SAFF Women's Championship History: What is the condition of which country?

SAFF Women's Championship History: What is the condition of which country?

The sixth edition of the SAFF Women's Championship is starting on 21st August at Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu. All seven countries of South Asia will participate in the championship. The championship will run until October 3rd.

The Saaf Championship is going to be held in Nepal for the second consecutive time. Earlier, the fifth edition was held in Biratnagar in March 2019. Before Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India had organized one edition each.

The main feature of the SAFF Women's Championship is that India has been the champion of all five editions so far. India has not lost a single match yet. Nepal has been runner-up four times and has been defeated once in the semi-finals. Nepal has been defeated by India for the fifth time.

Therefore, India has always been a challenge for Nepal. Nepal has not been able to beat India in SAFF. Earlier, in the final of the fifth edition held in Nepal, Nepal lost to India 3-1.

In the fourth edition, Kumar Thapa, who was the coach when Nepal lost to India in the semi-finals, is the coach this time. He has also selected the final team of 23 people. Nepal will start the championship by playing against Bhutan on August 21.

Nepal's goal is to beat India for the first time in SAFF and win the title for the first time.

Seven South Asian nations have been playing in the SAFF Women's Championship. Afghanistan also competed from 2010 to 2016.

India has won 22 matches out of 23 matches played so far in 5 editions. One game was tied. While scoring 138 goals, only 6 goals have been conceded. Nepal has also played 23 matches. In which 18 matches were won and 5 matches were lost. Nepal scored 102 goals and conceded 17 goals.

Bhutan has so far not won a single match while playing 14 matches in five editions, losing 13 matches and drawing one match. Bhutan has conceded 77 goals while scoring only 3 goals.

First Edition (2010) : Bangladesh

The SAFF Women's Championship started in 2010 under the organization of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). Eight nations participated in the championship held at the Cox's Bazar Stadium in Bangladesh from December 12 to 24.

India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan were in Group 'A' and Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Maldives were in Group 'B'. From Group A, India won all three matches and Bangladesh won two matches to become the group runners-up and reached the semi-finals.

From Group B, Nepal won three matches and Pakistan won two matches to become group runners-up and reached the semi-finals.

In the semi-finals, India defeated Pakistan 8-0 and Nepal defeated Bangladesh 3-0 to enter the final. The exciting thing was that Nepal and India had not conceded a goal until they reached the final.

From the group stage to the semi-finals, India scored 39 goals and Nepal scored 34 goals.

In the final, India defeated Nepal 1-0 to win the title of the first edition. Nepal conceded only one goal and had to settle for runners-up. Sasmita Mallick scored a goal in the 65th minute to make India champions.

India's Bala Devi and Sasmita Mallick scored the highest 11 goals in the first edition. Similarly, Bala Devi became an excellent player.

Second Edition (2012) : Sri Lanka

All the eight nations also participated in the second edition which was held from September 7 to 16 at the CR & FC ground in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In which India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan were in Group 'A' while Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Maldives were in Group 'B'.

From Group A, India won all three matches and Sri Lanka won two matches to become runners-up and reached the semi-finals.

Similarly, from Group B, Nepal won all 3 matches and reached the semi-finals as group winners and Afghanistan as runners-up with one win and one draw.

Sri Lanka and Afghanistan reached the semi-finals for the first time in this edition.

India conceded 19 goals in the group stage. Nepal conceded one goal while scoring 20 goals and Afghanistan scored a goal in Nepal's post.

India defeated Afghanistan 11-0 in the semi-finals, while Nepal defeated Sri Lanka 3-0.

For the second time, Nepal and India met in the final. Deepa Adhikari gave Nepal the lead in the third minute of the final match. But India's Supriya Routray equalized in the eighth minute. After the first half was tied at 1-1, India scored two goals in the second half. Bembem Devi scored in the 66th minute and Kamala Devi scored in the 83rd minute to make India champions for the second time in a row.

Nepal's Jumana Gurung became the top scorer in the championship with 8 goals. India's Yumnam Kamala Devi was declared the best player.

India conceded 1 goal out of a total of 33 goals in the championship. Nepal scored 4 goals out of a total of 24 goals.

Third Edition (2014) : Pakistan

The third edition of the SAFF Women's Championship was held from November 11 to 21 at the Jinnah Sports Stadium in Islamabad, Pakistan. Where India became the champion for the third consecutive time and scored a hat-trick on the title. Nepal became the runner-up for the third consecutive time.

