2020 AFF Championship

2020 AFF Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Singapore
Dates	5 December 2021 – 1 January 2022
Teams	10 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Thailand (6th title)
Runners-up	Indonesia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	26
Goals scored	88 (3.38 per match)
Attendance	104,143 (4,006 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Safawi Rasid Bienvenido Marañón Chanathip Songkrasin Teerasil Dangda (4 goals each)
Best player(s)	Chanathip Songkrasin
Best young player	Pratama Arhan
Fair play award	Indonesia
← 2018 →

The 2020 AFF Championship (officially AFF Suzuki Cup 2020^[1] for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), and the 7th under the name AFF Suzuki Cup.^[2]

The final tournament was originally scheduled to run from 23 November to 31 December 2020.^[3] However the tournament was postponed and rescheduled at least twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the tournament was first rescheduled to run from 11 April to 8 May 2021^[4] and the schedule later pushed backed further to 5 December 2021 to 1 January 2022.^[5] Singapore later was chosen for host this tournament in a centralized venue.^[6]

Vietnam were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Thailand in the semi-finals. Thailand won the tournament by a 6–2 victory in the two-legged final against Indonesia to secure their sixth title.^[7][8]

Format[]

The AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 will be hosted in a centralized venue due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia. On 28 September 2021, it was announced that Singapore would host the tournament.^[6] Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam also expressed interest in hosting the tournament.^{[9][10][11][12]}

In the group stage of the competition proper, ten teams will be drawn in two groups of five with single round-robin format. The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.

The organizers preferred to hold the tournament under its original format, which featured two-leg home-and-away games.^[4] Away goals rule wouldn't be applied.

Up to five substitutions may be allowed as per recommendation of FIFA.^[13]

Qualification[]

Nine teams automatically qualified to the AFF Championship final tournament; they were separated into their respective pots based on their performance of the last two editions. Brunei and Timor-Leste who were the two lowest-performing teams were supposed to play a match where the winner will secure a spot to the final tournament but Brunei withdrew citing the COVID-19 pandemic.^[14] Australia, a member since 2013, did not enter the tournament.

Due to non-compliance with conditions set by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Thailand and Indonesia were not allowed to be represented by their national flags.^[15][16]

Qualified teams[]

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance
Cambodia	8th	Group Stage (1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2016, 2018)
Indonesia[a]	13th	Runners-up (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2016)
Laos	12th	Group Stage (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018)
Malaysia	13th	Winners (2010)
Myanmar	13th	Fourth place / Semi-finalists (2004, 2016)
Philippines	12th	Semi-finalists (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018)
Singapore	13th	Winners (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012)
Thailand[a]	13th	Winners (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016)
Timor-Leste	3rd	Group Stage (2004, 2018)
Vietnam	13th	Winners (2008, 2018)

Notes

Draw[]

The draw for the 2020 AFF Championship was originally set to be held on 10 August 2021^[19] in Singapore but due to the enhanced COVID-19 restrictions in the country, the draw was postponed.^[20] The draw was done virtually and held on 21 September 2021.^[12][21] The pot placements followed each teams progress in the previous two editions.

At the time of the draw, the identity of the national team that secured qualification was unknown, as it was supposed to be contested between Brunei and Timor Leste. Timor Leste qualified to the group stage after the withdrawal of Brunei from the qualification play-off.^[22]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5
Vietnam (2018 holders)  Thailand	Malaysia  Myanmar	Philippines  Indonesia	Singapore  Cambodia	Laos  Timor-Leste (Qualification round winner)

Squads[]

Each team were allowed a preliminary squad of 50 players. A final squad of 30 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers) 23 players registered for each match.^{[citation needed]}

Officials[]

The following officials were chosen for the competition.

Referees

Assistant Referees

Fourth Officials

Venues[]

Singapore
Kallang	Bishan
National Stadium	Bishan Stadium
Capacity: 55,000	Capacity: 6,254
Kallang Bishan class=notpageimage| Location of stadiums of the 2020 AFF Championship

Group stage[]

Key to colours in group tables
	Top two placed teams advanced to the semi-finals

Tiebreakers

Ranking in each group shall be determined as follows:

1. Greater number of points obtained in all the group matches;
2. Goal difference in all the group matches;
3. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches.

