The 2023 SAFF U-16 Championship was the eighth edition of the

SAFF U-16 Championship The SAFF U-15/U-16/U-17 Championship is an annual international football competition contested by the national teams of the members of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The first edition was held as ''SAFF U-16 Championship'', where most ...

, an international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

competition for men's under-17 national teams organized by

South Asian Football Federation South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) is an association of the football playing nations in South Asia. Incorporated in 1997, it is a regional subsidiary of Asian Football Confederation. The members of the association are Bangladesh, Bhutan, A ...

(SAFF). Its was played from 2–10 September 2023 in

Thimphu Thimphu (; ) is the capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's '' dzongkhags'', the Thimphu District. The ancient capital city of Punakha was replac ...

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

are the defending champions, who won their fifth title in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

by defeating

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

in the final.

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

were given the fair play award.

Venue

All matches were held at the

Changlimithang Stadium Changlimithang Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan, which serves as the national stadium of Bhutan. It is predominantly used for association football, football matches and is the home of the Bhutan national football team, other ...

, Bhutan.

Teams

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

are ineligible for participation as they are suspended by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. Other six SAFF teams are eligible to participate.

Draw

The draw was held in BFF House in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

on 22 July 2023 at 12:00 BST ''(

UTC+6 UTC+06:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +06:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Bishkek, Chittagong, Dhaka, Omsk, Thimphu South Asia *Bangladesh – Bangladesh Standard Time *Bhutan � ...

)''.

Draw result

Match officials

;Referees * Md. Nasir Uddin * Penjor Ugyen * Kabin Byanjankar * Zaheer Hussain * Senthil Nathan Sekaran ;Assistant referees * Sunwar Hem Kumar * Madhav Khatri * Bikash Sarker * Raeef Rauf * B. Nagoorkani

Players eligibility

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.

Group stage

*Times listed are UTC+06:00

Bhutan Time Bhutan Time (BTT) is the time zone of Bhutan. It is six hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+06:00). Bhutan does not observe Daylight saving time. IANA time zone database The IANA time zone database contains one zone for Bhutan in the file zone.tab, which ...

. ;Tiebreakers Teams are ranked according to

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

(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 Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

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 The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

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

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Group B

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Knockout stage

Bracket

Semi-finals

Final

Winner

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Statistics

Goalscorers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:SAFF U-15 Championship

SAFF South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) is an association of the Association football, football playing nations in South Asia. Incorporated in 1997, it is a regional subsidiary of Asian Football Confederation. The members of the association are ...