushka Sampath
(†): Also performed as assistant referee in some matches.
Group stage
edit- Times listed are UTC+05:30 Indian Standard Time (IST).
| 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 yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
- Drawing of lots.
Group A
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bangladesh |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Maldives |
2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | |
| 3 | Bhutan |
2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 1 |
Source: Soccerway
| Bangladesh | 2–2 | Maldives |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Bhutan | 0–3 | Bangladesh |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Referee: Nabindra Maharjan (Nepal)
| Maldives | 2–2 | Bhutan |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
Group B
editKnockout stage
edit
Winners
edit| 7th SAFF U-19 Championship 2025 Champions |
|---|
 India Fourth title |
Statistics
editAwards
editThe following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:[2]
| Fair Play Award | Best goalkeeper | Top scorer(s) | Most valuable player | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India |
Suraj Singh Aheibam |
Danny Meitei |
Mohammed Arbas |
Broadcasting
edit| Territory | Broadcaster(s) | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| No restricted territory | Sportzworkz (YouTube channel) |
2025 SAFF U19 matches playlist on YouTube |
See also
edit| Men's | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U-17 Championship | U-19 Championship | ||||
| Women's | |||||
| U-17 Championship | U-20 Championship | Club Championship | |||
References
edit- 1 2 "Hosts India drawn with Nepal, Sri Lanka in SAFF U19 Championship 2025". All India Football Federation. 11 March 2025. Archived from the original on 18 March 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- 1 2 Rawat, Akhil (18 May 2025). "India crowned SAFF U19 champions". All India Football Federation. Archived from the original on 19 May 2025. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
- ↑ "SAFF U-19 Championship heads to Arunachal Pradesh in historic first". India Today. 7 February 2025. Archived from the original on 7 February 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ "Bibiano Fernandes names 35 probables for SAFF U19 Championship". All India Football Federation. 19 April 2025. Archived from the original on 19 April 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ "Regulations for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025 (Article 24: Eligibility)" (PDF). The Hub (FIFA). Retrieved 11 May 2025.
- ↑ "Bangladesh announce U-19 squad for upcoming SAFF". Daily Sun (Bangladesh). 6 May 2025. Archived from the original on 11 May 2025. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
- 1 2 "SAFF U19 Championship 2025, match report: Maldives vs Bhutan" (PDF). South Asian Football Federation. 13 May 2025. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 May 2025. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
- ↑ "Bibiano Fernandes' 25-member squad arrives in Arunachal Pradesh for SAFF U19 Championship". All India Football Federation. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ↑ "Final squad for SAFF U-19 Championship announced". All Nepal Football Association. 27 April 2025. Archived from the original on 1 May 2025. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
- ↑ "SAFF U19 Championship 2025, Match Report: Sri Lanka vs India" (PDF). South Asian Football Federation. 9 May 2025. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 May 2025. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
- ↑ "India put eight past Sri Lanka in perfect start to SAFF U19 campaign". All India Football Federation. 9 May 2025. Archived from the original on 9 May 2025. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
External links
edit- Official website
- 2025 SAFF U-19 Championship at GSA
- 2025 SAFF U-19 Championship at Soccerway