The Bangladesh national under-20 football team represents Bangladesh in international youth football competitions in SAFF U-20 Championship, AFC U-20 Asian Cup and FIFA U-20 World Cup, as well as any other under-20, under-19 & under-18 international football tournaments. The team is operated under the Bangladesh Football Federation.
They have qualified for the AFC U-20 Asian Cup six previous times and is yet to qualify for FIFA U-20 World Cup. The team taken part in four editions of the SAFF U-20 Championship, and won their maiden title in 2024. Since 2022, Bangladesh U-20 began taking part in all stages of the AFC Championship. Previously, the U-19 team participated in the tournament.
History
1975−2000 After becoming affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation in 1973, the Bangladesh team were given direct entry into the 1975 AFC Youth Championship & 1977 AFC Youth Championship, although they ended both tournaments without achieving a single victory. The Bangladesh Football Federation however, failed to arrange a regular youth setup as the team did not participate during the 1974 and 1976 editions of the tournament even after acquiring AFC membership.
The 1978 AFC Youth Championship was held in Dhaka, becoming the first major football tournament held in Bangladesh. Coaches Abdur Rahim and Abdus Sadek were given the task of building the team with three months to go. However, West Germany's Werner Bickelhaupt came as the head coach of the team on the initiative of FIFA. Bickelhaupt, the first foreign football coach of Bangladesh's national team at any level, later served as the coach of the senior team as well. Bickelhaupt's team consisted of: Suhas Barua, Moinul Karim, Dewan Arefin Tutul, Abul Hossain, Sawpan Das, Mukul, Kawsar Ali, Abdus Salam, Md. Badal, Ashish Bhadra, Aslam, Hasanuzzaman Bablu, Kazi Anwar, Hasan Ahmadul Haque, Golam Rabbani Helal, Salam Murshedy, Mohammed Mohsin (captain). Standby: Abdul Halim, Majid, Ghaffer, Moni, Wahiduzzaman Pintu. The team leader was Zillur Rahman, joint manager Nabi Chowdhury and AQZ Islam Kislu and assistant coach Abdur Rahim. Bangladesh were drawn into Group C with Singapore, North Yemen, Bahrain and Kuwait. All games were held at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
Bangladesh's first match was against Singapore. A quick double from Singapore striker Donang, saw the hosts fall behind 2–0. However, goals from Ashish Bhadra and captain Mohsin meant the game finished 2–2. In the next game against North Yemen, the Bangladesh team created history by winning the game 1–0, thanks to a lone goal by striker Hassan Ahmedul Haque. However, the next match saw Bangladesh being defeated 2–0 by Kuwait, the team ended the tournament with a 1–1 draw against Bahrain, due to a penalty taken by Moshin. The draw meant Bangladesh had failed to reach the quarter-finals finishing a point behind Bahrain, even after going toe to toe with much stronger opposition. Bangladesh then took part in the 1980 AFC Youth Championship, thanks to Sheikh Aslam's goals during qualification. The team finished bottom of their group in the main tournament, having been drawn in a tough group Bangladesh managed earn points against South Korea and Qatar.
Bangladesh almost managed to qualify for the 1985 AFC Youth Championship, after finishing second in their qualifying group alongside South Korea, the team were knocked out of the qualifiers after losing 1–0 in the semi-finals to China. Bangladesh ended up losing the 3rd place match to South Korea. Bangladesh did not participate in the next two out of the five Youth Championship qualifiers, before again qualifying in 1996 after defeating Maldives 8–0 in aggregate. However, in the main tournament, the team disappointed conceding a total of twelve goals in four games, salvaging only a goalless draw against Iran.
2000−present After being unfortunate to not qualify for the 2000 AFC Youth Championship, the Bangladesh team managed to qualify for the 2002 AFC Youth Championship, held in Qatar. Nevertheless, they failed to win a single game during the entirety of the Championship. Since 2002, the Bangladesh U20 team was unable to take part in a major tournament until the launching of SAFF U-20 Championship, in 2015. The 2015 SAFF U-19 Championship which was the tournaments first edition was held in Nepal. Rohit Sarkar and Mannaf Rabby scored as Bangladesh defeated Bhutan in their maiden SAFF U-18 Championship game. After advancing to the semi-final as group runner-up, Bangladesh came up short during the penalty shoot-out to India as Rahmat Mia missed the last penalty.
