The South Asian Football Federation Championship (erstwhile South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup and South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup), is the main subcontinental international association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). All seven teams are eligible to compete in tournament.
History
India is most successful team of this region. They won the title 9 times which is 7 times more than second most successful team Maldives (having won 2 times). Total 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]
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.
^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]
