The South Asia Olympic Council (SAOC) formerly known as South Asian Sports Federation, is the governing body of South Asian Games, South Asian Beach Games and South Asian Winter Games. The South Asia Olympic Council is a sports body that looks after sports ties among the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

History

South Asian Games Federation (SAGF) was formed officially in 1983.^[1] In 2004, in 32nd meeting of South Asian Sports Federation held at Islamabad (Pakistan), it was decided to rename it to its current name i.e. South Asia Olympic Council.^[2]

The SAOC headquarters is located in host city of future South Asian Games and the President of NOC hosting the SAG holds the position of SAOC President. Its current President is Lieutenant-General Syed Arif Hasan from Pakistan.

SAOC Presidents

As per the Constitution of SAOC, the President of NOC hosting the next South Asian Games is the president of SAOC.

S. No.	Name	Country	Term
1.	Sarad Chandra Shah	Nepal	1983 – 1984
2.	Lt. Gen Hussain Muhammad Ershad	Bangladesh	1984 – 1985
3.	Vidya Charan Shukla	India	1985 – 1987
4.	Syed Wajid Ali	Pakistan	1987 – 1989
5.	Data Unavailable	Sri Lanka	1989 – 1991
6.	Mushfekur Rahman	Bangladesh	1991 – 1991
7.	Abdur Rouf	Bangladesh	1991 – 1991
8.	Nurul Momen	Bangladesh	1992 – 1992
9.	Gias Kamal Chowdhury	Bangladesh	1992 – 1993
10.	Suresh Kalmadi	India	1993 – 1995
11.	Gavinda Raj Joshi	Nepal	1995 – 1998
12.	Rukma Shamsher Rana	Nepal	1998 – 1999
13.	Syed Wajid Ali	Pakistan	1999 – 2004
14.	Data Unavailable	Sri Lanka	2004 – 2006
15.	General Moeen U Ahmed	Bangladesh	2006 – 2009
16.	General Md Abdul Mubeen	Bangladesh	2009 – 2010
17.	Suresh Kalmadi	India	2010 – 2011
Acting	Vijay Kumar Malhotra	India	2011 – 2012
18.	Abhay Singh Chautala	India	2012 – 2014
19.	Narayana Ramachandran	India	2014 – 2016
20.	Jeevan Ram Shrestha	Nepal	2016 – 2019
21.	Lt. Gen Syed Arif Hasan	Pakistan	2019 – present

Member countries

Following is the list of member countries of SAOC:

S. No.	Member
1.	Bangladesh Olympic Association
2.	Bhutan Olympic Committee
3.	Indian Olympic Association
4.	Maldives Olympic Committee
5.	Nepal Olympic Committee
6.	National Olympic Committee of Pakistan
7.	National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka

Former members

Following is the list of former member countries of SAOC:

S. No.	Member	Joined	Left	Notes
1.	Afghanistan National Olympic Committee	2004	2016	Afghanistan joined Central Asian Games