2023 SAFF Championship

The 2023 SAFF Championship will be the 14th edition of the SAFF Championship, the biennial international men's football championship of South Asia organised by South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The event will be held in India from 21 June–3 July.[1][2][3][4]

2023 SAFF Championship
Tournament details
Host countryIndia
Dates21 June – 3 July
Teams6 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)

India are the defending champions, who won their eighth title in 2021 by defeating Nepal in the final.[5][6][7][8]

Host selection

Football Sri Lanka initially expressed their interest to bid for hosting the tournament, at the SAFF Executive Committee meeting on 17 October 2021 in the Maldives.[9] FIFA suspended Sri Lanka on 21 January 2023, which is why they may be unable to host or participate .[10]

Later, Anwarul Haq Helal, the general secretary of SAFF unofficially told media that only Nepal had applied for hosting rights till the deadline (i.e. 29 January 2023).[11] However, the host was supposed to be announced only after the SAFF members' meeting during 33rd AFC Congress 2023 in Manama, Bahrain on 1 February 2023.

On 14 February 2023, India were declared as hosts of the 14th edition of the championship. The centralized venue, however, would be declared on 10 March 2023 by the AIFF.[12][13]

On 19 March 2023, AIFF announced Bengaluru as host city for SAFF Championship 2023.[14]

Participating nations

The Football Sri Lanka was sanctioned by FIFA on 21 January 2023, which made them ineligible for participation in the competition.[15]

Country Appearance Previous best performance FIFA ranking
6 April 2023
 Bangladesh 13th Champions (2003) 192
 Bhutan 9th Semi-finals (2008) 185
 India 14th Champions (1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2021) 101
 Maldives 12th Champions (2008, 2018) 154
   Nepal 14th Runner-up (2021) 174
 Pakistan 12th Third-Place (1997) 195

Squads

For the list of squads, see 2023 SAFF Championship squads.

Venue

The Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru will host all the matches.

Bengaluru
Sree Kanteerava Stadium
Capacity: 25,810

Group stage

The precise format and schedule of the SAFF Championship are yet to be approved. However, the currently proposed format is the group-knockout format for the tournament, like in the 2018 edition.[16]

Table
Key to colours in group tables
Group winners, runners-ups teams will advance to the Knockout-stage.

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings.

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group Or Coin Toss;
  8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
  9. Drawing of lots.
All times are local, IST (UTC+5:30).

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  India (H) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualified for semi-finals
2 A2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 A3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 A4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:
(H) Host

Match
v
v
v
v
v
v

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 B1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualified for semi-finals
2 B2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 B3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 B4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:

Match
v
v
v
v
v
v

Knockout stage

Bracket
 
Semi-FinalFinal
 
      
 
TBD
 
 
 
 
TBD
 
 
 
 
 
TBD
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Semi-finals
v
v

Final
v

Goalscorers

Media coverage
Country Broadcaster Ref.
 Bangladesh
 Bhutan
 India
 Maldives
   Nepal
 Pakistan

See also

Reference
  1. "Kazi Md. Salahuddin Re-Elected As President". SAFF. Archived from the original on 2 July 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  2. "SAFF C'ship likely in new format". newagebd. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  3. "Bengaluru to host 2023 SAFF Championship". Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  4. "SAFF EX.CO CONFIRMS DATE AND VENUE OF SAFF CHAMPIONSHIP 2023". SAFF. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  5. "India Blank Nepal 3-0 to Win SAFF Championship for 8th Time, Sunil Chhetri Equals Lionel Messi With 80 Goals". News18. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  6. "SAFF Championship 2021 Final: India defeats Nepal 3-0 to lift title for the eighth time". Sportstar.
  7. "India crowned SAFF champions for 8th time as Sunil Chhetri leads Blue Tigers to 3-0 win over Nepal". India Today. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  8. "Chhetri's India win 8th SAFF Championship title, captain equals Messi in 3-0 drubbing of Nepal - Football News". The Times of India. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  9. "FSL keen to host 2023 SAFF Tourney". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  10. "Suspension of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) from 21 January 2023 until further notice" (PDF). FIFA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  11. "সাফের স্বাগতিক হতে শুধু নেপালের আবেদন". Prothom Alo. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  12. "SAFF confirms Sports Partner International as the official commercial partner". SAFF. 14 February 2023. Archived from the original on 14 February 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  13. "India to host SAFF Championship in June 2023". KhelNow. Archived from the original on 19 February 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  14. "Bengaluru to host 2023 SAFF Championship". Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  15. "Suspension of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) from 21 January 2023 until further notice" (PDF). FIFA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  16. "Invitation to Tender SAFF CHAMPIONSHIP" (PDF). SAFF. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.