SAFF Championship

SAFF Championship
	Original SAFF Championship Trophy
Organising body	SAFF
Founded	1993 (as SAARC Gold Cup)
Region	South Asia
Number of teams	7 Bangladesh; Bhutan; India; Maldives; Nepal; Pakistan; Sri Lanka;
Current champions	India (9th title)
Most successful team(s)	India (9 titles)
Website	saffederation.org
	2023 SAFF Championship

The South Asian Football Federation Championship, also known as SAFF Championship (previously known as South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup and South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup), is the main international association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). All eight 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 Association (CAFA).

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 2021 edition of the tournament was postponed twice to October 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

Results

Year	Host	Final			Third place match/Losing semi-finalists
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 (a.s.d.e.t.)	India	Bangladesh and 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 (a.e.t.) (5–3 p)	Maldives	India	2–1 (a.s.d.e.t.)	Pakistan
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 U23	0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–1 p)	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
2021 Details	Maldives	India	3–0	Nepal	Maldives	^{RR [lower-alpha 1]}	Bangladesh
2023 Details	India	India	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	Kuwait	Bangladesh and Lebanon

Statistics

Performance by nation

Nation	Champions	Runners-up	Third-place	Fourth-place	Semi-finalists
India	9 (1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009[lower-alpha 2], 2011, 2015, 2021, 2023)	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)	–	3 (1995, 2009, 2023)
Afghanistan*	1 (2013)	2 (2011, 2015)	–	–	–
Sri Lanka	1 (1995)	1 (1993)	–	1 (1997)	3 (2008, 2009, 2015)
Nepal	–	1 (2021)	1 (1993)	2 (1995, 1999)	3 (2011, 2013, 2018)
Kuwait³	–	1 (2023)	–	–	–
Pakistan	–	–	1 (1997)	2 (1993, 2003)	2 (2005, 2018)
Bhutan	–	–	–	–	1 (2008)
Lebanon³	–	–	–	–	1 (2023)

Bold = Hosts

* = No longer SAFF member

³ = Invited as a guest team from the WAFF

Participating nations

Legend

1st – Champions
2nd – Runners-up
3rd – Third place
4th – Fourth place
SF – Semifinals¹
GS – Group stage
DQ – Disqualified/Suspended by FIFA/AFC/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	2023	Total
Bangladesh	×	SF	GS	2nd	1st	2nd	GS	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	SF	13
Bhutan	Not part of SAFF				GS	GS	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	×	GS	9
India²	1st	2nd	1st	1st	3rd	1st	2nd	1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	1st	14
Maldives	×	×	2nd	3rd	2nd	SF	1st	2nd	SF	SF	SF	1st	GS	GS	12
Nepal	3rd	SF	GS	4th	GS	GS	GS	GS	SF	SF	GS	SF	2nd	GS	14
Pakistan	4th	GS	3rd	GS	4th	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS	×	SF	DQ	GS	12
Sri Lanka	2nd	1st	4th	GS	GS	GS	SF	SF	GS	GS	SF	GS	GS	DQ	13
Former team(s)
Afghanistan³	Not part of SAFF				GS	GS	GS	GS	2nd	1st	2nd	Part of CAFA			7
Guest teams
Kuwait⁴	×													2nd	1
Lebanon⁴	×													SF	1

¹The third-place match was not played in 1995 and has not been played 2003 onwards.
²Including India U23 team.
³Left SAFF and joined CAFA in 2015.
⁴Invited as a guest team from the WAFF.

All-time table

As of 4 July 2023.

Afghanistan's Hamid Karimi holding the SAFF trophy after winning the 2013 SAFF Championship.

Rank	Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	India¹	14	62	39	15	8	108	38	+70	132
2	Maldives	12	50	25	11	14	98	52	+46	86
3	Bangladesh	13	46	18	12	16	52	47	+5	66
4	Nepal	14	46	14	7	25	51	68	−17	49
5	Sri Lanka	13	41	13	7	21	48	65	−17	46
6	Pakistan	12	39	12	8	19	32	51	−19	44
7	Afghanistan	7	27	12	4	11	48	42	+6	40
8	Kuwait	1	5	3	2	0	9	2	+7	11
9	Lebanon	1	4	3	1	0	7	1	+6	10
10	Bhutan	9	27	1	1	25	15	102	−87	4

¹Including India U23 team.

Top goal scorers by edition

Ali Ashfaq of Maldives scored the most number of goals in a single championship, 10 goals at the 2013 Championship.

Years	Player(s)	Goals
1993	I. M. Vijayan	3
1995	Mohamed Amanulla	3
1997	I. M. Vijayan	6
1999	Bhaichung Bhutia	3
	Mizanur Rahman Dawn
	Mohamed Wildhan
	Naresh Joshi
2003	Sarfraz Rasool	4
2005	Ali Ashfaq	3
	Ibrahim Fazeel
	Ahmed Thariq
2008	Harez Habib	4
2009	Enamul Haque	4
	Ahmed Thariq
	Channa Ediri Bandanage
2011	Sunil Chhetri	7
2013	Ali Ashfaq	10
2015	Khaibar Amani	4
2018	Manvir Singh	3
2018	Hassan Bashir	3
2021	Sunil Chhetri	5
2023	Sunil Chhetri	5

Overall top goal scorers

Sunil Chhetri tackling against Afghanistan.

