U-17 football team to appear strong side in AFC 2025: Manuchaiher

KABUL (Pajhwok): Coach of the national Under-17 football team has said that he and the National Football Federation (NFF) have wider plans to make the national squad a strong side in the 2025 Asian Football Cup (AFC).

Ilyas Manuchaiher during an exclusive interview told Pajhwok Afghan News recruiting new talent and preparation for the Asian Cup was underway.

He said it has been more than nine months since he became the head coach of Afghanistan's under-17 national football team, and during this time he has won the championship in Central Asia (CAF) and four victories against strong opponents in the Cambodian tournament.

He added that Afghanistan's under-17 national football team is now preparing for its next matches in the framework of the 2025 Asian Nations Cup in Saudi Arabia.

Manuchaiher said that the football federation of the country has invested well in the national team, this team shined in the games and defeated the countries with beautiful goals.

He added that the team has continuous training and players are back to the training 10 days after each trip and all the facilities are favorable for them.

Manouchaihr stated that the under-17 team has a good technical staff and the federation is trying to organize training camps and friendly matches to prepare as many players as possible for the Asian Nations Cup.

He said that the reason for the historic under-17 team qualifying for the Asian Nations Cup was the hard work of the players, the technical staff and the encouragement of the people and added that he was proud to be the head coach of such a team.

He said, the composition of the national team is now the same as before, but Afghans inside and outside the country who are qualified will be recruited to the team.

The head coach said: “We have a committee in the federation called the talent hunt committee which consists of several qualified persons and I am the head of them, we can get the best talents from the province and leagues and the Afghans have the right to do this, and we can get players from them, fortunately, we were able to find good players for the national team during this time.”

Shekaib Ameeri, who is a defence player in the U-17 side, said the atmosphere in the team was good and added he daily performed his training and was waiting for the team’s training.

He asked people and businessmen to support the national team and asked the NFF to arrange training for the outside the country.

Fazluddin Amini, the U-17 goalkeeper, said he played in the team for the past seven years and played several matches for the national side.

He said the team was in high sprits and hoped for the best result.

It is worth noting that the country's under-17 national football team returned to the country after the 2025 Asian Nations Cup qualifiers on Oct 30.

The national football team of the country had four victories and 12 points in their four games in these competitions.

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