India has been drawn alongside defending champion Bangladesh and the Maldives in the upcoming SAFF Women’s Championship, set to be played from May 24 to June 7 in Goa.

The five-time champion will host the tournament for the first time in a decade, with six teams competing for the title at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda.

SAFF Women’s Championship groups:

Group A: India, Bangladesh, Maldives

Group B: Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals, which will be played as single-leg knockouts to determine the finalists.

“The SAFF Championship will be played in Goa, which is one of the major football hubs in India. I thank the AIFF (All India Football Federation) for its cooperation in ensuring all arrangements are in place,” said Purushottam Kattel, General Secretary of the South Asian Football Federation, to Sportstar.

“We reached out to all seven FAs and finally closed in on India. All but one team — Pakistan — received clearance to travel. We are looking forward to a good tournament. Unfortunately, Pakistan did not get clearance from the government.”

The SAFF Championship will be India’s first competitive tournament since the AFC Asian Cup 2026, where it exited in the group stage. Since then, it has played friendlies against Kenya and Malawi, beating the latter in Africa.

“South Asian women’s teams have been doing well recently. India and Bangladesh played in the Asian Cup, and Nepal also came close. So, we are expecting quite competitive matches,” Kattel added.

Despite being the most successful team in the competition, India has not dominated the last two editions, with Bangladesh and Nepal contesting the finals in both 2022 and 2024.

India’s last SAFF Women’s Championship title came in 2019, when it defeated host Nepal 3-1 in the final.

Published on Apr 22, 2026