ASEAN Championship

ASEAN Championship

Founded	1996 (1996)
Region	AFF (Southeast Asia)
Number of teams	10 (finals) 11 (eligible to enter qualification)
Current champions	Vietnam (2nd title)
Most successful team(s)	Thailand (5 titles)
Website	affsuzukicup.com
2018 AFF Championship

AFF Suzuki Cup 2016 final match first leg between Indonesia and Thailand
Tournaments
1996 1998 2000 2002 2004/05 2007 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018

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.

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.

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. 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 Motors has been title sponsor of the tournament since 2008.

Results

#	Year	Host		Final				Semi-finalists
				Champions	Score	Runners-up
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				Semi-finalists
				Champions	Score	Runners-up
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 would be 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 would be split in two groups of five and play a round robin system with each team playing two home and two away fixtures. A draw will be made to determine where the teams play while the format of the knockout round would remain unchanged.

#	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	2020

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
Total	12	12	5	5	14	48

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)	Total
Australia	Not an AFF member									×	×	×	0
Brunei	GS	•	×	×	×	•	•	×	•	•	•	•	1
Cambodia	GS	•	GS	GS	GS	•	GS	•	•	•	GS	GS	7
Indonesia	4th	3rd	2nd	2nd	2nd	GS	SF	2nd	GS	GS	2nd	GS	12
Laos	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	•	GS	11
Malaysia	2nd	GS	3rd	4th	3rd	SF	GS	1st	SF	2nd	GS	2nd	12
Myanmar	GS	GS	GS	GS	4th	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	SF	GS	12
Philippines	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	•	SF	SF	SF	GS	SF	11
Singapore	GS	1st	GS	GS	1st	1st	SF	GS	1st	GS	GS	GS	12
Thailand	1st	4th	1st	1st	GS	2nd	2nd	GS	2nd	1st	1st	SF	12
East Timor	Part of Indonesia			×	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	2
Vietnam	3rd	2nd	4th	3rd	GS	SF	1st	SF	GS	SF	SF	1st	12

Legend

• 1st – Champions
• 2nd – Runners-up
• 3rd – Third place
• 4th – Fourth place
• SF – Semi-finalist

• GS – Group stage
• q – Qualified for the current tournament
•  •  – Did not qualify
•  ×  – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
•    – Hosts

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 Shah	17
2	Teerasil Dangda	15
	Worrawoot Srimaka
	Lê Công Vinh
5	Lê Huỳnh Đức	14
6	Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto	13
7	Bambang Pamungkas	12
	Kiatisuk Senamuang
9	Agu Casmir	11
10	Khairul Amri	10
	Adisak Kraisorn

All-time ranking table

As of 2018

Rank	Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Best finish
1	Thailand	12	70	43	16	11	151	88	+63	145	Champions (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016)
2	Vietnam	12	65	34	17	14	136	72	+64	119	Champions (2008, 2018)
3	Indonesia	12	62	31	12	19	157	111	+57	105	Runner-up (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2016)
4	Malaysia	12	65	28	15	22	112	73	+39	99	Champions (2010)
5	Singapore	12	56	28	14	14	102	54	+48	98	Champions (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012)
6	Myanmar	12	42	14	7	21	54	91	-37	49	Semi-finalist (2004, 2016)
7	Philippines	11	40	8	4	28	35	44	–9	28	Semi-finalist (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018)
8	Laos	11	35	2	5	30	29	141	–121	11	Group stage (11 times)
9	Cambodia	7	26	3	0	23	23	91	–68	9	Group stage (7 times)
10	Brunei	1	4	1	0	3	1	15	–14	3	Group stage (1996)
11	East Timor	2	8	0	0	8	6	32	–26	0	Group stage (2004, 2018)

• Bold denotes players still playing international football.

See also

• Football at the Southeast Asian Games
• AFF Women's Championship
• East Asian Football Championship
• Arabian Gulf Cup
• SAFF Championship
• West Asian Football Federation Championship

External links

• Official website
• AFF Cup at RSSSF.com