India have been grouped alongside Korea Republic, Australia, and Uzbekistan for the 2020 AFC U-16 championship that will be played in Bahrain later this year. The Indian colts made it to the finals of the competition after topping Group B ahead of Uzbekistan, Bahrain and Turkmenistan, with a haul of seven points from three matches, while scoring 11 goals and conceding just one.

On the upcoming challenge, India's U-16 National Team Head Coach Bibiano Fernandes stated, “I don’t like to pre-empt any expectations prior to the start of the competition. At this level all the teams are tough to play against. We as a team have improved over the years. I’m sure that the boys – much like myself, are looking forward to it.”

The U-16 team find themselves with a chance to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Peru 2021 with the four semi-finalists of the AFC Championship earning direct qualification. The young guns are currently unbeaten in eight matches and will go into their second major tournament on the back of a successful SAFF U-15 Championship triumph, where they scored a whopping 28 goals. 

They head to the Championship in Bahrain on the back of some amazing results last year that saw them keep clean sheets in all five matches on their way to the SAFF U-15 Championship title.

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2020-2021