SAFF Championship

SAFF Suzuki Cup
Founded	1993; 28 years ago, as SAARC Gold Cup
Region	SAFF
Number of teams	show 7
Current champions	Maldives (2nd title)
Most successful team(s)	India (7 titles)
Website	www.saffsuzukicup.org
	2021 SAFF Championship

The South Asian Football Federation Championship or SAFF Championship, officially known as SAFF Suzuki Cup for sponsorship reasons (previously known as South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup and SAFF Gold Cup), is the main international association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). Previous names have included the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup in 1993 and South Asian Gold Cup in 1995. All seven teams are eligible to compete in tournament.

History[]

The countries that currently compete in the tournaments are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is held every two years.^[1] Afghanistan joined SAFF in 2005 and left the association in 2015 to become a founding member of Central Asian Football Federation (CAFF).

The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship kicked off in Lahore in 1993, evolving out of its forerunner, the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Gold Cup. Since its inception, the biennial competition has developed into South Asia's premier football tournament, promoting the regional development of the game. The SAFF Championship 2001 was first postponed from Oct/Nov 2001 to Jan/Feb 2002 due to the suspension of the Bangladesh Football Federation from FIFA; the tournament finally took place in 2003. The 2018 edition was hosted by Bangladesh.^[2]

The latest edition of the SAFF Championship tournament was postponed twice to October 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3] Also Pakistan is ineligible to participate being suspended by FIFA.^[4] Bhutan abstained from participation as their government refused to permit the national football team to travel abroad.^[5]

Results[]

Year	Host	Final			Third Place Match
Year	Host	Champion	Score	Runner-up	3rd Place	Score	4th Place
1993 Details	Pakistan	India	^RR	Sri Lanka	Nepal	^RR	Pakistan
1995 Details	Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	1–0	India	Bangladesh	^RR	Nepal
1997 Details	Nepal	India	5–1	Maldives	Pakistan	1–0	Sri Lanka
1999 Details	India	India	2–0	Bangladesh	Maldives	2–0	Nepal
2003 Details	Bangladesh	Bangladesh	1–1 (5–3 pen.)	Maldives	India	2–1	Pakistan
Year	Host	Final			Losing semi-finalists
Year	Host	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Losing semi-finalists
2005 Details	Pakistan	India	2–0	Bangladesh	Maldives and Pakistan
2008 Details	Maldives & Sri Lanka	Maldives	1–0	India	Bhutan and Sri Lanka
2009 Details	Bangladesh	India	0–0 (3–1 pen.)	Maldives	Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
2011 Details	India	India	4–0	Afghanistan	Maldives and Nepal
2013 Details	Nepal	Afghanistan	2–0	India	Maldives and Nepal
2015 Details	India	India	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Afghanistan	Maldives and Sri Lanka
2018 Details	Bangladesh	Maldives	2–1	India	Nepal and Pakistan
Year	Host	Final			Third Place Match
Year	Host	Champion	Score	Runner-up	3rd Place	Score	4th Place
2021 Details	Maldives	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	^RR	TBD

Statistics[]

Performance by nation[]

Nation	Champions	Runners-up	Third-place	Fourth-place	Semi-finalists
India	7 (1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2015*)	4 (1995, 2008, 2013, 2018)	1 (2003)	–	–
Maldives	2 (2008*, 2018)	3 (1997, 2003, 2009)	1 (1999)	–	4 (2005, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Bangladesh	1 (2003*)	2 (1999, 2005)	1 (1995)	–	2 (1995, 2009*)
Afghanistan	1 (2013)	2 (2011, 2015)	–	–	–
Sri Lanka	1 (1995*)	1 (1993)	–	1 (1997)	3 (2008*, 2009, 2015)
Nepal	–	–	1 (1993)	2 (1995, 1999)	3 (2011, 2013*, 2018)
Pakistan	–	–	1 (1997)	2 (1993*, 2003)	2 (2005*, 2018)
Bhutan	–	–	–	–	1 (2008)

* = Hosts

Participating nations[]

Legend

1st – Champions
2nd – Runners-up
3rd – Third place
4th – Fourth place
SF – Semifinals¹
GS – Group stage
DQ – Disqualified/Suspended by either FIFA, AFC or SAFF.
q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
— Hosts
× – Did not enter
× – Withdrew before tournament begins
— Not part of SAFF