If two or more teams are equal on the basis on the above three criteria, the place shall be determined as follows:

1. Result of the direct match between the teams concerned;
2. Penalty shoot-out if only the teams are tied, and they met in the last round of the group;
3. Drawing lots by the Organising Committee.

Group A[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Thailand	4	4	0	0	10	1	+9	12	Advance to semi-finals
2	Singapore (H)	4	3	0	1	7	3	+4	9
3	Philippines	4	2	0	2	12	6	+6	6
4	Myanmar	4	1	0	3	4	10	−6	3
5	Timor-Leste	4	0	0	4	0	13	−13	0

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Group B[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Indonesia	4	3	1	0	13	4	+9	10	Advance to semi-finals
2	Vietnam	4	3	1	0	9	0	+9	10
3	Malaysia	4	2	0	2	8	8	0	6
4	Cambodia	4	1	0	3	6	11	−5	3
5	Laos	4	0	0	4	1	14	−13	0

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Knockout phase[]

Bracket[]

	Semi-finals							Finals
	A2	Singapore	1	2	3
	B1	Indonesia[b] (a.e.t.)	1	4	5
								B1	Indonesia[b]	0	2	2
								A1	Thailand[a]	4	2	6
	B2	Vietnam	0	0	0
	A1	Thailand[a]	2	0	2

Semi-finals[]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Singapore	3–5	Indonesia[b]	1–1	2–4 (a.e.t.)
Vietnam	0–2	Thailand[a]	0–2	0–0

First Leg[]

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Second Leg[]

Indonesia won 5–3 on aggregate.

Thailand won 2–0 on aggregate.

Finals[]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Indonesia [b]	2–6	Thailand[a]	0–4	2–2

First Leg[]

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Second Leg[]

Thailand won 6–2 on aggregate.

Statistics[]

Winner[]

2020 AFF Championship
Thailand 6th title

Awards[]

Most Valuable Player	Young Player of the Tournament	Top Scorer Award	Fair Play Award
Chanathip Songkrasin	Pratama Arhan	Safawi Rasid Bienvenido Marañón Chanathip Songkrasin Teerasil Dangda	Indonesia

Goalscorers[]

There were 88 goals scored in 26 matches, for an average of 3.38 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Source: AFF

Discipline[]

In the final tournament, a player was suspended for the subsequent match in the competition for either getting red card or accumulating two yellow cards in two different matches.

Player	Offences	Suspensions
Ken Chansopheak	in Group B v Malaysia in Group B v Vietnam	Team already eliminated from tournament
Ramai Rumakiek	in Group B v Cambodia in Group B v Malaysia	Semi-finals 1st-leg v Singapore
Pratama Arhan	in Semi-finals 1st-leg v Singapore in Semi-finals 2nd-leg v Singapore	Finals 1st-leg v Thailand
Aphixay Thanakhanty	in Group B v Malaysia in Group B v Indonesia	Group B v Cambodia
Nyein Chan	in Group A v Singapore in Group A v Philippines	Team already eliminated from tournament
Stephan Schröck	in Group A v Singapore in Group A v Thailand	Group A v Myanmar
Martin Steuble	in Group A v Thailand in Group A v Myanmar	Team already eliminated from tournament
Safuwan Baharudin	in Semi-finals 1st-leg v Indonesia   in Semi-finals 2nd-leg v Indonesia	Team already eliminated from tournament
Irfan Fandi	in Semi-finals 2nd-leg v Indonesia	Team already eliminated from tournament
Hassan Sunny	in Semi-finals 2nd-leg v Indonesia	Team already eliminated from tournament
Theerathon Bunmathan	in Semi-finals 1st leg v Vietnam in Semi-finals 2nd-leg v Vietnam	Finals 1st-leg v Indonesia

