MEDIA RELEASE

The official draw ceremony of the SAFF U16 and U19 Championship 2023 was held at the Bangladesh Football Federation, conference hall, on Saturday.

The SAFF U16 Championship 2023 is scheduled to take place at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimpu, Bhutan, from September 1-10, while the SAFF U19 Championship 2033 will be held at the Dashrath Stadium in Kathmandu from September 21-30.

For both the competitions, the seeding of the teams were done as per the latest FIFA Ranking but the host teams of the both the competitions were placed as top seeded teams despite their ranking, occupying A1 or B1 positions in the groupings.

The latest FIFA ranking has:

India at 99, Maldives at 155, Nepal at 175, Bhutan at 185, Bangladesh at 189 and Pakistan at 201.

The total six teams were divided into two groups with the top teams qualifying into the semi-finals.

The official drawing was done was SAFF General Secretary Anwarul Huq and Bangladesh Football Federation Acting General Secretary Imran Hossain.

For the SAFF U16 Championship 2023, India and Bhutan were seeded in Pot1. In the same manner, Pot2 had Maldives and Nepal, while Pot3 had Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Likewise, the SAFF U19 Championship 2023 had India and Nepal in Pot1; Maldives and Bhutan in Pot2; Bangladesh and Pakistan in Pot3.

The final result of the draw was:

SAFF U16 Championship 2023 – Group A: India, Nepal, Bangladesh | Group B: Bhutan, Maldives, Pakistan.

SAFF U19 Championship 2023 – Group A: Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan | Group B: India, Bhutan, Bangladesh.