South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) has decided to change the format of Under 18 SAFF Championship 2017. The tournament was meant to be played as a three round fixture tournament. A group stage round between six nations, then a semifinal round among winners and runner-ups from each group and the final between both the semifinal winners.

The reason behind this new twist in the tournament was because Sri Lanka withdrew their participation from the tournament due to internal issues. With Sri Lanka withdrawing and Pakistan not participating, the number of participants is now 5.

This year only six nations took part in the competition, among the seven SAFF membership nations. Pakistan was the only side did not take part. And now Sri Lanka withdrawing their name makes it five. Which means  inequality among the number of teams in the groups. According to SAFF tournament rules, SAFF can make changes to their tournaments, in case if a nation (participant) withdraws from a tournament and if the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) feels necessary to make a change, they own the right to bring the changes. However, it seems the situation regarding the participants right now is a asking for a change to the tournament format itself.

This year’s competition is the second addition of the tournament. All the participating nations are preparing with a certain approach to this year's tournament. With this change, teams in group B, Nepal and Maldives may have to bring up a new approach with only 10 days remaining to the kick-off of the tournament.

It was believed that Sri Lanka stepping out from the tournament will guarantee semifinal spots to the Maldives and Nepal. This decision by SAFF, both Maldives and Nepal will have to change their approach to the competition.