2019 SAFF U-18 Championship

The 2019 SAFF U-18 Championship was the third edition of the SAFF U-18 Championship, an international football competition for men's under-18 national teams organized by SAFF. The tournament was hosted by Nepal from September 20 to 29 September 2019.^[1][2]

2019 SAFF U-18 Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Nepal
Dates	20–29 September
Teams	6 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	APF Stadium, Kathmandu
Final positions
Champions	India (1st title)
Runners-up	Bangladesh
Third place	Maldives
Tournament statistics
Matches played	10
Goals scored	23 (2.3 per match)
Attendance	3,900 (390 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Tanvir Hossain Foysal Ahmed Fahim Gurkirat Singh (2 goals each)
Best player(s)	Ninthoinganba Meetei
Fair play award	Bhutan
← 2017 2022 →

Nepal were the defending champions, having won both the previous editions in 2015 and 2017, however they lost in Group Stage.

Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2001 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team had to register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom had to be goalkeepers.

Participating teams

Pakistan had sent their entry for the meet and they were placed in Group A. However, due to failure to appoint a normalisation committee federation, they withdrew from the tournament.

Team	Appearances in the SAFF U-19 Championship	Previous best performance
Bangladesh	3rd	Runners-up (2017)
Bhutan	3rd	4th (2017)
India	3rd	Runners-Up (2015)
Maldives	3rd	Group Stage
Nepal (Host)	3rd	Champions (2015, 2017)
Sri Lanka	1st	–

Officials

Referees Virendha Rai (Bhutan) Mohamed Anisur Rahman (Bangladesh) Ashwin Kumar (India) Abdulla Sathir (Maldives) Kabin Byanjankar (Nepal) Ashantha Dias Ponhen Adeege (Sri Lanka)

Assistant Referees Tashi Dendup (Bhutan) Md Shafiqul Islam (Bangladesh) Sanjay E.S. (India) Zaheer Hussain (Maldives) Yunal Malla (Nepal) Dhanushka Sampath Liyanagunawardana (Sri Lanka)

Group stage

• All matches were played at Kathmandu, Nepal.^[3]
• Times listed are UTC+05:45.

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	Status
1	Bhutan	2	1	1	0	3	0	+3	4	Qualified for Knockout stage
2	Maldives	2	0	2	0	1	1	0	2
3	Nepal	2	0	1	1	1	4	−3	1

Updated to match(es) played on 24 September 2019. Source: SAFF

Nepal	1−1	Maldives
Dangi 75'	Report	Nazeem 12'

20 September 2019

15:00

APF Stadium, Kathmandu

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Mohamed Anisur Rahman (Bangladesh)

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Nepal	0−3	Bhutan
	Report	Dorji 36' Jigme 86' Sonam 90'

22 September 2019

15:00

APF Stadium, Kathmandu

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Ashwin Kumar (India)

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Maldives	0−0	Bhutan
	Report

24 September 2019

15:30

APF Stadium, Kathmandu

Attendance: 150

Referee: Ashantha Dias Ponhen Adeege (Sri Lanka)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Status
1	India	2	1	1	0	3	0	+3	4	Qualified for Knockout stage
2	Bangladesh	2	1	1	0	3	0	+3	4
3	Sri Lanka	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	0

Updated to match(es) played on 25 September 2019. Source: SAFF

Bangladesh	3–0	Sri Lanka
Tanvir 1' Morshed 76' Fahim 86'	Report

21 September 2019

15:00

APF Stadium, Kathmandu

Attendance: 500

Referee: Abdulla Sathir (Maldives)

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India	0−0	Bangladesh
	Report

23 September 2019

15:00

APF Stadium, Kathmandu

Attendance: 300

Referee: Kabin Byanjankar (Nepal)

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Sri Lanka	0−3	India
	Report	G. Singh 61', 89' A. Chetri 90+2'

25 September 2019

15:00

APF Stadium, Kathmandu

Attendance: 450

Referee: Virendha Rai (Bhutan)

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	27 September – APF Stadium, Kathmandu
	Bhutan	0
					29 September – APF Stadium, Kathmandu
	Bangladesh	4
					Bangladesh	1
	27 September – APF Stadium, Kathmandu
					India	2
	India	4
	Maldives	0
					Third place
					29 September – APF Stadium, Kathmandu
					Bhutan	0
					Maldives	1

Knockout stage

• Times listed are UTC+05:45.

Semi-finals

Bhutan	0−4	Bangladesh
	Report	Tanvir 16' Fahim 27' Maraz 32' Dipok 90+2'

27 September 2019

11:00

APF Stadium, Kathmandu

Attendance: 350

Referee: Ashantha Dias Adeege (Sri Lanka)

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India	4−0	Maldives
Gahlot 7' Rasheedh 45+1' (o.g.) M. Singh 79' Meetei 81'	Report

27 September 2019

15:00

APF Stadium, Kathmandu

Attendance: 350

Referee: Kabin Byanjankar (Nepal)

Third place match

Bhutan	0−1	Maldives
	Report	Imran 75'

29 September 2019

10:30

APF Stadium, Kathmandu

Attendance: 150

Referee: Anisur Rahman (Bangladesh)

Final

Bangladesh	1−2	India
Arafat 40'	Report	V. P. Singh 2' Rana 90+1'

29 September 2019

14:30

APF Stadium, Kathmandu

Attendance: 500

Referee: Kabin Byanjankar (Nepal)

Goalscorers

There were 23 goals scored in 10 matches, for an average of 2.3 goals per match.

2 goals

• Tanvir Hossain
• Foysal Ahmed Fahim
• Gurkirat Singh

1 goal

• Yeshi Dorji
• Kelzang Jigme
• Karma Sonam
• Maraz Hossain Opi
• Fahim Morshed
• Dipok Roy
• Yeasin Arafat
• Aman Chetri
• Ninthoinganba Meetei
• Narender Gahlot
• Manvir Singh Jr.
• Vikram Pratap Singh
• Ravi Bahandur Rana
• Hassan Nazeem
• Ibrahm Imran
• Manish Dangi

1 own goal

• Ahnaf Rasheedh (playing against India)

Winner

3rd SAFF U-18 Championship 2019
India First title

Broadcasting rights

Country	Broadcaster
Nepal (host)	MYCUJOO.TV
South Asian Countries
South-East Asian Countries