ASEAN Championship

The ASEAN Championship (formerly known as the AFF Championship), currently known as the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the primary football tournament organized by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) for men's football national teams in the Southeast Asia.

A biennial international competition, it is contested to determine the sub-continental champion of Southeast Asia. The competition has been held every two years since 1996, scheduled to be in the even-numbered year, except for 2007, and 2020.

The ASEAN Championship title has been won by four national teams; Thailand has won seven titles, Singapore four, Vietnam two, and Malaysia one. To date, Thailand and Singapore are the only teams to have won consecutive titles; Thailand in 2000 and 2002, 2014 and 2016 and also 2020 and 2022, and Singapore in 2004 and 2007. It is one of the most watched football tournaments in the region. The ASEAN Championship is also recognized as an "A" international tournament by FIFA with FIFA ranking points being awarded since 1996.

Since 2018, the championship winners would compete in the following AFF–EAFF Champions Trophy, against the winner of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship (East Asia). Although having joined the AFF on 27 August 2013, Australia has not played the ASEAN Championship as part of the initial agreement.

History

The first ASEAN Championship took place in 1996 with the six founding members of the ASEAN Federation competing with four nations being invited that came in that region. The final saw Thailand becoming 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. No country have ever won the AFF Championship title three times in a row. Singapore (2004 and 2007) and Thailand (2000 and 2002 and again in 2014 and 2016) have won twice in a row.

Organisation

Sports marketing, media and event management firm, Lagardère Sports has been involved in the tournament since the inaugural edition in 1996.

Title sponsorship

It was founded as the Tiger Cup, after Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries brand Tiger Beer sponsored the competition from its inauguration in 1996, until the 2004 edition. After Asia Pacific Breweries withdrew as title sponsor, the competition was known simply as the AFF Championship for the 2007 edition. In 2008, Japanese auto-company Suzuki bought the naming rights for the competition, and the competition was named the AFF Suzuki Cup until the 2020 edition. On 23 May 2022, AFF announced a new title sponsorship deal with Japanese company Mitsubishi Electric and the competition was named the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup starting in the 2022 edition.

On 29 February 2024, AFF and Mitsubishi Electric, who is the title partner of the championship, launched a new logo and brand identity for the event. As part of the rebranding, the region’s premier competition formerly known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup, was also renamed to the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup.

Format

From 2004, the knockout stage is played over two legs on a home-and-away format. Since the 2007 edition, there was no third place match; semi-finalists are listed in alphabetical order. The away goals rule has been applied for knockout stage since the 2010 edition.

Starting with the 2018 edition, a new format was applied. The nine highest ranked teams qualified automatically while the 10th and 11th ranked teams playing in a two-legged qualifier. The 10 teams were split in two groups of five and play a round robin system, with each team playing two home and two away fixtures. A draw was made to determine where the teams play while the format of the knockout round remained unchanged.

Results

Performances by country

Participating nations

Legend

Notes

Awards

Winning coaches

Notes

All-time ranking table

As of the 2022 edition

Records and statistics

All time top goalscorers

As of 2022 final

1. Bold denotes players still playing international football

Other statistics

• Indonesia (2004), Thailand (2008) and Vietnam (2022) did not concede a single goal in their group stage campaigns in the indicated years
• The 2002 AFF Championship Final is still the only final to have been settled on penalties

Most titles

•  Thailand – 7 (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022)

Consecutive championships

•  Thailand – 3 (2000 and 2002, 2014 and 2016, 2020 and 2022)
•  Singapore – 1 (2004 and 2007)

Biggest wins

•  Indonesia 13–1  Philippines on 23 December 2002 at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta)

Most successful coach

• Radojko Avramović – 3 ( Singapore, 2004, 2007 and 2012)

Most successful player

• Sarach Yooyen – 4 ( Thailand, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022)

Most goals scored in a single tournament

• Noh Alam Shah – 10 ( Singapore, 2007)

Most goals scored in a match

• Noh Alam Shah – 7 (for  Singapore vs  Laos, 2007)

Most tournaments scored in

• Teerasil Dangda – 4 ( Thailand, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020)

First ever hat-trick

• K. Sanbagamaran – 53 minutes (for  Malaysia vs  Philippines on 4 September 1996)

Fastest hat-trick

• Sarayuth Chaikamdee – 4 minutes (for  Thailand vs Timor-Leste on 12 December 2004)

Youngest player

• Zenivio – 16 years 7 months 13 days old (for Timor-Leste vs  Thailand on 5 December 2021)

Youngest goal scorer

• Marselino Ferdinan – 18 years 3 months 24 days (for  Indonesia vs  Philippines on 2 January 2023)

Oldest player

• Hassan Sunny – 38 years 9 months 1 day old (for  Singapore vs  Malaysia on 3 January 2023)

Oldest goal scorer

• Aleksandar Đurić – 42 years 3 months 7 day old (for  Singapore vs  Malaysia on 25 November 2012)

Official match ball

See also

• Football at the Southeast Asian Games
• AFF Women's Championship
• AFC Asian Cup
• CAFA Championship
• EAFF E-1 Football Championship
• SAFF Championship
• WAFF Championship

Notes

References

External links

• Official website
• AFF Cup — RSSSF