2026 SAFF U-20 Championship

2026 SAFF U-20 Championship
Tournament details
Host countryMaldives
Dates23 March–8 April 2026
Teams7 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue1 (in 1 host city)
2024
2027 →

The 2026 SAFF U-20 Championship will be 8th 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). The tournament is scheduled to be played in Maldives from 23 March–4 April 2026.

Venue

The National Football Stadium in capital Malé will host all the matches.

Malé
National Football Stadium
Capacity: 11,850[1]

Participant teams

The following seven national teams will participate in the tournament.

Team Appearances Previous best performance
 Bangladesh 8th Champions (2024)
 Bhutan 7th Fourth place (2017, 2019)
 India 8th Champions (2019, 2022, 2023)
 Maldives (Host) 8th Third place (2019)
   Nepal 8th Champions (2015, 2017)
 Sri Lanka 5th Group stage (2019, 2022)
 Pakistan 2nd Runners-up (2023)

Players eligibility

Players born on or after 1 January 2007 are eligible to compete in the tournament.

Squads

The following squads were announced for the tournament.

 Bangladesh}[2]  Pakistan[3]  Maldives

1. Md Ismail Hossain Mahin (GK)
2. Chandon Roy (CM)
3. S. P. Rafiz (GK)
4. Samuel Raksam (CM)
5. Md Nahidul Islam (GK)
6. Md Kamal Merdha (CM)
7. Md Yousuf Ali (CB)
8. Nazmul Huda Faysal (CM)
9. Md Abdul Riyad Fahim (CB)
10. Ibrahim Hasib Nawaz (CM)
11. Ashikur Rahman (CB)
12. Md Mursed Ali (LW)
13. Declan Sullivan (RB)
14. Sree Sumon Soren (ST)
15. Sani Das (RFB)
16. Md Manik (FW)
17. Ihsan Habib Riduan (LFB)
18. Md Rifat Kazi (FW)
19. Sheikh Sangram (LFB)
20. Ronan Sullivan (FW)
21. Md Mithu Chowdhury (CM)
22. Md Joy Ahamed (RW)
23. Moltagim Alam Hemel (RW)

1. Zulqurnain (GK)
2. Adil Ali Khan (GK)
3. Kashif (GK)
4. Ghulam Abbas (GK)
5. Umar Javed (DF)
6. Zarib Haider (DF)
7. Majid Ali (DF)
8. Waseem Abdul Rasheed (DF)
9. Ubaid Ullah (DF)
10. Abdul Khaliq (DF)
11. Abdur Rehman (DF)
12. Aabis Raza (DF)
13. Sheraz Khalid (DF)
14. Ali Zafar (MF)
15. Zain Imran (MF)
16. Shahab Ahmed (MF)
17. Khubaib (MF)
18. Owais Ilyas (MF)
19. Junaid (MF)
20. Mansoor Khan (MF)
21. Najeeb Ullah (FW)
22. Abdul Samad (FW)
23. Sajjad Hussain (FW)
24. Abdullah (FW)
25. Faham (FW)
26. Umar Nawaz (FW)

TBD
   Nepal[4]  Sri Lanka  Bhutan[5]

1. Alik Shrestha
2. Anubhab Puri
3. Bhakta Bahadur Pariyar
4. Bijaya Uranw
5. Bigyan Khadka
6. Binayak Tharu
7. Dharbendra Kunwar (C)
8. Ganesh Pulami Magar
9. Jhon Bista
10. Nishan Raj Lawat
11. Pawan Pakhrin
12. Pemba Nurbu Bhote
13. Prashant Moktan
14. Prasun Tamang
15. Ranjit Lama
16. Rohan Moktan
17. Roshan Tamang
18. Sabin Kumar Lungeli Magar
19. Sabin Rai
20. Siddhant Khadka
21. Subash Bam
22. Sujan Basnet
23. Sujan Dangol

TBD

1. Sherab Dorji (GK)
2. Kinga Wangchuk
3. Chogyel S Sherab
4. Ugyen Dorji
5. Ngawang Yonten
6. Kuenzang D Wangchuk
7. Rinzin Dorji
8. Tashi Gyeltshen
9. Arpan Gurung
10. Sonam Dorji
11. Tandin Phuntsho
12. Tandin Tshewang
13. Namdrak Y Tshering
14. Deychog D Dorji
15. Dhendup Gyeltshen
16. Sidhanth Basnet
17. Kuenzang R Gyeltshen
18. Kelden Dorji
19. Thinley Yezer
20. Tenzin Wangchuk (GK)
21. Tandin Penjor (GK)
22. Kinley Penjor
23. Tshendu Jamtsho

 India
TBD

Draw

The draw ceremony of the tournament was held on 25 January 2026.[6]

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

Draw result

Group A
Pos Team
A1  Maldives
A2    Nepal
A3  Bhutan
A4  Sri Lanka
Group B
Pos Team
B1  Bangladesh
B2  India
B3  Pakistan

Match officials

Referees

Not determined yet

Assistant Referees

Not determined yet

Group stage

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

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Maldives (H) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to
knockout stage
2    Nepal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3  Bhutan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4  Sri Lanka 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played: 23 March 2026. Source: SAFF
(H) Hosts
Bhutan v   Nepal
Maldives v Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka v   Nepal
Bhutan v Maldives

Maldives v   Nepal
Bhutan v Sri Lanka

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Bangladesh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to
knockout stage
2  India 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3  Pakistan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played: 24 March 2026. Source: SAFF
Bangladesh v Pakistan

India v Pakistan

Bangladesh v India

Knockout stage

  • 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

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
1 April–National Football Stadium
 
 
Champion Group A
 
3 April–National Football Stadium
 
Runner-up Group B
 
Winner SF1
 
1 April–National Football Stadium
 
Winner SF2
 
Champion Group B
 
 
Runner-up Group A
 

Semi-finals

Champion Group AvRunner-up Group B
Champion Group BvRunner-up Group A

Final

Winner SF1vWinner SF2

Statistics

Goalscorers

There have been 0 goals scored in 0 matches, for an average of -nan goals per match (as of 23 March 2026).


Broadcasting

Broadcaster(s) Territory Reference
Sportzworkz
(YouTube channel)
No restricted territory 2026 SAFF U20 matches playlist on YouTube

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Stadium Maldives". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  2. ^ "The Bangladesh U20 Men's National Team has named the final squad for the SAFF U20 Championship, Maldives 2026". Facebook. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  3. ^ "The journey begins.26 players named in the Pakistan U-20 preliminary squad for the SAFF U-20 Championship". Facebook. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  4. ^ "The final squad of U-20 squad for the SAFF U-20 Championship in Maldives". Facebook. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  5. ^ "𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗨-𝟮𝟬 𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗔𝗙𝗙 𝗨-𝟮𝟬 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲". Facebook. Retrieved 21 March 2026.
  6. ^ "SAFF U20 CHAMPIONSHIP MALDIVES 2026 DRAW CEREMONY". South Asian Football Federation. Retrieved 25 January 2026.