Nepal are contending for their first title at the under-age tournament of the South Asian Football Federation in the SAFF U19 Women’s Championship, kicking off between four teams at Pokhara Stadium on Saturday.

The visiting teams include defending champions India and Bangladesh, alongside Bhutan.

The 2024 edition of the SAFF U19 Women’s Championship, hosted by Bangladesh between the same four teams, saw India and Bangladesh crowned the joint champions after an 11-11 penalty score after a 1-1 draw, and a protest from the hosts and fans after India were initially declared the winner based on a coin toss.

Of the six under-age SAFF Women’s Championships since the inaugural U18 tournament in 2018, Bangladesh and India have won the U18 category once each in 2018 and 2022, respectively. Bangladesh were the champions in both the U20 category events in 2023 and 2025, alongside the U19 category in 2021.

Meanwhile, despite emerging victorious in five of the last six under-age SAFF Women’s events, Bangladesh head coach Peter Butler, during the pre-tournament conference of the SAFF U19 Women’s Championship in Pokhara on Friday, said he was not here for the title.

“My main priority is not to come here and win this tournament,” said Butler, who is also the head coach of the Bangladesh women’s senior team. “My main priority is to come here and continue the development pipeline, which has actually served us well over the last two years I’ve been here.”

It was under Buttler that Bangladesh won the 2024 SAFF Women’s Championship, defeating Nepal at Dasharath Stadium in October.

“Hopefully, we can do what we aim to do, which is to continue our development. And I stress the word ‘development’ as this is a development tournament,” Butler added. “And this is all geared towards moving forward for these young players onto a bigger stage, which is under-20s SAFF and AFC tournaments, and seniors.”

According to Butler, his main focus in the U19 event will be to identify and assess young players who can go and play on the bigger stage.

“I think challenges are great, that’s what development is all about. If you don’t have challenges, you don’t have hurdles, you don’t really test yourself,” he said. “We are here to do our best, and be our competitive and authentic selves. The most important thing I ask them is to be true, hardworking, competitive, and show what they can do.”

Similarly, Pamela Conti, the 43-year-old Italian who was appointed the head coach of India’s U17 women’s team around a week ago, said that she wanted her team to learn from the SAFF U19 Championship.

“Our U17 team has come here to participate in the U19 tournament,” Conti said. “But we will be giving our best against the other teams with more experienced players.”

“This tournament is important for experience for our young players so that they understand the discipline and sacrifice to stay in this tournament and improve our football like European football,” Conti said in Pokhara. “This is important for the system.”

Rather than the SAFF tournament, Conti has joined India for a bigger tournament. India’s U17 team are playing in the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup, which is taking place in April-May in China this year.

Similarly, Julan Nongmaithem, skipper of the team, said, “We are all from the U17 team, but we are confident to give our best. Our preparation is going well. We have good cooperation and support each other.”

Nonetheless, head coach Conti and skipper Nongmaithem stressed that they would try not to lose any of the matches. “I have watched some matches of Nepal, and I think they are a good team,” Conti said. “And we need to give our best to win tomorrow because the first game is always hard for everybody.”

Nepal’s head coach Suman Shrestha argued that the tournament is a good platform to test the might of the grassroots. “This tournament is important for the development of grassroots football in the women’s category,” he said.

“Though we will not be taking the tournament lightly,” continued Shrestha, “we are focusing on a bigger picture.”

However, the way the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has been rotating the coaching role for the under-age category, it does not feel that the governing body of Nepali football has taken the development of grassroots football seriously. During the 2024 SAFF U19 Women’s Championship, the head coach was Bal Gopal Sahukhala.

Shrestha said that many of the former U17 players are in his squad. Nepal’s squad has been training for over three weeks for the tournament.

“We have trained well,” Nepal’s U19 skipper Sushila KC said. “We will show our abilities on the field rather than talking here.”

On the other hand, Bhutan’s head coach Tanka Maya Ghalley said that her team comprises former U17 and U19 players alongside some new faces.

Ghalley, who was the head coach of the Bhutan team during the 2024 SAFF U19 Women’s Championship as well, said that Bhutan was investing in grassroots football for the future.

“Our grassroots football investment is not only about results, but giving opportunities for the team to inspire a new generation of women’s football in Bhutan,” said Ghalley. “So that we can have better results in the future.”

The tournament will be played in a single round-robin format, with the top two teams playing in the final for the title.