The Indian U-17 women’s football team won the SAFF U-17 Women’s Championship 2025 in the Changlimithang Stadium in Bhutan. Even though they had already won the title with one game left, they lost their last game against a tough Bangladesh team on Sunday in an exciting 4-3 contest. This was their lone loss of the tournament. The team did well, winning five games and losing one.
The last game was a fight that went back and forth from the start. Bangladesh started off well, with Purnima Marma scoring just 30 seconds into the game. This early goal was important because it was the first time India had let up a goal in the whole competition.
But India acted quickly. Anushka Kumari, who would go on to be the tournament’s best scorer, showed her brilliance by breaking into the box just nine minutes in and quietly leveling the scores by neatly getting past the goalkeeper and two defenders.
There was more activity after that. In the 34th minute, Alpi Akter put Bangladesh back in the lead, and in the 48th minute, Sauravi Prity made it 3-1.
India came back hard, even though they were behind by two goals. Pritika Barman scored one in the 65th minute with a strong effort from the right side. In the 89th minute, India’s captain Julan tied the game with a great goal from outside the box.
Bangladesh struck the knockout blow just as it looked like the game was going to end in a tie. Sauravi Prity scored her second goal of the match in injury time, giving her team a 4-3 win and giving India their first loss of the event.
The Indian team played really well throughout the event, even though they lost. Even though their streak of not allowing any goals was broken, it showed how powerful their defense was. Anushka Kumari was named the Top Goalscorer for her amazing performance, scoring eight goals in six games. She has won this award before, since she was the joint best scorer in the SAFF U-16 Women’s Championship last year. Abhista Basnett also got a well-deserved accolade: the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament award, which he won with four goals and three assists.
The team will now go back to Bengaluru to be ready for the AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers, which will be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, in October.