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South Asian Football Federation

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"SAFF" redirects here. For the football governing body of Saudi Arabia, see Saudi Arabian Football Federation.
South Asian Football Federation
Formation1997; 27 years ago (1997)
TypeSports organization
HeadquartersNew Delhi, India
Membership
7 member associations
President
Bangladesh Kazi Salahuddin
Parent organization
AFC

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 the Maldives after a 2-1 win over India in SAFF championship 2018.

Member associations

Country Year Association Member League
 Bangladesh 1997 Bangladesh Football Federation Founding Member Bangladesh Premier League
 India 1997 All India Football Federation Founding Member I League , Indian Super League
 Maldives 1997 Football Association of Maldives Founding Member Dhivehi Premier League
   Nepal 1997 All Nepal Football Association Founding Member Martyr's Memorial A-Division League
 Pakistan 1997 Pakistan Football Federation Founding Member Pakistan Premier League
 Sri Lanka 1997 Football Federation of Sri Lanka Founding Member Sri Lanka Football Premier League
 Bhutan 2000 Bhutan Football Federation Expansion 1 Bhutan National League

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 Association(CAFA).

Presidents

President Years
India P. P. Lakshmanan 1997–2001[3]
Nepal Ganesh Thapa 2001 - October 2009 [4]
Bangladesh Kazi Salahuddin October 2009 – present[5]

Because of health issues in 2016, Rodrigo Ranjith replaced Salahuddin as acting president for two months.[6] Salahuddin was voted to resume presidency in March 2016.[7]

Ranking

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.

Competitions

The South Asian Football Federation runs several competitions on subcontinental level.

Current title holders

Competitions Current Champions Title Runners-up Next edition
Nations Men
SAFF Championship  Maldives 1st  India 2020
SAFF U-19 Championship    Nepal 2nd  Bangladesh 2019
SAFF U-16 Championship  India 2nd    Nepal 2019
South Asian Games Men    Nepal 3rd  India 2019
Nations Women
SAFF Women's Championship  India 4th  Bangladesh 2018
SAFF U-18 Women's Championship  Bangladesh 1st    Nepal 2019
SAFF U-15 Women's Championship  India 1st  Bangladesh 2019
South Asian Games Women  India 2nd  Nepal 2019

Club Championship

The South Asian Football Federation announced in April 2011 that they had decided to start a new tournament for association football club sides, the SAFF Club Championship, with the inaugural edition to be held in Bangladesh from 1–15 September of the same year.[11] However the competition was postponed and desires to revive the competition were again announced in July 2013 but the competition has still not started with accusations that India, the prime nation in the competition, are not altogether interested in participating.[12]

Sri Lanka was supposed to host first edition in August 2014.[13] That however did not happen.

A new possible start was set for December 2016 but later announced that 2017 would see the first edition.[14][15] This again was changed and announced that 2018 would be the start of the tournament.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ Footballinternational.co.uk > Asian Zone > Central South Asian Zone > South Asian Football Federation (SAFF)
  2. ^ "Afghanistan to play SAFF Championship for the last time in 2015". 26 February 2014.
  3. ^ http://www.indianfootball.de/news/m199903.html
  4. ^ "Ganesh Thapa no longer SAFF president". República Sports. Nepal Republic Media. 4 October 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
  5. ^ http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-108196
  6. ^ http://dailysports.lk/rodrigo-replaces-salahuddin-as-acting-president-of-saff/
  7. ^ http://www.bff.com.bd/bff/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1923:salahuddin-re-elected-as-saff-president&catid=34:latest-news&Itemid=74
  8. ^ https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/
  9. ^ a b c d Inactive for more than 18 months and therefore not ranked
  10. ^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Women)". FIFA. 15 February 2018.
  11. ^ "Bangladesh to host inaugural SAFF club championship". Zeenews.india.com. 18 April 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  12. ^ "Salauddin laments India's lack of initiative towards SAFF Club Championship". Goal India. 30 July 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  13. ^ "First ever South Asian Club Championship to be played in Sri Lanka". SouthAsiaFootball.com. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  14. ^ "Ranjith Rodrigo appointed acting President of SAFF". dailynews.lk. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  15. ^ "Bangladesh to host SAFF Suzuki Cup". maldivessoccer.com. 25 August 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "SAFF to hold biennial club tournament from 2018". Dawn. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.

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