On Wednesday, August 20, the Indian U17 women’s team will play Nepal at Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan, to kick off their SAFF U17 Women’s Championship 2025 campaign.
Four teams—Bangladesh and Bhutan being the other two—shall compete against one another in a double round-robin league under the new tournament structure, meaning each team will play six matches. After the last matchday on August 31, the team with the highest standing at the end of the table will be declared the winner.
The short turnaround time doesn’t concern India head coach Joakim Alexandersson, who only nine days ago guided the U20 team to Asian Cup qualification. Alexandersson is excited to lead the U17 team in the capital of Bhutan.
“I love coaching, so it’s not a problem for me at all. Naturally, there were a lot of emotions following the final game in Myanmar, but after we returned and I had a day off, we began anew with this group. So it’s all right,” the Swede said.
In January, the U17s started their first training session in Bengaluru. Thirteen of the 23 members of the SAFF team played for the Indian Arrows Women Juniors, who did a fantastic job in the Indian Women’s League 2, finishing as runners-up in May and earning a spot in the top division.
At the SAFF U16 Championship 2024, where India lost to Bangladesh on penalties, 14 of the 23 players had previous international experience.
“The IWL 2 was very helpful because they already knew how I wanted to attack, build up, defend, and press. Alexandersson, who also coached the Arrows team, stated, “That comprehension makes things easier here.”
While Alexandersson was busy with the U20s, the Young Tigresses trained under assistant coach Nivetha Ramadoss. Nivetha has spent a lot of time with this group and was the assistant for the U16 SAFF last year.
Even while I was overseas with the U20s, the coaching staff remained in close communication. These children are well known to Nivetha (Ramadoss). The adjustment has gone smoothly because she has been doing workouts that are similar to the ones I introduced since moving to India.
Alexandersson emphasized that the ultimate objective is to qualify for the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup in October and that this event will be an excellent preparation for the qualifiers. “We played a lot of practice matches against local clubs and boys teams too,” she stated.
“The most important thing is that the girls get valuable game time from this competition. Since we have six games here, this is an excellent opportunity to experiment with different lineups and observe how they perform in their respective roles. The players develop on and off the field as a result of the games, the travel, and the experience of remaining together as a team.
Of course, there are opportunities as well as challenges. I want to watch all 23 of the talented athletes we brought here play. The team will be put to the test as we rotate through six games,” Alexandersson stated.
As a 14-year-old midfielder, captain Julan Nongmaithem is among the team’s youngest players and is keen to make her international debut.
“We have faith. Since January, we have been training in Bengaluru. There is a lot of positivity, and we think we can win and win. “We’re ready to give it our all,” the Manipuri stated.
This SAFF competition, which has been conducted for U15, U16, and U17 players, has seen two winners: India and Bangladesh.
Coincidentally, Bhutan hosted the tournament in 2018 and 2019, and India won both occasions. India won the U15 tournament both times, defeating Bangladesh in the championship match.
According to what I understand, Bangladesh will present a significant obstacle; Nepal is also formidable, and Bhutan may have faced more difficulties, but we will battle hard. All of our opponents are respected. Making sure we play the style of football we’ve been practicing is my main priority,” Alexandersson stated.