Urbányi to lead Maldives team in U-20 SAFF Championship

Football Association of Maldives (FAM) has announced that Senior National Football Team Head Coach István Urbányi will be guiding the Maldives' team in the Under 20 SAFF Championship.

The U20 SAFF Championship is scheduled to be held in Maldives from March 23 to April 3. FAM has now started preparing for the tournament, with a trial held to compose the Maldives' team. 

The publicly open trial saw over 150 youth players come forward. The trial was headed by youth football expert Coach Shakir Ahmed (Shaakitte') and National Team and Maziya Assistant Coach Ahmed Shuzair. 

Urbányi, who also serves as FAM's Technical Director, observed the trial. 

Urbányi, who has served even twice previously as Maldives' coach, has led Maldives youth teams to previous wins as well. 

With a deep understanding of Maldives' players psyche, Urbányi led Maldives Under 23 team to success during his second stint at Maldives' coach. 

Urbányi guided the Maldives Under 23 team to lift the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Trophy in 2012.

He first took up the post of Maldives' coach in 2009, at which time he took Maldives to the finals in the SAFF Championship held in Bangladesh. Maldives, however, lost to India's Under 23 team in the finals through a penalty shoot out. However, in the group stage, Maldives had won against that team as well. 

With all seven SAFF member teams competing, Group A consists of Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal. Group B is made up of reigning champions India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.