[citation needed] However, in this final Afghanistan won with goals coming from Mustafa Azadzoy and Sandjar Ahmadi in the 9th and 62nd minute respectively.

[3] To the final, India struggled through and scraped by the group stage through head-to-edge edging out Pakistan from an own-goal by Samar Ishaq in a 1–0 win to the Indians.

Later in the semi-finals, against Maldives, it took India until the 86th minute when Arnab Mondal opened the scoring to leave it a 1–0 win to proceed to the final.

To proceed to the final, Afghanistan won convincingly in a 1–0 win against the hosts Nepal with the lone goal coming from Sandjar Ahmadi in the 11th minute.

Afghanistan entered the final as clear favorites to win, before the match, due to their journey and having their highest FIFA ranking, at the time, of 139.