SAFF U-20 Championship

The SAFF U-18/U-19/U-20 Championship or SAFF Youth Championship is a biennial 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]

SAFF U-20 Championship

Founded	2015
Region	South Asia (SAFF)
Number of teams	7
Current champions	India (4th title)
Most successful team(s)	India (4 titles)
2025 SAFF U-19 Championship

Results

Year	Category	Host		Final				Third place match/Semi-finalists
				Champion	Score	Runner-up		Third place	Score	Fourth place
2015 Details	U19	Nepal		Nepal	1–1 (5–4 p)	India		Afghanistan and  Bangladesh
2017 Details	U18	Bhutan		Nepal	RR	Bangladesh		India	RR	Bhutan
2019 Details	U18	Nepal		India	2–1	Bangladesh		Maldives	1–0	Bhutan
2022 Details	U20	India		India	5–2 (a.e.t.)	Bangladesh		Nepal	RR	Maldives
2023 Details	U19	Nepal		India	3–0	Pakistan		Bhutan and    Nepal
2024 Details	U20	Nepal		Bangladesh	4–1	Nepal		Bhutan and  India
2025 Details	U19	India		India	1–1 (4–3 p)	Bangladesh		Nepal and  Maldives

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	Total
Bangladesh	SF	2nd	2nd	2nd	GS	1st	2nd	7
Bhutan	GS	4th	4th	×	SF	SF	GS	6
India	2nd	3rd	1st	1st	1st	SF	1st	7
Maldives	GS	5th	3rd	4th	GS	GS	SF	7
Nepal	1st	1st	GS	3rd	SF	2nd	SF	7
Pakistan	×	×	×	×	2nd	×	×	1
Sri Lanka	×	×	GS	GS	×	GS	GS	4
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)	1 (2015)	1 (2017)	–	1 (2024)
Nepal	2 (2015, 2017)	1 (2024)	2 (2022, 2025)	–	1 (2023)
Bangladesh	1 (2024)	4 (2017, 2019, 2022, 2025)	–	–	1 (2015)
Pakistan	–	1 (2023)	–	–	–
Maldives	–	–	1 (2019)	1 (2022)	1 (2025)
Bhutan	–	–	–	2 (2017, 2019)	2 (2023, 2024)
Afghanistan*	–	–	–	–	1 (2015)
Sri Lanka	–	–	–	–	–

Notes

1. 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]
2. 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

See also

• SAFF Championship
• SAFF U-17 Championship
• SAFF Women's Championship
• SAFF U-20 Women's Championship
• SAFF U-17 Women's Championship