South Asian Football Federation

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. The current members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

"SAFF" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Saudi Arabian Football Federation.

South Asian Football Federation
SAFF members
Formation1997 (1997)
TypeSports organization
HeadquartersDhaka, Bangladesh
Membership
7 member associations
President
Kazi Salahuddin
General Secretary
Anwarul Huq
Parent organization
AFC
Websitesaffederation.org

History

The SAFF was founded in 1997, with Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In 2000, they expanded to 7 members, adding Bhutan. In 2005, Afghanistan joined too, but later, left in 2015, to join then newly formed Central Asian Football Association.[1]

Presidents
President Years
P. P. Lakshmanan1997–2001[2]
Ganesh Thapa2001–2009[3]
Kazi Salahuddin2009–present[4]

Because of health issues in 2016, Rodrigo Ranjith replaced Salahuddin as acting president for two months.[5] Salahuddin was voted to resume presidency in March 2016.[6] Next SAFF election will be held in April, 2022.

Member associations
Country Year founded SAFF affiliation Association League (men's) League (women's) National teams
 Bangladesh19721997Bangladesh Football FederationBangladesh Premier LeagueBangladesh Women's Football League
 India19371997All India Football FederationIndian Super LeagueIndian Women's League
 Maldives19821997Football Association of MaldivesDhivehi Premier League
   Nepal19511997All Nepal Football AssociationMartyr's Memorial A-Division LeagueNational Women's league
 Pakistan19471997Pakistan Football FederationPakistan Premier LeagueNational Women Football Championship
 Sri Lanka19391997Football Sri LankaSri Lanka Super League
 Bhutan19832000Bhutan Football FederationBhutan National LeagueWomen's National League

Former members
Country Year Association
 Afghanistan
2005–2015Afghanistan 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).

Competitions
See also: List of association football competitions and FIFA International Match Calendar

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

Club

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.[7] 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.[8]

Sri Lanka was supposed to host first edition in August 2014.[9] That however did not happen.

A new possible start was set for December 2016 but later announced that 2017 would see the first edition.[10][11] This again was changed and announced that 2018 would be the start of the tournament.[12] But the Club Championship was never a reality and only remained as a plan on paper.

Current title holders
See also: 2021 in association football, 2021 in sports, and FIFA International Match Calendar
Competition Year Champions Title Runners-up Next edition
National teams (Men's)
Men's Championship 2021  India 8th    Nepal 2023
South Asian Games Men's tournament 2019    Nepal 4th  Bhutan 2023
U-18 Men's Championship 2019  India 1st  Bangladesh 2022
U-15 Men's Championship 2019  India 3rd    Nepal 2021
National teams (Women's)
Women's Championship 2019  India 5th    Nepal 2022
South Asian Games Women's tournament 2019  India 3rd    Nepal 2023
U-18 Women's Championship 2018  Bangladesh 1st    Nepal 2021
U-15 Women's Championship 2019  India 1st  Bangladesh 2021
Club teams (Men's)
SAFF Club Championship 2022 TBC 1st TBC 2023

Rankings

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.

Top goalscorer in men's football
As of 20 October 2021, the players with most goals scored in career from South Asia (SAFF) are:
Players in bold are active international players.

Top goalscorer in women's football
As of 20 October 2021, the players with most goals scored in career from South Asia (SAFF) are:
Players in bold are active international players.

See also

References
  1. "Afghanistan to play SAFF Championship for the last time in 2015". 26 February 2014. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Ganesh Thapa no longer SAFF president". República Sports. Nepal Republic Media. 2009. Archived from the original on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Bangladesh to host inaugural SAFF club championship". Zeenews.india.com. 18 April 2011. Archived from the original on 27 September 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  8. "Salauddin laments India's lack of initiative towards SAFF Club Championship". Goal India. 30 July 2013. Archived from the original on 27 May 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  9. "First ever South Asian Club Championship to be played in Sri Lanka". SouthAsiaFootball.com. 13 March 2014. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  10. "Ranjith Rodrigo appointed acting President of SAFF". dailynews.lk. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  11. "Bangladesh to host SAFF Suzuki Cup". maldivessoccer.com. 25 August 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  12. "SAFF to hold biennial club tournament from 2018". Dawn. 6 October 2016. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  13. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Men)". FIFA. 8 April 2021. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014.
  14. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Women)". FIFA. 10 December 2021.
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