SAFF Championship

The South Asian Football Federation Championship or SAFF Championship, officially called 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 association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by the South Asian Football Federation. Previous names have included the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup in 1993 and South Asian Gold Cup in 1995. Seven teams currently compete in the South Asian Football Federation Tournament.

SAFF Suzuki Cup

Founded	1993 (1993) as SAARC Gold Cup
Region	SAFF
Number of teams	7  Bangladesh  Bhutan  India  Maldives    Nepal  Pakistan  Sri Lanka
Current champions	Maldives (2nd title)
Most successful team(s)	India (7 titles)
Website	www.saffsuzukicup.org
2020 SAFF Championship

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 Bangladeshi FA from FIFA; the tournament finally took place in 2003. The 2018 edition was hosted by Bangladesh.[2]

The 2020 edition of the SAFF Championship will be hosted by Bangladesh.[3][4]

Tournament summary

Year	Host	Final			Third Place Match
		Champion	Score	Runner-up	3rd Place	Score	4th Place
1993 Details	Pakistan	India	^[note]	Sri Lanka	Nepal	^[note]	Pakistan
1995 Details	Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	1–0	India	Bangladesh	^[note]	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 ^[2]
		Champion	Score	Runner-up
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
2020 Details	Bangladesh

¹Final tournaments in league table format.

²No third place match has been played since 2005; losing semi-finalists are listed in alphabetical order.

Statistics

Performance by nation

Nation	Champions	Runners-up	Third-place	Fourth-place	Semi-finalists
India	7 (1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009 [note 1], 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)

Participating nations

Legend

• 1st – Champions
• 2nd – Runners-up
• 3rd – Third place
• 4th – Fourth place
• SF – Semifinals[lower-alpha 1]
• GS – Group stage
• q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
•     — Hosts
•  ×  – Did not enter
•  •  – Did not qualify
•  ×  – Withdrew before qualification
•     — Withdrew/Disqualified after qualification
•     — Not part of SAFF

Team	1993	1995	1997	1999	2003	2005	2008	2009	2011	2013	2015	2018	2020	Total
Afghanistan	Not part of SAFF				GS	GS	GS	GS	2nd	1st	2nd	Not part of SAFF		7
Bangladesh	×	SF	GS	2nd	1st	2nd	GS	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS		11
Bhutan	Not part of SAFF				GS	GS	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS		8
India[lower-alpha 2]	1st	2nd	1st	1st	3rd	1st	2nd	1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd		12
Maldives	×	×	2nd	3rd	2nd	SF	1st	2nd	SF	SF	SF	1st		10
Nepal	3rd	SF	GS	4th	GS	GS	GS	GS	SF	SF	GS	SF		12
Pakistan	4th	GS	3rd	GS	4th	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS	×	SF		12
Sri Lanka	2nd	1st	4th	GS	GS	GS	SF	SF	GS	GS	SF	GS		12

Notes

1. The third-place match was not played in 1995 and has not been played after 2003.
2. In 2009, India participated with their under-23 team.

All-time table

As of 2018.

Rank	Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Dif	Pts
1	India	12	50	32	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

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
	Mihazur Rehman
	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
2020

Overall top goalscorers

Players with 10 or more goals at SAFF Championships

Rank	Nation	Player	Goals scored
1		Ali Ashfaq	20
2		Sunil Chhetri	13
3		Bhaichung Bhutia	12
4		Ibrahim Fazeel	10
		Ahmed Thariq

See also

• Football at the South Asian Games
• ASEAN Football Championship
• East Asian Football Championship
• Arabian Gulf Cup
• West Asian Football Federation Championship
• Arab Nations Cup

Notes

1. The 2009 tournament was won by India national U-23 team.

References

1. "From SAARC Gold Cup to SAFF Championship". Givemegoal.com.np. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
2. Infos at goalnepal.com
3. "Bangladesh to host SAFF Championship in Sept 2020". Prothom Alo. Retrieved 2019-09-18.
4. "BD to host SAFF C'ship in Sept, 2020". The Daily Star. 17 September 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.

External links

• Official website
• RSSSF page on the South Asian Federation Cup
• South Asia Football–Complete SAFF website