AFF Championship

The AFF Championship (known formally as the ASEAN Football Federation Championship) is a biennial international association football competition, contested by the men's national teams of the member of ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), determining the sub-continental champion of Southeast Asia.

AFF Championship
Founded1996 (1996)
RegionAFF (Southeast Asia)
Number of teams10 (finals)
11 (eligible to enter qualification)
Current champions Vietnam
(2nd title)
Most successful team(s) Thailand
(5 titles)
Websiteaffsuzukicup.com
2018 AFF Championship
AFF Suzuki Cup 2016 final match first leg between Indonesia and Thailand
Tournaments

It was founded as the Tiger Cup after Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries, makers of Tiger Beer, sponsored the competition from its inauguration in 1996 until the 2004 edition. After Asia Pacific Breweries withdrew as title sponsors, the competition was known as the AFF Championship for the 2007 edition. From 2008, Japanese auto-company Suzuki bought the naming rights for the competition, and the competition has therefore been named the AFF Suzuki Cup for sponsorship reasons.

The winner of the AFF Championship qualifies for the AFF–EAFF Champions Trophy.

The 12 AFF Championship tournaments have been won by four national teams; Thailand have won five titles, Singapore has four titles, Vietnam has two titles and Malaysia with one title.

Although became a member of AFF since 2013, Australia has never participated in a tournament yet.

The most recent championship in 2018, was won by Vietnam, who beat Malaysia 3–2 on aggregate in the final.

History

The first ASEAN Championship took place in 1996 with the six founding members of ASEAN Federation competing with four nations being invited that came in that region. The final saw Thailand become the first champions of ASEAN as they defeated Malaysia 1–0 in Singapore.[1] The top four nations automatically qualified through to the finals in the following edition. This meant the other six nations had to compete in qualifying for the remaining four spots. Myanmar, Singapore, Laos and Philippines all made it through to the main tournament.

Organisation

Sports marketing, media and event management firm, Lagardère Sports has been involved in the tournament since the inaugural edition in 1996.

Between 1996 and 2006, Tiger Beer was the title sponsor. Suzuki has been title sponsor of the tournament since 2008.[2]

Results
# Year Host Final Third place play-off
Champions Score Runners-up Third place Score Fourth place
1 1996  Singapore
Thailand		 1–0
Malaysia
Vietnam		 3–2
Indonesia
2 1998  Vietnam
Singapore		 1–0
Vietnam
Indonesia		 3–3 aet
(5–4) pen
Thailand
3 2000  Thailand
Thailand		 4–1
Indonesia
Malaysia		 3–0
Vietnam
4 2002  Indonesia
 Singapore
Thailand		 2–2 aet
(4–2) pen
Indonesia
Vietnam		 2–1
Malaysia

From 2004, the knockout stage is played over two legs on a home-and-away format.

# Year Group Stage Host Final Third place play-off
Champions Score Runners-up Third place Score Fourth place
5 2004–05  Malaysia
 Vietnam
Singapore		 3–1
2–1
Indonesia
Malaysia		 2–1
Myanmar
won 5–2 on aggregate

Since the 2007 edition, there was no third place match. Hence, semi-finalists are listed in alphabetical order. Moreover, the away goals rule was initially not applied in the earlier tournaments, but only from the 2010 edition.

# Year Group Stage Host Final Semi-finalists
Champions Score Runners-up
6 2007  Singapore
 Thailand
Singapore		 2–1
1–1
Thailand		  Malaysia and  Vietnam
won 3–2 on aggregate
7 2008  Indonesia
 Thailand
Vietnam		 2–1
1–1
Thailand		  Indonesia and  Singapore
won 3–2 on aggregate
8 2010  Indonesia
 Vietnam
Malaysia		 3–0
1–2
Indonesia		  Philippines and  Vietnam
won 4–2 on aggregate
9 2012  Malaysia
 Thailand
Singapore		 3–1
0–1
Thailand		  Malaysia and  Philippines
won 3–2 on aggregate
10 2014  Singapore
 Vietnam
Thailand		 2–0
2–3
Malaysia		  Philippines and  Vietnam
won 4–3 on aggregate
11 2016  Myanmar
 Philippines
Thailand		 1–2
2–0
Indonesia		  Myanmar and  Vietnam
won 3–2 on aggregate

Starting with the 2018 edition, a new format was applied. The nine highest ranked teams would automatically qualify with the 10th and 11th ranked teams playing in a two-legged qualifier. The 10 teams were split in two groups of five and play a round robin system, with each team playing two home and two away fixtures. A draw was made to determine where the teams play while the format of the knockout round remained unchanged.[3]

# Year Final Semi-finalists
Champions Score Runners-up
12 2018
Vietnam		 2–2
1–0
Malaysia		  Philippines and  Thailand
won 3–2 on aggregate
13 2021 Postponed due to 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic

