KATHMANDU: The AFC Under-16 Championship Group B qualifiers have been rescheduled on Saturday after Maldives U-16 national football team pulled out of the tournament.

As there would be only five teams — Nepal, Lebanon, Bahrain, Iran and Tajikistan —in the qualifiers, the tournament is now scheduled for October 5-13, the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) said in a release here today. The tournament was earlier slated for October 5-15.

The tournament will now see two games a day at the Dashrath Stadium. There will be no games at the Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club grounds in Halchowk.

ANFA said that Maldives pulled out of the tournament stating technical reasons. “We were informed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that Maldives decided to withdraw from the tournament,” informed Lalit Krishna Shrestha, the ANFA vice president and spokesperson.

“The AFC sent us a new tournament schedule under which the tournament will now be played,” added Shrestha. Bahrain and Iran have already arrived in Kathmandu while Lebanon and Tajikistan are scheduled to land on Sunday.

Rescheduled fixtures

Date Match Time

Oct 5 Bahrain Vs Tajikistan 12:30

Lebanon Vs Nepal 15:00

Oct 7 Bahrain Vs Lebanon 12:30

Tajikistan Vs Iran 15:00

Oct 9 Tajikistan Vs Lebanon 12:30

Iran Vs Nepal 15:00

Oct 11 Lebanon Vs Iran 12:30

Nepal Vs Bahrain 15:00

Oct 13 Iran Vs Bahrain 12:30

Tajikistan Vs Nepal 15:00