Team	1993	1995	1997	1999	2003	2005	2008	2009	2011	2013	2015	2018	2021	Total
Bangladesh	×	SF	GS	2nd	1st	2nd	GS	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS	q	11
Bhutan	Not part of SAFF				GS	GS	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	×	8
India	1st	2nd	1st	1st	3rd	1st	2nd	1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	q	12
Maldives	×	×	2nd	3rd	2nd	SF	1st	2nd	SF	SF	SF	1st	q	10
Nepal	3rd	SF	GS	4th	GS	GS	GS	GS	SF	SF	GS	SF	q	12
Pakistan	4th	GS	3rd	GS	4th	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS	×	SF	DQ	11
Sri Lanka	2nd	1st	4th	GS	GS	GS	SF	SF	GS	GS	SF	GS	q	12
Former Team
Afghanistan²	Not part of SAFF				GS	GS	GS	GS	2nd	1st	2nd	Not part of SAFF		7

¹The third-place match was not played in 1995 and has not been played 2003 onwards.
²Left SAFF and joined CAFA in 2015.

All-time table[]

As of 2018.

Rank	Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	India	12	52	34	10	8	92	34	+58	106
2	Maldives	10	43	22	11	10	91	44	+47	77
3	Bangladesh	11	38	15	10	13	43	38	+5	55
4	Sri Lanka	12	37	13	6	18	46	60	−14	45
5	Pakistan	11	36	12	8	16	32	42	−10	44
6	Afghanistan	7	27	12	4	11	48	42	+6	40
7	Nepal	12	38	11	6	21	44	56	−12	39
8	Bhutan	8	24	1	1	22	13	93	−80	4

Top goalscorers by edition[]

Years	Player(s)	Goals
1993	I. M. Vijayan	3
1995	Mohamed Amanulla	3
1997	I. M. Vijayan	6
1999	Naresh Joshi	3
	Bhaichung Bhutia
	Mizanur Rahman
	Mohamed Wildhan
2003	Sarfraz Rasool	4
2005	Ibrahim Fazeel	3
	Ali Ashfaq
	Ahmed Thariq
2008	Harez Habib	4
2009	Enamul Haque	4
	Ahmed Thariq
	E. B. Channa
2011	Sunil Chhetri	7
2013	Ali Ashfaq	10
2015	Khaibar Amani	4
2018	Manvir Singh	3

Overall top goalscorers[]

Players with 10 or more goals at SAFF Championships
Rank	Player	Goals scored
1	Ali Ashfaq	20
2	Sunil Chhetri	13
3	Bhaichung Bhutia	12
4	Ibrahim Fazeel	10
4	Ahmed Thariq	10

Notes[]

References[]

^ "From SAARC Gold Cup to SAFF Championship". Givemegoal.com.np. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
^ Infos at goalnepal.com
^ "We Will Try Our Best To Host SAFF 2021 Matches In Pokhara". Goal Nepal. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
^ "FIFA suspends Chad and Pakistan football associations".
^ "SAFF Championship 2021 Is In Limbo".

External links[]

[1] "From SAARC Gold Cup to SAFF Championship". Givemegoal.com.np. Retrieved 10 July 2014.

[2] Infos at goalnepal.com

[3] "We Will Try Our Best To Host SAFF 2021 Matches In Pokhara". Goal Nepal. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.

[4] "FIFA suspends Chad and Pakistan football associations".

[5] "SAFF Championship 2021 Is In Limbo".

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

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show v t SAFF Championship
Men's tournaments	Pakistan 1993 Sri Lanka 1995 Nepal 1997 India 1999 Bangladesh 2003 Pakistan 2005 Maldives/Sri Lanka 2008 Bangladesh 2009 India 2011 Nepal 2013 India 2015 Bangladesh 2018 Maldives 2021
Women's tournaments	Bangladesh 2010 Sri Lanka 2012 Pakistan 2014 India 2016 Nepal 2019
Men's squads	2011 2013 2015 2018
Men's finals	1993 1995 1997 1999 2003 2005 2008 2009 2011 2013 2015 2018 2021

show v t South Asian Football Federation (SAFF)
International Competitions	SAFF Championship South Asian Games U-18 Championship U-15 Championship Women's Championship U-18 Women's Championship U-15 Women's Championship
Football in South Asian countries	Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
Men's National Teams	Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
Women's National Teams	Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
Domestic Leagues	Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
Former National Team(s)	Afghanistan (left the federation after 2015 SAFF Championship)
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