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The 2023 SAFF U-16 Championship was the 8th edition of the SAFF U-16 Championship, an international football competition for men's under-17 national teams organized by South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). Its was played from 2–10 September 2023 in Thimphu, Bhutan.[1][2]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Bhutan |
| Dates | 2–10 September 2023 |
| Teams | 6 (from 1 sub-confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  India (5th title) |
| Runners-up |  Bangladesh |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 9 |
| Goals scored | 27 (3 per match) |
| Attendance | 16,475 (1,831 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Md Arbash (3 goals) |
| Best player(s) | Md Arbash |
| Best goalkeeper | Suraj Singh |
| Fair play award |  Pakistan |
← 2022 2024 → | |
India are the defending champions, who won their fifth title in 2023 by defeating Bangladesh in the final. Pakistan were given the fair play award.[3]
All matches were held at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan.[1][2]
| Thimphu | |
|---|---|
| Changlimithang Stadium | |
| Capacity: 15,000 | |
 |
|
Sri Lanka are ineligible for participation as they are suspended by FIFA.[4] Other six SAFF teams are eligible to participate.
| Team | Appearances in the SAFF U-17 Championship |
Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh | 8th | Winners (2015, 2018) |
 Bhutan | 6th | Fourth place (2017) |
| India | 8th | Winners (2013, 2017, 2019, 2022) |
 Maldives | 6th | Group stage (2011, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022) |
 Nepal | 8th | Runners-up (2013, 2017, 2019, 2022) |
| Pakistan | 4th | Winners (2011) |
Draw
The draw was held in BFF House in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 22 July 2023 at 12:00 BST (UTC+6).[5]
Draw result
- Referees
Md. Nasir Uddin
Penjor Ugyen
Kabin Byanjankar
Zaheer Hussain
Senthil N Nathan
- Assistant referees
- Sunwar Hem Kumar
- Madhav Khatri
- Bikash Sarker
Raeef Rauf- B. Nagoorkani
Players born on or after 1 January 2007 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team has to register a squad of minimum 16 players and maximum 23 players, minimum two of whom must be goalkeepers.
- Times listed are UTC+06:00 Bhutan Time.
| 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 yellots, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
- Drawing of lots.
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 6 | Qualified for Knockout stage |
| 2 | Bangladesh |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 | Nepal |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 0 |
Source: GSA
| Bangladesh | 0–1 | India |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Thoungamba Singh  75' |
| Nepal | 0–1 | Bangladesh |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Md Ashikur Rahman 47' |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pakistan |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 6 | Qualified for Knockout stage |
| 2 | Maldives |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 3 | |
| 3 | Bhutan (H) |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 0 |
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 8 September – Thimphu | ||||||
| India | 8 | |||||
| 10 September – Thimphu | ||||||
| Maldives | 0 | |||||
| India | 2 | |||||
| 8 September – Thimphu | ||||||
| Bangladesh | 0 | |||||
| Pakistan | 1 | |||||
| Bangladesh | 2 | |||||
Semi-finals
| Pakistan | 1–2 | Bangladesh |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
Final
| India | 2–0 | Bangladesh |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
| 8th SAFF U-16 Championship 2023 Champions |
|---|
 India Fifth title |
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
Goalscorers
There were 29 goals scored in 10 matches, for an average of 2.9 goals per match.
3 goals
- Md Arbash
2 goals
- Subhan Karim
- Sonam Dorji
- Airborlang Kharthangmaw
- Levis Zangminlun
1 goal
- Md Ashikur Rahman
- Md Mursed Ali
- Md Abu Sayed
- Bharat Lairenjam
- Thougngamba Singh Usham
- Vishal Yadav
- Md Kaif
- Manbha Kupar Malngiang
- Tandin Phuntsho
- Ubaidullah Khan
- Abdul Samad
- Abdul Ghani
- Mohamed Ilan Imran
- Ethan Ibrahim Zaki
1 own goal
- Ahmed Mifzal (against Pakistan)
- Kingyel Wancchuk Dorji (against Maldives)
Source: GSA
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