# SAFF U-20 Championship

The SAFF U-18/U-19/U-20 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. The tournaments are held just before AFC U-19 Championship qualification matches, keeping in mind about proper preparation for that.

## Results
### U18 Category

| Year | Host | Final | Final | Final | Third place match/Semi-finalists | Third place match/Semi-finalists | Third place match/Semi-finalists |
| Year | Host | Champion | Score | Runner-up | Third place | Score | Fourth place |
| 2017 Details | Bhutan | Nepal | RR | Bangladesh | India | RR | Bhutan |
| 2019 Details | Nepal | India | 2–1 | Bangladesh | Maldives | 1–0 | Bhutan |

### U19 Category

| Year | Host | Final | Final | Final | Third place match/Semi-finalists | Third place match/Semi-finalists | Third place match/Semi-finalists |
| Year | Host | Champion | Score | Runner-up | Third place | Score | Fourth place |
| 2015 Details | Nepal | Nepal | 1–1 (5–4 p) | India | Afghanistan and Bangladesh | Afghanistan and Bangladesh | Afghanistan and Bangladesh |
| 2023 Details | Nepal | India | 3–0 | Pakistan | Bhutan and Nepal | Bhutan and Nepal | Bhutan and Nepal |
| 2025 Details | India | | | | | | |

### U20 Category

| Year | Host | Final | Final | Final | Third place match/Semi-finalists | Third place match/Semi-finalists | Third place match/Semi-finalists |
| Year | Host | Champion | Score | Runner-up | Third place | Score | Fourth place |
| 2022 Details | India | India | 5–2 (a.e.t.) | Bangladesh | Nepal | RR | Maldives |
| 2024 Details | Nepal | Bangladesh | 4–1 | Nepal | Bhutan and India | Bhutan and India | Bhutan and India |

## Participating nations
### Legend

* 1st – Champions
* 2nd – Runners-up
* 3rd – Third place
* 4th – Fourth place
* 5th – Fifth place
* SF – Semifinals
* 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 | Total |
| Bangladesh | SF | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | GS | 1st | 6 |
| Bhutan | GS | 4th | 4th | × | SF | SF | 5 |
| India | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 1st | 1st | SF | 6 |
| Maldives | GS | 5th | 3rd | 4th | GS | GS | 6 |
| Nepal | 1st | 1st | GS | 3rd | SF | 2nd | 6 |
| Pakistan | × | × | × | × | 2nd | × | 1 |
| Sri Lanka | × | × | GS | GS | × | GS | 3 |
| Former Team ||||||||
| Afghanistan | SF | Not a SAFF member | Not a SAFF member | Not a SAFF member | Not a SAFF member | Not a SAFF member | 1 |

## Statistics
### Performance by nation

| Nation | Champions | Runners-up | Third-place | Fourth-place | Semi-Finalists |
| India | 3 (2019, 2022, 2023) | 1 (2015) | 1 (2017) | – | 1 (2024) |
| Nepal | 2 (2015, 2017) | 1 (2024) | 1 (2022) | – | 1 (2023) |
| Bangladesh | 1 (2024) | 3 (2017, 2019, 2022) | – | – | 1 (2015) |
| Pakistan | – | 1 (2023) | – | – | – |
| Maldives | – | – | 1 (2019) | 1 (2022) | – |
| Bhutan | – | – | – | 2 (2017, 2019) | 2 (2023, 2024) |
| Afghanistan* | – | – | – | – | 1 (2015) |
| Sri Lanka | – | – | – | – | – |

#### Notes

* ↑ 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.
* ↑ 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 | | India |
| 2017 | Orgyen Tshering | Jafar Iqbal | 5 | | Bhutan |
| 2019 | Ninthoinganba Meetei | Foysal Ahmed Fahim Tanvir Hossain Gurkirat Singh | 2 | | Bhutan |
| 2022 | Gurkirat Singh | Gurkirat Singh | 8 | | 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 |