Organising body | AFF |
---|---|
Founded | 1996 |
Region | Southeast Asia |
Number of teams | 10 (finals) 12 (eligible to enter qualification) |
Current champions | Thailand (7th title) |
Most successful team(s) | Thailand (7 titles) |
Website | affmitsubishielectriccup.com |
2024 AFF Championship |
Tournaments |
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The ASEAN Football Federation Championship (less formally known as the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the primary football tournament organized by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) for men's national teams in Southeast Asia.
A biennial international competition, it is contested by the men's national teams of the AFF to determine the sub-continental champion of Southeast Asia. The competition has been held every two years since 1996, scheduled to be in the even-numbered year, except for 2007, and 2020 (which was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). It was felt that a close co-operation at the football level would improve the quality of sport across the region and make it more competitive at the Asian and world level.
The AFF Championship title has been won by four national teams; Thailand have won seven titles, Singapore has four titles, Vietnam has two titles and Malaysia with one title. To date, Thailand and Singapore are the only teams in history to have won consecutive titles; Thailand in 2000 and 2002, 2014 and 2016 and also 2020 and 2022, and Singapore in 2004 and 2007. It is one of the most watched football tournaments in the region. The AFF Championship is also recognized as an 'A' international tournament by FIFA with FIFA ranking points being awarded since 1996.[1]
Since 2018, the championship winners would compete in the following AFF–EAFF Champions Trophy, against the winner of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship, the champions of East Asia, to determine the champions of East and Southeast Asia. Although having joined the AFF on 27 August 2013, Australia has not played the AFF Championship as part of the initial agreement.[2]
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.[3] 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. No country have ever won the AFF Championship title three times in a row. Singapore (2004 and 2007) and Thailand (2000 and 2002 and again in 2014 and 2016) have won twice in a row.
The recent 2022 edition, saw the tournament return to a full home-and-away format, a decentralised approach first introduced for the 2018 edition. Instead of hosting the tournament entirely in one or two selected countries, each team plays two Group Stage games at home and two away matches, with the intention of allowing more supporters to attend the matches and back their national team on home soil, which in turn drove greater fan engagement for the event. Broadcast numbers of the 2020 edition has shown that the event is one of the most followed football tournament in several key in the Southeast Asian markets compared to global football competitions like the UEFA Euro 2020 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The 2020 edition brought in a TV audience of 266 million viewers, a 28% increase compared to 2018. The recent 2022 edition surpasses its own previous records to establish a new benchmark for TV viewership – the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022 garnered an unprecedented audience of 305 million TV viewers, a 15% increase from 2020, further solidifying its position as one of the most-watched football tournaments in Southeast Asia.
Sports marketing, media and event management firm, Lagardère Sports has been involved in the tournament since the inaugural edition in 1996.[citation needed]
Founded as the Tiger Cup after Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries brand Tiger Beer, it sponsored the competition from the competition's inauguration in 1996 until the 2004 edition. After Asia Pacific Breweries withdrew as title sponsor, the competition was known simply as the AFF Championship for the 2007 edition. In 2008, Japanese auto-company Suzuki bought the naming rights for the competition, and the competition was named the AFF Suzuki Cup until the 2020 edition.[4] On 23 May 2022, AFF announced a new title sponsorship deal with Japanese company Mitsubishi Electric and the competition was named the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup starting in the 2022 edition.[5]
Period | Sponsor | Name |
---|---|---|
1996 to 2004 | Tiger Beer | Tiger Cup |
2007 | No title sponsor | AFF Championship |
2008 to 2020 | Suzuki | AFF Suzuki Cup |
2022 to present | Mitsubishi Electric | AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup |
From 2004, the knockout stage is played over two legs on a home-and-away format. Since the 2007 edition, there was no third place match; semi-finalists are listed in alphabetical order. The away goals rule has been applied for knockout stage since the 2010 edition.[a]
