# 2024 SAFF U-17 Championship

The 2024 SAFF U-17 Championship was the ninth edition of the SAFF U-17 Championship, an international football competition for men's under-17 national teams organized by South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). Its played from 20–30 September 2024 in Thimphu, Bhutan.
India are the defending champions, who won their sixth title by defeating Bangladesh 2–0 goals in the final on 30 September 2024.

## Venue

All matches played at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan.
Thimphu :
| Changlimithang Stadium ||
| Capacity: 15,000 ||
| | Thimphu |

## Participating teams

The following seven teams were participated in the tournament.
| Team | Appearances in the SAFF U-17 Championship | Previous best performance |
| Bangladesh | 9th | Champion (2015, 2018) |
| Bhutan | 7th | Fourth place (2017) |
| India | 9th | Champion (2013, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023) |
| Maldives | 7th | Group stage (2011, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022) |
| Nepal | 9th | Runners-up (2013, 2017, 2019, 2022) |
| Pakistan | 5th | Champion (2011) |
| Sri Lanka | 7th | Semi-finals (2022) |

## Draw

The draw ceremony of the tournament was held in Hotel InterContinental, Dhaka, Bangladesh on 8 June 2024. The seven participants was divided into two groups which Group A consist three teams & followed by Group B four teams.

### Draw

| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| India Bhutan (hosts) | Maldives Nepal | Bangladesh Pakistan | Sri Lanka |

### Draw result

Group A :
| Pos | Team |
| A1 | India |
| A2 | Maldives |
| A3 | Bangladesh |
Group B :
| Pos | Team |
| B1 | Bhutan |
| B2 | Nepal |
| B3 | Pakistan |
| B4 | Sri Lanka |

## Match officials
### Referees

* Md Symoon Hasan Sany
* Pema Tshewang
* Mrutyunjay L Amatya
* Zaheer Hussain
* Nabindra Maharjan
* Sashanka Madushanka

### Assistant referees

* Sujoy Barua
* Tshering Phuntsho
* Sourav Sarkar
* Abdulla Shathir
* Harish Karki
* Indunil Sandakelum

## Players eligibility

Players born on or after 1 January 2008 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.
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 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 6 | Qualified for Knockout stage |
| 2 | Bangladesh | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 1 | Qualified for Knockout stage |
| 3 | Maldives | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 1 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Pakistan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 7 | Qualified for Knockout stage |
| 2 | Nepal | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 6 | Qualified for Knockout stage |
| 3 | Bhutan (H) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 4 | |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 14 | −12 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage

* In the knockout stages, 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-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 28 September 2024 Thimphu | 28 September 2024 Thimphu |
| India | 4 |
| India | 4 | 30 September 2024 Thimphu | 30 September 2024 Thimphu |
| Nepal | 2 | 30 September 2024 Thimphu | 30 September 2024 Thimphu |
| Nepal | 2 | India | 2 |
| 28 September 2024 Thimphu | 28 September 2024 Thimphu | | India | 2 |
| 28 September 2024 Thimphu | 28 September 2024 Thimphu | Bangladesh | 0 |
| Pakistan | 2 (7) | Bangladesh | 0 |
| Bangladesh (p) | 2 (8) | | |

### Final
## Statistics
### Goalscorers

There were 44 goals scored in 12 matches, for an average of 3.67 goals per match.
4 goals
* Sujan Dangol
3 goals
* Hemneichung Lunkim
* Subhan Karim
2 goals
* Md Manik
* Thinley Yezer
* Tandin Phuntsho
* Vishal Yadav
* Muhammad Talha
1 goal
* Yonten Tharchen
* Karma Yeshe Thabkhe
* Sayon Lama
* Chimi Tobden Dorji
* Sonam Dorji
* Md Mursed Ali
* Mohammed Kaif
* Mohammed Arbash
* Sumit Sharma Brahmacharimayum
* Samson Ahongshangban
* Ningthou Khongjam Rishi Singh
* Mohamed Ilan Imran
* Bigyan Khadka
* Krishna Bahadur Ale
* Subash Bam
* Sharaf Khan
* Abdul Ghani
* Khobaib Khan
* M. Shahab Ahmed
* Abdul Rehman
* Mohamed Zaid Mohamed Ifham
* Zakariyya Zafarullah
1 own goal
* Mohammed Kaif (Playing against Nepal)
* Mohamed Irshad (Playing against Pakistan)
Source: GSA

## Winner

* 9th SAFF U-17 Championship 2024 Champions
* India Sixth title

## Awards

| Fair Play Award | Fair Play Award | Best Goalkeeper | Best Goalkeeper | Highest Goalscorer | Highest Goalscorer | Most Valuable Player | Most Valuable Player |
| Bhutan | Bhutan | Aheibam Suraj Singh | Aheibam Suraj Singh | Sujan Dangol | Sujan Dangol | Mohammed Arbash | Mohammed Arbash |