Panaji: India have been drawn with Bangladesh and Maldives in group B of the SAFF Women’s Championship 2026, after the draw held at the SAFF Secretariat in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Wednesday.Group A comprises Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. The top two teams from each group will make it to the semifinals of the tournament, which will be played in Goa from May 25 to June 7.Should any of the six teams withdraw or Nepal is handed a ban by FIFA, SAFF will go ahead with the remaining five teams. The tournament will then be held in a round-robin format – where each team plays the other once – and the team that wins the highest points will be crowned champions.This will be the second time India will host the SAFF Women’s Championship, after the 2016 edition in Siliguri, West Bengal, where the Blue Tigresses won their fourth title. It will also be the second time that Goa will stage a SAFF tournament. The men’s championship in 1999 was also held at Fatorda, where India won the title, defeating Bangladesh in the final.The seeding for the SAFF Women’s Championship draw was done in accordance with the latest FIFA women’s world rankings issued on April 21. India (69th) and Nepal (87th) were placed in Pot 1. Bangladesh (112th) and Sri Lanka (162nd) were placed in Pot 2. Bhutan (164th) and Maldives (167th) were placed in Pot 3.Meanwhile, India are among 12 countries selected by FIFA for the FIFA Women’s Development Programme (Commercial Strategy 2026). The other countries include Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Scotland, Canada, Mexico, Finland, Ghana, Jordan, Lithuania, and Paraguay.“This is the perfect time for us to grow the commercial aspect of women’s football in India,” said AIFF deputy secretary general M Satyanarayan. “The qualification of three of our women’s teams for the AFC Asian Cups shows our potential, and the ASMITA U13 Women’s Football League has helped us create the base at the youth level.“Now that the clubs will receive this kind of capacity building on developing commercial strategies, securing sponsorships, engaging fans, and much more, the whole ecosystem will benefit. I think the initiative by FIFA is excellent, and we are glad to have been selected for it. We hope that the clubs and stakeholders in women’s football will benefit from this, especially with IWL clubs coming under club licensing requirements very soon, as set by the AFC.”India’s inclusion was confirmed by FIFA after an initial application by AIFF, which was followed by a detailed presentation of the commercial strategy and future plans. The programme will be held online from May to October, 2026. The course itself will be tailored by FIFA for the various stakeholders in women’s football across the country.
