Defending champions Bangladesh continued their dominant form in the four-nation SAFF U-20 Women’s Championship 2025, outplaying winless Sri Lanka 5-0 in their fifth match at the practice ground of the Bashundhara Kings Arena on Saturday evening.

Earlier in the day, Nepal crushed Bhutan 8-0 in the first match at the same venue.

Following Saturday’s matches, hosts Bangladesh topped the standings in the double round-robin competition with a perfect 15 points from five straight wins. Nepal closely trailed with 12 points from five outings.

Bangladesh need just a draw in their final and decisive match against Nepal on Monday to retain the SAFF U-20 Women’s title for the second consecutive time — and complete the tournament with an unbeaten record.

In the day’s second match, Kanon Bahadur opened the scoring for Bangladesh in the 25th minute (1-0), and Puja Das doubled the lead in added time of the first half (45+2 minute). Puja Rani extended the lead in the 73rd minute with her second goal of the tournament, while Sri Moti Trishna Rani made it 4-0 in the 86th minute.

Captain Afeida Khandakar sealed the convincing victory, scoring from the penalty spot in the dying moments of the game (90+7 minute) to make it 5-0.

Bangladesh made a flying start in the tournament, thrashing Sri Lanka 9-1 in the opener.

They then defeated title contenders Nepal 3-2 in a thrilling match, with substitute Trishna Rani scoring the decisive goal in stoppage time.

In their third and fourth matches, Bangladesh beat Bhutan 4-1 and 3-0 respectively to solidify their position at the top of the table.

The team finishing top after the double round-robin phase will be crowned champions.