Starting with the 2018 edition, a new format was applied. The nine highest ranked teams qualified automatically while 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.[6]
Team | Champions | Runners-up |
---|---|---|
Thailand | 7 (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022) | 3 (2007, 2008, 2012) |
Singapore | 4 (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012) | – |
Vietnam | 2 (2008, 2018) | 2 (1998, 2022) |
Malaysia | 1 (2010) | 3 (1996, 2014, 2018) |
Indonesia | – | 6 (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2016, 2020) |
Total | 14 | 14 |
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) |
2020 (10) |
2022 (10) |
Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australia | Not an AFF member | × | × | × | × | × | 0 | ||||||||
Brunei | GS | • | × | × | × | • | • | × | • | • | • | • | × | GS | 2 |
Cambodia | GS | • | GS | GS | GS | • | GS | • | • | • | GS | GS | GS | GS | 9 |
Indonesia | 4th | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | GS | SF | 2nd | GS | GS | 2nd | GS | 2nd | SF | 14 |
Laos | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | • | GS | GS | GS | 13 |
Malaysia | 2nd | GS | 3rd | 4th | 3rd | SF | GS | 1st | SF | 2nd | GS | 2nd | GS | SF | 14 |
Myanmar | GS | GS | GS | GS | 4th | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | SF | GS | GS | GS | 14 |
Philippines | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | • | SF | SF | SF | GS | SF | GS | GS | 13 |
Singapore | GS | 1st | GS | GS | 1st | 1st | SF | GS | 1st | GS | GS | GS | SF | GS | 14 |
Thailand | 1st | 4th | 1st | 1st | GS | 2nd | 2nd | GS | 2nd | 1st | 1st | SF | 1st | 1st | 14 |
Timor-Leste | Part of Indonesia | × | GS | • | • | • | • | • | • | GS | GS | • | 3 | ||
Vietnam | 3rd | 2nd | 4th | 3rd | GS | SF | 1st | SF | GS | SF | SF | 1st | SF | 2nd | 14 |
|
|
Tournament | Most valuable player | Top goalscorer(s) | Goals | Young player of the tournament | Fair play award |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | Zainal Abidin Hassan | Natipong Sritong-In | 7 | Not awarded | Brunei |
1998 | Nguyễn Hồng Sơn | Myo Hlaing Win | 4 | Not awarded | |
2000 | Kiatisuk Senamuang | Gendut Doni Christiawan Worrawoot Srimaka |
5 | Malaysia | |
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 Agu Casmir Teerasil Dangda |
4 | Thailand | |
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 | |
2020 | Chanathip Songkrasin[d] | Safawi Rasid Bienvenido Marañón Chanathip Songkrasin[d] Teerasil Dangda[d] |
4 | Pratama Arhan[d] | Indonesia[d] |
2022 | Theerathon Bunmathan | Teerasil Dangda Nguyễn Tiến Linh |
6 | Marselino Ferdinan | Malaysia |
Year | Winning coaches | National team |
---|---|---|
1996 | Thawatchai Sartjakul | Thailand |
1998 | Barry Whitbread | Singapore |
2000 | Peter Withe | Thailand |
2002 | Peter Withe (2) | Thailand |
2004 | Radojko Avramović | Singapore |
2007 | Radojko Avramović (2) | Singapore |
2008 | Henrique Calisto | Vietnam |
2010 | K. Rajagopal | Malaysia |
2012 | Radojko Avramović (3) | Singapore |
2014 | Kiatisuk Senamuang[A] | Thailand |
2016 | Kiatisuk Senamuang (2) | Thailand |
2018 | Park Hang-seo | Vietnam |
2020 | Alexandré Pölking | Thailand[d] |
2022 | Alexandré Pölking (2) | Thailand |
Rank | Team | Part | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Best finish |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Thailand | 14 | 86 | 54 | 20 | 12 | 188 | 96 | +92 | 182 | Champions (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022) |
2 | Vietnam | 14 | 79 | 41 | 22 | 16 | 161 | 77 | +84 | 145 | Champions (2008, 2018) |
3 | Indonesia | 14 | 76 | 38 | 17 | 21 | 189 | 129 | +60 | 131 | Runners-up (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2016, 2020) |
4 | Malaysia | 14 | 75 | 34 | 15 | 26 | 131 | 88 | +43 | 117 | Champions (2010) |
5 | Singapore | 14 | 66 | 33 | 16 | 17 | 118 | 68 | +50 | 115 | Champions (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012) |
6 | Myanmar | 14 | 50 | 15 | 8 | 27 | 62 | 110 | –48 | 53 | Semi-finalists (2004, 2016) |
7 | Philippines | 13 | 48 | 11 | 4 | 33 | 55 | 60 | –5 | 37 | Semi-finalists (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018) |
8 | Cambodia | 9 | 34 | 6 | 0 | 28 | 39 | 110 | –71 | 18 | Group stage (9 times) |
9 | Laos | 13 | 45 | 2 | 6 | 37 | 32 | 170 | –138 | 12 | Group stage (13 times) |
10 | Brunei | 2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 37 | –34 | 3 | Group stage (1996, 2022) |
11 | Timor-Leste | 3 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 6 | 50 | –44 | 0 | Group stage (2004, 2018, 2020) |
Rank | Player | Goals |
---|---|---|
1 | Teerasil Dangda | 25 |
2 | Noh Alam Shah | 17 |
3 | Worrawoot Srimaka | 15 |
Lê Công Vinh | ||
5 | Lê Huỳnh Đức | 14 |
6 | Adisak Kraisorn | 13 |
Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto | ||
8 | Bambang Pamungkas | 12 |
Kiatisuk Senamuang | ||
10 | Agu Casmir | 11 |
11 | Khairul Amri | 10 |
See also: List of AFF Championship hat-tricks |