Performances by country
Team Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place Semi-finalists Total Top 4
 Thailand 5 (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016) 3 (2007, 2008, 2012) – 1 (1998) 1 (2018) 10
 Singapore 4 (1998, 2004/05, 2007, 2012) – – – 1 (2008) 5
 Vietnam 2 (2008, 2018) 1 (1998) 2 (1996, 2002) 1 (2000) 4 (2007, 2010, 2014, 2016) 10
 Malaysia 1 (2010) 3 (1996, 2014, 2018) 2 (2000, 2004/05) 1 (2002) 2 (2007, 2012) 9
 Indonesia – 5 (2000, 2002, 2004/05, 2010, 2016) 1 (1998) 1 (1996) 1 (2008) 8
 Philippines – – – – 4 (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018) 4
 Myanmar – – – 1 (2004/05) 1 (2016) 2
Total1212551448

Participating nations
Team
1996
(10)
1998
(8)
2000
(9)

2002
(9)

2004
(10)

2007
(8)

2008
(8)

2010
(8)

2012
(8)

2014
(8)

2016
(8)
2018
(10)
2021
(10)		 Total
 Australia[note 1] Not an AFF member×××0
 Brunei GS•××ו•×••••1
 Cambodia GS•GSGSGS•GS•••GSGS7
 Indonesia 4th3rd2nd2nd2ndGSSF2ndGSGS2ndGS12
 Laos GSGSGSGSGSGSGSGSGSGS•GS11
 Malaysia 2ndGS3rd4th3rdSFGS1stSF2ndGS2nd12
 Myanmar GSGSGS••4thGSGSGSGSGSSFGS12
 Philippines GSGSGSGSGSGS•SFSFSFGSSF11
 Singapore GS1stGSGS1st1stSFGS1stGSGSGS12
 Thailand 1st4th1st1stGS2nd2ndGS2nd1st1stSF12
 Timor-Leste Part of Indonesia×GS••••••GS2
 Vietnam 3rd2nd4th3rdGSSF1stSFGSSFSF1st12
Legend

Notes
  1. Since joining the AFF in 2013, Australia has never competed in the AFF Championship. Australia has, however, competed in the EAFF Championship in 2013.

Awards
Tournament Most Valuable Player Top Scorer Goals Fair Play
1996 Zainal Abidin Hassan Natipong Sritong-In 7  Brunei
1998 Nguyễn Hồng Sơn Myo Hlaing Win 4 Not Awarded
2000 Kiatisuk Senamuang Gendut Doni Christiawan 5  Malaysia
Worrawoot Srimaka
2002 Therdsak Chaiman Bambang Pamungkas 8 Not Awarded
2004 Lionel Lewis Ilham Jaya Kesuma 7
2007 Noh Alam Shah Noh Alam Shah 10
2008 Dương Hồng Sơn Budi Sudarsono 4  Thailand
Agu Casmir
Teerasil Dangda
2010 Firman Utina Safee Sali 5  Philippines
2012 Shahril Ishak Teerasil Dangda 5  Malaysia
2014 Chanathip Songkrasin Safiq Rahim 6  Vietnam
2016 Chanathip Songkrasin Teerasil Dangda 6  Thailand
2018 Nguyễn Quang Hải Adisak Kraisorn 8  Malaysia

Overall top goalscorers
Rank Player Goals
1 Noh Alam Shah17
2 Teerasil Dangda15
Worrawoot Srimaka
Lê Công Vinh
5 Lê Huỳnh Đức14
6 Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto13
7 Bambang Pamungkas12
Kiatisuk Senamuang
9 Agu Casmir11
10 Khairul Amri10
Adisak Kraisorn

All-time ranking table
As of 2018
Rank Team Part Pld W D L F A GD Pts Best finish
1 Thailand 127043161115188+63145 Champions (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016)
2 Vietnam 126534171413672+64119 Champions (2008, 2018)
3 Indonesia 1262311219157111+57105 Runner-up (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2016)
4 Malaysia 126528152211273+3999 Champions (2010)
5 Singapore 125628141410254+4898 Champions (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012)
6 Myanmar 1242147215491-3749 Semi-finalist (2004, 2016)
7 Philippines 114084283544–928 Semi-finalist (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018)
8 Laos 1135253029141–12111 Group stage (11 times)
9 Cambodia 72630232391–689 Group stage (7 times)
10 Brunei 14103115–143 Group stage (1996)
11 Timor-Leste 28008632–260 Group stage (2004, 2018)
  • Bold denotes players still playing international football.

See also

References
  1. "About AFF". aseanfootball.org.
  2. "Suzuki drives Asean Football Championship to new heights". Singapore: ASEAN Football Federation. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  3. "New format confirmed for AFF Suzuki Cup". Football Channel Asia. 14 March 2016. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
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