In the groupings and tie-sheet draw held in New Delhi on Wednesday, Nepal has been drawn in Group A along with India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Group B consists of defending champion Afghanistan, the Maldives, Bangladesh and Bhutan.The tournament is scheduled to be held from December 23 to January 3 at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. In the event to be held in league-cum-knockout format, Nepal is scheduled to open its campaign against Sri Lanka on December 23 and Pakistan two days later. Nepal will lock horns against host India in the last match of the group stage on December 27. The top two teams from both groups will make it to the semifinals.
So far, Nepal has reached the semifinal of the SAFF Championship three times. Those feats were achieved until the eight edition of the tournament but Nepal has never reached beyond it since the inception of the tournament in 1997 in Kathmandu. Nepal, however, has always dreamt of winning the title. Nepal currently sits at the bottom of the table in the FIFA rankings among the SAFF members. Afghanistan at 130th spot leads the rankings while Nepal is at the bottom of sub-continent at 185th position.
India is the most successful team of the sub-continent having won the championship for five times. Bangladesh, the Maldives and Afghanistan were crowned the champion once each. Afghanistan, which joined SAFF in 2005 was the champion of the last edition held in Nepal. The host Nepal bowed out 1-0 to the champions in the semifinal at home turf two years ago.
After defeating India 2-1 in its final group-stage match of the last SAFF Championship, Nepal has neither won a single international match nor scored any goals in the last nine matches. The last time Nepal played an international match was against India at Pune on August 31st and settled for a goalless draw.
With the aim of clinching the title of the upcoming SAFF Championship, Nepal has appointed former Belgium international Patrick Aussems as the head coach of the national team since September 1.
Fixtures
Group A: India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan
Dec 23 Nepal V Sri Lanka
Dec 23 India V Pakistan
Dec 25 Pakistan V Nepal
Dec 25 Sri Lanka V India
Dec 27 Sri Lanka V Pakistan
Dec 27 India V Nepal
Group B: Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh
Dec 24 Maldives V Bhutan
Dec 24 Afghanistan V Bangladesh
Dec 26 Bangladesh V Maldives
Dec 26 Bhutan V Afghanistan
Dec 28 Bhutan V Bangladesh
Dec 28 Afghanistan V Maldives
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