Kamal Ghorui
Panaji: The SAFF Women’s Football Championship 2026 will be reduced to a six-team affair with Pakistan set to miss out due to strenuous relations with hosts India.The South Asian Football Confederation (SAFF) had earlier announced that all seven member associations were expected to participate in the championship, “making it one of the premier women’s football events in the region.” However, according to sources, Pakistan have not confirmed their participation even a week after the deadline ended on March 30.“Pakistan will not participate,” a senior official told TOI on Sunday. “There is no official confirmation yet but the deadline that was provided to them for confirmation has already passed. It looks like the (Pak) govt does not want the team to travel to India.”The SAFF Women’s Championship will be held in Goa from May 25 to June 7.India’s relations with Pakistan on the sports field has been complicated with cricket teams refusing to even shake hands before and after matches. At the T20 World Cup, Pakistan were also involved in a tense 10-day standoff with the International Cricket Council (ICC) over facing India in a blockbuster group-stage clash in Colombo.The SAFF Championship will now see participation from six countries, two of whom – India and Bangladesh – took part in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 in Australia. Nepal could have also made it but lost the decisive qualifier on penalties against Uzbekistan, who eventually made it to the last-eight stage of the continental showpiece.Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan are the other member associations who have confirmed participation.India have won the SAFF Women’s Championship a record five times, while Bangladesh have proved their recent might, winning the last two titles in 2022 and 2024 when they retained the title with a 2-1 win against Nepal at the Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu.