Sunil Chhetri at the 2011 SAFF Championship.

As of 27 June 2023, 20:30 IST

Players with 10 or more goals at SAFF Championships
Rank	Player	Goals scored
1	Sunil Chhetri	23
1	Ali Ashfaq	23
3	Bhaichung Bhutia	12
4	Ibrahim Fazeel	10
4	Ahmed Thariq	10

Winning coaches

Syed Nayeemuddin at a football workshop in 24 Paraganas District, West Bengal, India

1. Syed Nayeemuddin

Štimac during a training session of Sepahan.

2. Igor Štimac

Both Syed Nayeemuddin and Igor Štimac won the SAFF Championship twice with India national team.

Year	Team	Coach
1993	India	Jiri Pesek
1995	Sri Lanka	Jorge Perreira
1997	India	Syed Nayeemuddin
1999	India	Sukhwinder Singh
2003	Bangladesh	George Kottan
2005	India	Syed Nayeemuddin
2008	Maldives	Jozef Jankech
2009	India U23	Sukhwinder Singh
2011	India	Savio Medeira
2013	Afghanistan	Mohammad Yousef Kargar
2015	India	Stephen Constantine
2018	Maldives	Petar Šegrt
2021	India	Igor Štimac
2023	India	Igor Štimac

Notes

The format of the tournament was changed to round-robin due to the suspension of Pakistan and the withdrawal of Bhutan. Maldives finished third in points and hence listed as third place.[4]
India was represented by the India U-23 team.

References

"From SAARC Gold Cup to SAFF Championship". Givemegoal.com.np. 3 August 2013. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
"Infos at goalnepal.com". Archived from the original on 2017-08-18. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
"We Will Try Our Best To Host SAFF 2021 Matches In Pokhara". Goal Nepal. 27 July 2021. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
Mukherjee, Soham (9 September 2021). "SAFF Championship 2021: Everything you need to know". Goal. Archived from the original on 13 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.

External links

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[5] The format of the tournament was changed to round-robin due to the suspension of Pakistan and the withdrawal of Bhutan. Maldives finished third in points and hence listed as third place.[4]

[6] India was represented by the India U-23 team.

[1] "From SAARC Gold Cup to SAFF Championship". Givemegoal.com.np. 3 August 2013. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2014.

[2] "Infos at goalnepal.com". Archived from the original on 2017-08-18. Retrieved 2016-01-03.

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

[4] Mukherjee, Soham (9 September 2021). "SAFF Championship 2021: Everything you need to know". Goal. Archived from the original on 13 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.

International association football
FIFA Federations Teams Competitions World Cup U-20 U-17 Olympics Youth Olympics Universiade World Rankings The Best FIFA Football Awards Timeline
Africa	CAF – Africa Cup of Nations U-23 U-20 U-17 African Nations Championship Regional (CECAFA, CEMAC, COSAFA, WAFU) Intercontinental (Arab)
Asia	AFC – Asian Cup U-23 U-20 U-17 Regional (ASEAN, Central, East, South, West) Interregional (AFF-EAFF) Intercontinental (Arab)
Europe	UEFA – Euro U-21 U-19 U-17 Nations League
North & Central America and the Caribbean	CONCACAF – Gold Cup U-20 U-17 U-15 Nations League
Oceania	OFC – Nations Cup U-19 U-16
South America	CONMEBOL – Copa América U-20 U-17 U-15
Non-FIFA	CONIFA – CONIFA World Football Cup CONIFA European Football Cup CONIFA South America Football Cup CONIFA Africa Football Cup IIGA – Island Games ODEBO – Bolivarian Games ODESUR – South American Games South American Board of New Federations (COSANFF) World Unity Football Alliance (WUFA)
Games	African Games Arab Games Asian Games Central America Games Central America and Caribbean Games East Asian Games Jeux de la Francophonie Goodwill Games Indian Ocean Island Games Islamic Solidarity Games Lusofonia Games Mediterranean Games Micronesian Games Pan American Games Pacific Games Pacific Mini Games South Asian Games Southeast Asian Games West Asian Games
See also Geography Codes Player/Club of the Century Women's football

SAFF Championship
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 India 2023
Squads	1995 1999 2003 2005 2008 2009 2011 2013 2015 2018 2021 2023
Finals	2011 2013 2015 2018 2021 2023

South Asian Football Federation (SAFF)
International competitions	SAFF Championship South Asian Games Women's Championship
Youth competitions	U-20 Championship U-17 Championship U-18 Women's Championship U-15 Women's Championship
Member associations	Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
Football in South Asian countries	Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
National teams	Bangladesh M W Bhutan M W India M W Maldives M W Nepal M W Pakistan M W Sri Lanka M W
Domestic leagues	Bangladesh M W Bhutan M India M W Maldives M Nepal M W Pakistan M W Sri Lanka M
SAFF FIFA AFC