Lalitpur, September 13

All Nepal Football Association announced a 23-member squad for the SAFF U-18 Championship slated for September 18-27 in Bhutan.

The squad, which was trimmed from 74 players, included three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and four forwards.

Skipper Arpan Karki, Sandesh Gurung and Abhikshek Baral are goalkeepers, while Suman Aryal, Biswas Udas, Roman Limbu, Akash Shrestha, Ashim Bhushal, Bikash Khawas, Nirajan Maharjan and Rajan Gurung are defenders.

Dinesh Henjan, Ashok Magar, Abhishek Rijal, Arik Bista, Anil Maharjan, Sesehang Angdambe, Rajiv Lopchan and Ram Wojee are midfielders, while Dhiraj Shrestha, Rejin Subba, Prezen Tamang and Dipesh Ale Magar are forwards.

A total of five teams — hosts Bhutan, Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Maldives — will take part in the competition to be played under round robin format. The team finishing on top after the round robin league will be declared the winners.

Nepal will take on Bhutan in their opening match on September 20 before playing against Maldives two days later. Nepal will then play against Bangladesh on September 25 and take on India in their last match two days later.