2024 SAFF U-17 Championship explained

Tourney Name:	SAFF U-17 Championship
Year:	2024
Other Titles:	༢༠༢༤ ལོའི་SAFF U-17 འགྲན་བསྡུར།
Country:	Bhutan
Dates:	20–30 September 2024
Num Teams:	7
Sub-Confederations:	1
Venues:	1
Count:	6
Matches:	12
Goals:	44
Top Scorer:	Sujan Dangol (4 goals)
Player:	Mohamed Arbash
Goalkeeper:	Aheibam Suraj Singh
Prevseason:	2023
Nextseason:	2025
Cities:	1

The 2024 SAFF U-17 Championship was the 9th 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.^[1] ^[2]

India are the defending champions, who won their sixth title by defeating Bangladesh 2–0 goals in the final on 30 September 2024.^[3]

Venue

All matches played at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan.

Thimphu
Changlimithang Stadium
Capacity: 15,000

Participating teams

The following seven teams were participated in the tournament.

Team	Appearances in the SAFF U-17 Championship	width=39%	Previous best performance
	9th
	7th
	9th
	7th
	9th
	5th
	7th

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.^[4]

Draw result

Team
A1
A2
A3

Team
B1
B2
B3
B4

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 Bhutan Time.

TiebreakersTeams 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

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Group B