What happened the last time India played in AFC U-17 Asian Cup?

India are placed in group D alongside Australia and Uzbekistan

The India U-17 national football team will be looking to make a mark when they participate in the upcoming AFC U-17 Asian Cup 2026, which will take place in Saudi Arabia. The Blue Colts have been placed in a relatively tricky group, which also contains Australia and Uzbekistan as well!

Even though North Korea U-17 was also a part of this group, they ended up withdrawing from the competition, and thus it became a three-team affair.

The top-two teams from the group will move onto the knockout stages, which means Bibiano Fernandes’ side needs to produce some major surprises to be able to knockout one of the two major teams out from the group stages itself.

The India U-17 national team has played in the AFC U-17 Asian Cup nine times in the past, which also includes the last time they hosted the competition in 2016.

Even though the Blue Colts failed to play in the 2025 edition of the AFC U17 Asian Cup, they did participate in the 2023 edition which happened in Thailand after achieving qualification for the tournament.

How did India U-17 do the last time they played in an AFC U-17 Asian Cup?

Bibiano Fernandes was the man to help guide India into the group stages of the 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup, after a rather impressive qualification campaign.

The Blue Colts defeated the likes of Kuwait, Myanmar and Maldives to secure qualification into the 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup, qualifying for the tournament for the first time since 2018.

India U-17 faced a grave test in the 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup group stages, being placed in the same group as heavyweights Japan, Uzbekistan as well as an unpredictable Vietnam side. Bibiano Fernandes side began their tournament with a clash against Vietnam U-17, resulting in a dramatic clash between the two.

The India U-17 side ended up having a shaky initial start to the game and they even fell behind after Vietnamese winger Le Dinh Long Vu put his side in front right before the half-time break.

However, inspired by the half-time team talk from Fernandes, the Indian players put up a much more energetic and braver showing in the second half.

Their hard work paid off when Malemngamba Singh equalized in the 69th minute of the game. Both sides fought hard to earn a winner, but they couldn’t be separated and had to settle for a point to kick off their AFC U-17 Asian Cup group stages.

In their second match of the group stages, India U-17 faced off against a sturdy Uzbekistan U-17 side. Knowing how dangerous the Uzbekistan side could be, Bibiano Fernandes opted to field his side in a defensive 4-5-1 formation to be able to absorb the attacking onslaught that was laid onto them.

The Uzbekistan U-17 side started dominating possession from the get-go, but the Indian players did well with their defending and also struck their opponents with some menacing counter-attacks.

However, India’s resolve was broken in the 81st minute, when Mukhammadali Reimov scored what ended up being the winning goal – with the Blue Colts suffering a disappointing 1-0 defeat.

India were out of contention of progressing to the knockout stages in their final group game of the 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup, which was against Japan. Knowing that they had nothing to lose in the game, Fernandes basically unleashed his players to play with a careless attacking momentum – especially in the second half.

What would result would end up being one of the most entertaining matches of the 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup. Japan raced to a 3-0 lead in the first half, and Fernandes motivated his players to forget about their defensive responsibilities and take the fight to the Japanese players – taking them by surprise.

The second half would witness a whopping 9 goals scored across both ends, with India managing to score four goals – with the likes of Mukul Panwar, Danny Meitei and Korou Singh all getting among the goals. Japan also scored five more goals, with seven different goal-scorers finding the net for them as the match ended up with Japan clinching an 8-4 win.

Despite the crushing loss, the fact that India U-17 went toe-to-toe in a thrilling attacking display against the eventual champions of the 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup was a matter that the players could be proud of. India U-17 need to produce similarly brave displays against Australia and Uzbekistan in the 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup edition.

They, of course, need to be much stricter defensively to shut their opponents out and need to be braver with their attacking transitions to have the chance to pop a few surprises.

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