India, Bangladesh, Maldives and Afghanistan were in Group 'A' while Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bhutan were in Group 'B'.

India won all three matches in Group A and entered the semi-finals as group winners and Bangladesh won two matches as group runners-up.

Similarly, from group B, Nepal became the group winner by winning three games and Sri Lanka became the runner-up by winning two games and reached the semi-finals.

In the semi-finals, India defeated Sri Lanka 5-0 and Nepal defeated Bangladesh 1-0 to reach the final.

While reaching the final, Nepal scored 14 goals and did not concede any goals. India conceded 1 goal out of a total of 30 goals.

It was expected that Nepal would give a tough match to India in the final. But contrary to expectations, when India defeated Nepal 6-0 and won the title for the third time in a row, Nepal was forced to settle for the runner-up position for the third time.

India's Bala Devi scored the highest 16 goals while Bangladesh's Sabina Khatun became the best player.

Savitra Bhandari 'Samba'

From this edition, the Nepali goal machine Savitra Bhandari 'Samba' emerged. She also scored a goal on her debut while playing the first match against Bhutan. At present, Samba has become Nepal's top scorer as well as South Asia's best striker. She has also played in the Women's League of India.

4th Edition (2016) : India

The three-time winner held its fourth edition in India. For the first time, 7 teams participated in the championship held in Siliguri from December 26, 2016 to January 4, 2017. Pakistan did not participate this time. The remaining 7 teams participated in the competition for the fourth consecutive time.

While India became the champion for the fourth time in a row, Nepal did not reach the final for the first time. Nepal lost to India in the semi-final, while Bangladesh reached the final for the first time. In this edition, Bangladesh even managed to stop India in a draw.

Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan were in Group 'A' and India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were in Group 'B'. Nepal won three games and reached the semi-finals as group winners and Maldives won two games.

Although Bangladesh and India scored 4 points from Group B, Bangladesh won the group on the basis of goal difference and India became the runner-up.

As Bangladesh won the group, Nepal had to play against India in the semi-finals. It was both an opportunity and a challenge for Nepal. If they beat India in the semi-finals, there was a high chance of becoming champions

In the semi-final, Nepal lost to India 3-1. Kamaladevi, Indumathi Kathiseran and Sasmita Mallik scored goals for India while Savitra Bhandari scored a goal for Nepal.

In the other semi-final, Bangladesh defeated Maldives 6-0 to secure the title meeting with India. But in the final, India defeated Bangladesh 3-1 and won the title for the fourth time in a row.

Nepal's Savitra Bhandari scored the most 12 goals in the championship. India's Indumati was declared the best player.

Fifth Edition (2019): Nepal

The SAFF Women's Championship was held in Nepal for the first time in 2019, almost 9 years after its inception. The fifth edition was held in Biratnagar, Nepal from March 12 to 22. If Pakistan did not participate this time too, Afghanistan would have left SAFF. So this time only 6 teams participated.

Along with hosts Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan were in Group 'A' and former champions India, Sri Lanka and Maldives were in Group 'B'. Nepal won both the matches and became the winner of Group 'A' and Bangladesh won one match and became the winner of Group 'B' to reach the semi-finals. Bhutan was defeated in both the matches.

Similarly, in group 'B', India became the group winner by winning both matches and Sri Lanka became the group runner-up by winning one match and reached the semi-finals, while Maldives was defeated in both matches.

In the group stage, Nepal scored 6 goals and India scored 11 goals.

In the semi-finals, Nepal defeated Sri Lanka and India defeated Bangladesh by 4-0 to enter the final.

Nepal could not beat India despite having full support from home ground and spectators. Both teams had not conceded a goal before the final and the game was expected to be competitive. But the result was 3-1 in favor of India. Dalima Chhibbar scored a goal in the 26th minute to give India the lead, while Savitra Bhandari scored a goal in the 33rd minute to bring Nepal back into the game.

But India added two more goals in the second half. Dangmai Grace scored in the 63rd minute and Anju Tamang in the 78th minute.

India scored a total of 18 goals in the championship and conceded only one goal in the final. Nepal conceded 3 goals out of 11 goals and conceded all goals in the final.

India's Indumathi Kathiresan and Nepal's Savitra scored 4 goals in the championship. Dangmai Grace of India was declared the best player.