In addition, 4 Indonesian players (Elkan Baggott, Victor Igbonefo, Rizky Ridho and Rizky Dwi Febrianto) were barred from the 2nd leg of the Indonesia-Thailand Final on 1 January 2022 for breaching COVID-19 safety measures by leaving the team hotel without authorisation.^[23]

Tournament teams ranking[]

This table will show the ranking of teams throughout the tournament.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	Thailand	8	6	2	0	18	3	+15	20	Champion
2	Indonesia	8	4	3	1	20	13	+7	15	Runner-up
3	Vietnam	6	3	2	1	9	2	+7	11	Semi-final
4	Singapore	6	3	1	2	10	8	+2	10
5	Philippines	4	2	0	2	12	6	+6	6	Eliminated in group stage
6	Malaysia	4	2	0	2	8	8	0	6
7	Cambodia	4	1	0	3	6	11	−5	3
8	Myanmar	4	1	0	3	4	10	−6	3
9	Laos	4	0	0	4	1	14	−13	0
10	Timor-Leste	4	0	0	4	0	13	−13	0

Marketing[]

Matchballs[]

The official ball for AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 is the ASEAN PULSE,^[24] which is sponsored by Warrix.^[25]

Sponsorship[]

Title sponsor	Official sponsors	Official supporters
Suzuki[26][27]	Oppo[26][28] Bioré[26] G-Shock[26][29] Midea[26][30] Yanmar[31]	Acecook[26] Coocaa[26][32] Fuji Electric[26][33] Herbalife Nutrition[26][34] Jinro[26][35] Mitsubishi Electric[26][36] Pinaco[26][37] TMGM[26][38]

Media coverage[]

2020 AFF Championship television broadcasters in Southeast Asia
Country	Broadcast network	Television	Radio	Streaming
Brunei	RTB	RTB Aneka	N/A	N/A
Cambodia	Smart Axiata[39]	Hang Meas HDTV[39]
Indonesia	MNC Media, Emtek	RCTI (Indonesian matches only), iNews (FTA), Champions TV (Pay)[40]	N/A	, , Vidio
Laos	Next Media
Malaysia	Astro, RTM	Astro Arena, Sukan RTM
Myanmar	Next Media
Philippines	TAP DMV	Premier Sport (Pay)		TAP Go
Singapore	Mediacorp			meWATCH
Thailand	BBTV	CH7		Bugaboo, AIS Play
East Timor	RTTL	TVTL
Vietnam	VTV,[39] Next Media	VTV5, VTV6[39]		, ,
2020 AFF Championship international television broadcasters
International	YouTube			AFF Suzuki Cup (unsold markets only)
Hong Kong	Hong Kong Cable Television		N/A
South Korea	Seoul Broadcasting System	SBS, SBS Sports (Indonesian and Vietnamese matches only)[41][42]	N/A
N/A = Not available

Incidents and controversies[]

The second leg of the semi-finals between Singapore and Indonesia riled up controversy after Singapore fans believing that referee Kassem Matar Al-Hatmi made several decisions against the home side. Such decisions including not calling for a penalty after a foul on Amy Recha, Safuwan Baharudin receiving two controversial yellow cards, and allowing Pratama Arhan's equaliser which saw many home fans asking for it to be called offside. Singapore ultimately lost the tie 5-3 on aggregate which left the home fans fuming and even going to the extent of finding where Al-Hatmi was residing for the tournament.

During the same game, Asnawi Mangkualam was seen shouting in Faris Ramli's face after the latter had missed a penalty to win Singapore the game. The incident was met with dissatisfaction by the home fans and Indonesian head coach, Shin Tae-yong, who said that if the incident were to happen again, he would not call up Asnawi for future games. The incident was touched on again after Asnawi posted on Instagram an apology for the incident but many fans and players saw it as a sign of sarcasm. Brothers Ikhsan and Irfan Fandi were quick to condemn him for his actions whilst defender Safuwan Baharudin posted a photo of him shouting at Al-Hatmi with a similar caption. This incident made the split between Singaporean and Indonesia fans even bigger.

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• AFF Suzuki Cup Official website
• ASEAN Federation Official website