SAFF Championship

This article is about the men's tournament. For the women's tournament, see SAFF Women's Championship.

The SAFF Championship (earlier the SAARC Gold Cup and the SAFF Gold Cup) is the primary football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), determining the sub-continental champion of the South Asia.

SAFF Championship

The SAFF Championship trophy
Organiser(s)	SAFF
Founded	1993; 32 years ago (1993) (as SAARC Gold Cup)
Region	South Asia
Teams	7  Bangladesh  Bhutan  India  Maldives    Nepal  Pakistan  Sri Lanka
Related competitions	SAFF Women's Championship
Current champions	India (9th title)
Most championships	India (9 titles)
Website	saffederation.org
2026 SAFF Championship

History

Countries that currently compete in the tournaments are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is held approximately every two years. India won the title 9 times, 7 more than second most successful, Maldives.^[1] Afghanistan joined the SAFF in 2005 and left in 2015 to become a founding member of the 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 was first postponed from October 2001 to January 2002 due to the suspension of the Bangladesh Football Federation; the tournament finally took place in 2003.^[2] The 2021 edition of the tournament was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3]

Organisation

Sports marketing, media, and event management company Sportfive (formerly Lagardère Sports) has been involved in the tournament since 2025.^[4]

Title sponsorship

Period	Sponsor	Name
1993	No title sponsor	SAARC Gold Cup
1995	Ceylon Tobacco Company	Bristol SAARC Gold Cup
1997	No title sponsor	SAFF Gold Cup
1999	Coca-Cola	SAFF Coca-Cola Cup
2003–2005	No title sponsor	SAFF Gold Cup
2008		SAFF Championship
2009	BEXIMCO	Bangabandhu SAFF Championship
2011	Karbonn	Karbonn SAFF Championship
2013	No title sponsor	SAFF Championship
2015–2018	Suzuki	SAFF Suzuki Cup
2021	Ooredoo	Ooredoo SAFF Championship
2023	Bashundhara Toiletries	Bangabandhu SAFF Championship
Source: GSA

Results

Ed.	Year	Hosts		Final				Third place playoff				No. of teams
				Champions	Score	Runners-up		Third place	Score	Fourth place
1	1993	Pakistan		India	RR	Sri Lanka		Nepal	RR	Pakistan		4
2	1995	Sri Lanka		Sri Lanka	1–0 (a.s.d.e.t.)	India		Bangladesh and    Nepal				5
3	1997	Nepal		India	5–1	Maldives		Pakistan	1–0	Sri Lanka		6
4	1999	India		India	2–0	Bangladesh		Maldives	2–0	Nepal		6
5	2003	Bangladesh		Bangladesh	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–3 p)	Maldives		India	2–1 (a.s.d.e.t.)	Pakistan		8
6	2005	Pakistan		India	2–0	Bangladesh		Maldives and  Pakistan				8
7	2008	Maldives Sri Lanka		Maldives	1–0	India		Bhutan and  Sri Lanka				8
8	2009	Bangladesh		India U23	0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–1 p)	Maldives		Bangladesh and  Sri Lanka				8
9	2011	India		India	4–0	Afghanistan		Maldives and    Nepal				8
10	2013	Nepal		Afghanistan	2–0	India		Maldives and    Nepal				8
11	2015	India		India	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Afghanistan		Maldives and  Sri Lanka				7
12	2018	Bangladesh		Maldives	2–1	India		Nepal and  Pakistan				7
13	2021	Maldives		India	3–0	Nepal		Maldives	RR[a]	Bangladesh		5
14	2023	India		India	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	Kuwait		Bangladesh and  Lebanon				8
15	2026	Sri Lanka

Overall records

In this ranking 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. Matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored.

As of 2023 SAFF Championship

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.

Nation	Champions	Runners-up	Third-place	Fourth-place	Semi-finalists
India	9 (1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009,[b] 2011, 2015, 2021, 2023)	4 (1995, 2008, 2013, 2018)	1 (2003)	–	–
Maldives	2 (2008, 2018)	3 (1997, 2003, 2009)	2 (1999, 2021)	–	4 (2005, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Bangladesh	1 (2003)	2 (1999, 2005)	1 (1995)	1 (2021)	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 guest teams from WAFF

Results by tournament

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	2026	Total
Bangladesh	×	SF	GS	2nd	1st	2nd	GS	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	SF	Q	13
Bhutan	Not part of SAFF				GS	GS	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	×	GS	Q	9
India2	1st	2nd	1st	1st	3rd	1st	2nd	1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	1st	Q	14
Maldives	×	×	2nd	3rd	2nd	SF	1st	2nd	SF	SF	SF	1st	GS	GS	Q	12
Nepal	3rd	SF	GS	4th	GS	GS	GS	GS	SF	SF	GS	SF	2nd	GS	Q	14
Pakistan	4th	GS	3rd	GS	4th	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS	×	SF	DQ	GS	Q	12
Sri Lanka	2nd	1st	4th	GS	GS	GS	SF	SF	GS	GS	SF	GS	GS	DQ	Q	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.

Top goalscorers

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	Inivalappil Mani Vijayan	3
1995	Mohamed Amanulla	3
1997	Inivalappil Mani 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
	Hassan Bashir
2021	Sunil Chhetri	5
2023	Sunil Chhetri	5

Overall

Sunil Chhetri at the 2011 SAFF Championship

As of 27 June 2023

Players with 10 or more goals

Rank	Nation	Player	Goals scored
1		Sunil Chhetri	23
		Ali Ashfaq
3		Bhaichung Bhutia	12
4		Ibrahim Fazeel	10
		Ahmed Thariq

Winning coaches

1. Syed Nayeemuddin

2. Igor Štimac

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

Year	Team	Coach
1993	India	Jiří Pešek
1995	Sri Lanka	Jorge Perreira
1997	India	Syed Nayeemuddin
1999	India	Sukhwinder Singh
2003	Bangladesh	George Kottan
2005	India	Syed Nayeemuddin (2)
2008	Maldives	Jozef Jankech
2009	India U23	Sukhwinder Singh (2)
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 (2)

See also

• SAFF Women's Championship
• AFC Asian Cup
• Football at the Asian Games
• ASEAN Championship
• CAFA Nations Cup
• EAFF E-1 Football Championship
• WAFF Championship
• Sub-continental football championships in Asia
• Football at the South Asian Games
• SABA Championship
• CAVA Men's Volleyball Nations League
• SAFF U-20 Championship
• SAFF U-17 Championship
• SAFF U-20 Women's Championship
• SAFF U-17 Women's Championship

Notes

1. 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.^[5]
2. India was represented by the India U-23 team.