SAFF U-20 Championship
Football tournament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The SAFF U-18/U-19/U-20 Championship is an annual football championship for male footballers under the age of 20 and is organized by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The championship was held for the first time in August 2015 in Nepal.[1] The tournaments are held just before AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualification matches, keeping in mind about proper preparation for that.[2]
| Organiser(s) | SAFF |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 |
| Region | South Asia |
| Teams | |
| Related competitions | SAFF U-20 Women's Championship |
| Current champions |  Bangladesh (2nd title) |
| Most championships |  India (4 titles) |
| Website | saffederation |
 2026 SAFF U-20 Championship | |
Results
| Ed. | Year | Cat. | Host | Final | Third place playoff | No. of teams | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champion | Score | Runner-up | Third place | Score | Fourth place | |||||
| 1 | 2015 | U-19 |  Nepal |
 Nepal |
1–1 (5–4 p) |
India |
 Afghanistan and Bangladesh |
6 | ||
| 2 | 2017 | U-18 |  Bhutan |
Nepal |
RR | Bangladesh |
India |
RR | Bhutan |
5 |
| 3 | 2019 | Nepal |
India |
2–1 | Bangladesh |
 Maldives |
1–0 | Bhutan |
6 | |
| 4 | 2022 | U-20 | India |
India |
5–2 (a.e.t.) |
Bangladesh |
Nepal |
RR | Maldives |
5 |
| 5 | 2023 | U-19 | Nepal |
India |
3–0 |  Pakistan |
Bhutan and Nepal |
6 | ||
| 6 | 2024 | U-20 | Nepal |
Bangladesh |
4–1 | Nepal |
Bhutan and India |
6 | ||
| 7 | 2025 | U-19 | India |
India |
1–1 (4–3 p) |
Bangladesh |
Nepal and Maldives |
6 | ||
| 8 | 2026 | U-20 | Maldives |
Bangladesh |
0–0 (4–3 p) |
India |
Nepal and Bhutan |
7 | ||
Participating nations
- Legend
- 1st – Champions
- 2nd – Runners-up
- 3rd – Third place
- 4th – Fourth place
- 5th – Fifth place[a]
- SF – Semifinals[b]
- GS – Group stage
- q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
- — Hosts
- × – Did not enter
- • – Did not qualify
- × – Withdrew before qualification
- — Withdrew/Disqualified after qualification
- — Not part of SAFF
| Team | 2015 |
2017 |
2019 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
2026 |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh |
SF | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | GS | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 8 |
| Bhutan |
GS | 4th | 4th | × | SF | SF | GS | SF | 7 |
| India |
2nd | 3rd | 1st | 1st | 1st | SF | 1st | 2nd | 8 |
| Maldives |
GS | 5th | 3rd | 4th | GS | GS | SF | GS | 8 |
| Nepal |
1st | 1st | GS | 3rd | SF | 2nd | SF | SF | 8 |
| Pakistan |
× | × | × | × | 2nd | × | × | GS | 2 |
 Sri Lanka |
× | × | GS | GS | × | GS | GS | GS | 5 |
| Former Team | |||||||||
| Afghanistan |
SF | Not a SAFF member | 1 | ||||||
Statistics
Performance by nation
| Nation | Champions | Runners-up | Third-place | Fourth-place | Semi-Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India |
4 (2019, 2022, 2023, 2025) | 2 (2015, 2026) | 1 (2017) | – | 1 (2024) |
| Bangladesh |
2 (2024, 2026) | 4 (2017, 2019, 2022, 2025) | – | – | 1 (2015) |
| Nepal |
2 (2015, 2017) | 1 (2024) | 1 (2022) | – | 3 (2023, 2025, 2026) |
| Pakistan |
– | 1 (2023) | – | – | – |
| Maldives |
– | – | 1 (2019) | 1 (2022) | 1 (2025) |
| Bhutan |
– | – | – | 2 (2017, 2019) | 3 (2023, 2024, 2026) |
| Afghanistan* |
– | – | – | – | 1 (2015) |
| Sri Lanka |
– | – | – | – | – |
- Notes
- Format of the 2017 tournament was single round-robin between the 5 participating teams. Nepal won the title on head-to-head rule of classification.[3]
- No third-place match was held in 2015 and 2023.
Awards
| Tournament | Most Valuable Player | Top scorer(s) | Goals | Best Goalkeeper | Fair play award |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Not Awarded | Anjan Bista Bimal Magar |
3 | Not Awarded | India |
| 2017 | Orgyen Tshering |
Jafar Iqbal |
5 | Not Awarded | Bhutan |
| 2019 | Ninthoinganba Meetei |
Foysal Ahmed Fahim Tanvir Hossain Gurkirat Singh |
2 | Not Awarded | Bhutan |
| 2022 | Gurkirat Singh |
Gurkirat Singh |
8 | Not Awarded | Sri Lanka |
| 2023 | Manglenthang Kipgen |
Jigme Namgyel Gwgmsar Goyary Samir Tamang |
3 | Lionel Daryl Rymmei |
Bhutan |
| 2024 | Mirajul Islam |
Mirajul Islam |
4 | Md Asif |
Nepal |
| 2025 | Mohammed Arbas |
Danny Meitei |
5 | Suraj Singh Aheibam |
India |
| 2026 | Omang Dodum |
Mohamed Ilan Imran Omang Dodum |
3 | Md Ismail Hossain Mahin |
Maldives |