Bangladesh has advanced to the tournament final after overcoming Nepal with a 1-0 result in the first semi-final of the SAFF U-20 Championship 2026.

With this win, Bangladesh will face the winner of the second semi-final between India and Bhutan in the final match to be played on Friday.

The only goal of the match was seen in the 11th minute of the first half. This was a goal scored when Bangladesh’s MD Manik headed in a ball crossed into the Nepal area by Morshed.

From the early stages, Bangladesh’s young side took control, pressing high in Nepal’s half. A minute after the opener, Ronan Sullivan appeared to have doubled the lead, but the effort was ruled out for offside.

In the second half of the match, Nepal made many efforts to equalize the score. In this regard, Nepal received a good opportunity to score in the 60th minute. Although a ball crossed into the area from a free kick was headed by Nepal’s Hadka, the ball hit the top netting of the goal. In the final moments of the match, Nepal created strong attacks.

However, the Bangladeshi defenders defended those attacks with alertness. Bangladesh won the match and secured a place in the final.

Bangladesh traveled to the semi-finals as the second team of Group B. In the group stage, the team won 2-0 against Pakistan and drew 1-1 with India.

On the other hand, Nepal came to the semi-final as the top team of Group A. Nepal had defeated Bhutan and Sri Lanka, and drew with the Maldives.