South Asian Football Federation
|
SAFF Logo | |
|
SAFF members | |
| Motto | Strength in Unity |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1997 |
| Type | Sports organization |
Membership | 7 member associations |
President |
 Kazi Salahuddin |
South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), founded in 1997, is an association of the football playing nations in South Asia and is part of the larger Asian Football Confederation. Its founding members are Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Bhutan joined the federation in 2000 and Afghanistan in 2005.[1] In February 2015, captain Haroon Amiri announced that Afghanistan had officially left the SAFF for the new Central Asian Football Association.[2]
The current "champion" of SAFF is Afghanistan after they defeated India 2-0 in the final of the 2013 SAFF Championship.[3] Afghanistan will play its last SAFF Championship in 2015, after leaving the federation.[4]
Member associations
| Country | Year | Association | Member |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh | 1997 | Bangladesh Football Federation | Founding Member |
 India | 1997 | All India Football Federation | Founding Member |
 Maldives | 1997 | Football Association of Maldives | Founding Member |
 Nepal | 1997 | All Nepal Football Association | Founding Member |
 Pakistan | 1997 | Pakistan Football Federation | Founding Member |
 Sri Lanka | 1997 | Football Federation of Sri Lanka | Founding Member |
 Bhutan | 2000 | Bhutan Football Federation | Expansion 1 |
Former members
| Country | Year | Association |
|---|---|---|
 Afghanistan | 2005–2015 | Afghanistan Football Federation |
Afghanistan, who had joined the South Asian Football Federation(SAFF) in the 2005 expansion 2 phase, left the association in 2015 to become a founding member of Central Asian Football Federation(CAFF).
Presidents
| President | Years |
|---|---|
| Ganesh Thapa |
1999 - October 2009 [5] |
| Kazi Salahuddin |
October 2009 - present |
Ranking
Men's National TeamsRankings are calculated by FIFA.
Last updated April 2015.[6] |
Women's National Teams
Last updated March 2015.[7] |
Leading Men's Team: 
|
SAFF Championship
South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) organizes the SAFF Championship, also called the South Asian Football Federation Cup (previously South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup), a regional football competition of South Asian countries. It is held every two years. Previous names have included the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup in 1993 and South Asian Gold Cup 95 in 1995.
| Year | Host | Final | Third Place Match | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champion | Score | Runner-up | 3rd Place | Score | 4th Place | ||
| 1993 Details |
Pakistan |
India |
[note 1] | Sri Lanka |
Nepal |
[note 1] | Pakistan |
| 1995 Details |
Sri Lanka |
Sri Lanka |
1 – 0 | India |
Bangladesh |
[note 2] | 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 |
Since the 2005 edition, there was no official third place match. Hence, there were no official third place and fourth place being awarded. Semi-finalists are listed in alphabetical order.
| Year | Host | Final | Losing semi-finalists [2] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champion | Score | Runner-up | |||||
| 2005 Details |
Pakistan |
India |
2 – 0 | Bangladesh |
Maldives and Pakistan | ||
| 2008 Details |
Maldives and 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 |
TBD | – | TBD | TBD | ||
SAFF U-16 Championship
South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) also organizes the SAFF U-16 Championship an international youth football competition contested by the national teams of the members of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF).
| Year | Host | Final | Third Place Match | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champion | Score | Second Place | Third Place | Score | Fourth Place | ||||
| 2011 Details |
Nepal |
Pakistan |
2 – 1 | India |
Nepal |
2 – 1 | Bangladesh | ||
| 2013 Details |
Nepal |
India |
1 – 0 | Nepal |
Bangladesh |
1 – 0 | Afghanistan | ||
SAFF Women's Championship
The federation also organizes the SAFF Women's Championship an international women's football competition contested by the national teams of the members of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF).
| Year | Host | Final | Losing semi-finalists | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champion | Score | Runner-up | |||||
| 2010[8][9] Details |
Bangladesh | India |
1 – 0 | Nepal |
Bangladesh, Pakistan | ||
| 2012 Details |
Sri Lanka | India |
3 – 1 | Nepal |
Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, | ||
| 2014 Details |
Pakistan[10] | India |
6 – 0 | Nepal |
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, | ||
See also
- ASEAN Football Federation (AFF)
- Central Asian Football Federation (CAFF)
- East Asian Football Federation (EAFF)
- West Asian Football Federation (WAFF)
References
- ↑ Footballinternational.co.uk > Asian Zone > Central South Asian Zone > South Asian Football Federation (SAFF)
- ↑ http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/2696/indian-national-team/2015/02/26/9256272/afghanistan-to-play-saff-championship-for-the-last-time-in
- ↑ http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/2773/saff-championship/2013/09/11/4253966/afghanistan-are-the-saff-championship-2013-champions-beat
- ↑ https://twitter.com/fni/status/570889943498788864
- ↑ "Ganesh Thapa no longer SAFF president". República Sports. Nepal Republic Media. 4 October 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
- ↑ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Men)". FIFA. 9 April 2015.
- ↑ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Women)". FIFA. 27 March 2015.
- ↑ "SAFF: India clinch the title". indiablooms.com. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
- ↑ "Indian women football team flay Pakistan in SAFF semis". sunday-guardian.com. 20 December 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
- ↑ http://www.goalnepal.com/news.php?id=15999
External links
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||