Mahabub Hossain Roksy's team made a remarkable comeback during the opening game of the 2017 SAFF U-18 Championship. After falling 3–0 behind, goals from Jafar Iqbal, Rahmat Mia and Mahbubur Rahman saw Bangladesh win the game 4–3. However, after losing to Nepal 2–1, Bangladesh finished in second place due to head to head results. Roxy's team also showed some promising displays during the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers (previously known as the AFC Youth Championship) although they failed to qualify once more. Atikuzzaman's owngoal in the 94th minute against Uzbekistan, lead to Bangladesh's only defeat during the qualifiers. Bangladesh reached the final of the 2019 SAFF U-18 Championship, only to lose to India 1–2. Bangladesh conceded the first goal within two minutes and although they were down to 10-men after Mohammad Ridoy was sent off after a scuffle with the Indian players, captain Yeasin Arafat equalized just before half-time, but the referee sent him off due to his celebrations and Indian striker Ravi Rana scored the winner in stoppage time to seal his sides victory. The teams fate kept on worsening as, they finished bottom of their group during the 2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers.
Due to the ongoing domestic league season, Bangladesh team for the 2022 SAFF U-20 Championship mainly consisted U-17 players from the BFF Elite Academy and the Bangladesh Championship League. The team was impressive throughout the tournament but had similar fate to the previous edition, as they lost to India in the final.
Coaches
Coaching staff
PositionNameInterim head coach Atiqur Rahman MeshuAssistant coach Atiqur Rahman MeshuFitness trainer & Asssitant Coach Dragos Alin HogeaTeam Manager Sameed QuasemGoalkeeper coach Jose Maria Moreno MartinezPhysio KM ShakibMedia Officer Khalid NowmeeVideo analyst Abdullah Nasif HassanTeam observer Md Ashik Sayeed Md Jahid Hossain Joni
Manager history Year Head coach 1975 Mohammed Noor Hossain 1977 Anwar Hossain 1978 Werner Bickelhaupt 1980 Abdul Gafur Baloch 1984 Golam Sarwar Tipu 1988 Werner Bickelhaupt 1996 Otto Pfister 1998 Hasanuzzaman Bablu 2000 Abu Yusuf 2002 György Kottán 2003 Abu Yusuf 2009 Shafiqul Islam Manik 2011 Nikola Ilievski 2013 René Koster 2015–2016 Saiful Bari Titu 2017 Mahabub Hossain Roksy 2017–2018 Andrew Ord 2019 Andy Peter Turner 2022 Paul Smalley (interim) 2022–2023 Rashed Ahmed Pappu 2024 Maruful Haque 2025 Golam Rabbani Choton 2026 Mark Cox 2026 Gerard Jones
Squad
Current U-20 squad The following 23 players were named in the squad for the 2027 AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualification.
Recent U-20 call-ups The following players were called up to the squad in the past 12 months.
INJ Withdrew due to injury PRE Preliminary squad / standby TP Training partner WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.
Current U-19 squad The following 23 players list were named in the squad for the 2025 SAFF U-19 Championship.
Recent U-19 call-ups The following players were called up to the squad in the past 12 months.
INJ Withdrew due to injury PRE Preliminary squad / standby TP Training partner WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.
Fixtures and results Matches in the last 12 months, and future scheduled matches
2025
2026
Competition records
FIFA U-20 World Cup
Host/YearResultPosition 1977 to 2019Did not qualify 2021Cancelled 2023Did not qualify 2025 2027Total–0/25––––––
AFC U-20 Asian Cup YearResultPosition Squad 1959 to 1971Part of Part of 1972 1974Did not participateDid not participate 1975 16/19400429 N/A Directly qualified 1976 Did not participateDid not participate 197712/13200207 N/A Directly qualified 197810/19412145 N/A Directly qualified as a host 19805/5402217 N/A 430193 1982Did not participate Did not participate 1985Did not qualify 521233 1986Did not participate Did not participate 1988Did not qualify201115 1990412153 1992 422041 1994 301229 19969/104013312 N/A 220080 1998Did not qualify320146 2000 321072 200212/123003013 N/A 321082 2004Did not qualify211021 2006 200207 2008Withdrew Withdrew 2010 Did not qualify5113614 2012 4103311 2014 210116 2016 311135 2018 421151 2020Cancelled 301226 2023Did not qualify421154 20254112511 2027300308Total0 Titles6/432115151053—6926162783108
SAFF U-18/U-19/U-20 Championship records HostsYearResultPosition 20153/6310232 20172/5430195 20192/6421182 20222/55311108 20236/6200237 20241/6421184 20252/6422084 20261/7431041 Total2 Titles8/83016685333
Head-to-head records The following table shows Bangladesh's head-to-head record in the Asian and regional competitions.
OpponentWin %Total
Honours Regional SAFF U-20/U-19/U-18 Championship Champions (2): 2024, 2026 Runners-up (4): 2017, 2019, 2022, 2025
See also Bangladesh national football team Bangladesh under-23 football team Bangladesh under-17 football team Bangladesh women's national football team Bangladesh women's under-20 football team Bangladesh women's under-17 football team
References
External links Bangladesh Football Federation