The 2003 South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup was held in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest ...

, Bangladesh between 10 January 2003 and 20 January 2003. All matches were played at the

Bangabandhu National Stadium Bangabandhu National Stadium ( bn, বঙ্গবন্ধু জাতীয় স্টেডিয়াম, '' romanised: Bongobondhu jateeyo stediyaam''), also known as Dhaka Stadium, and formerly known as Dacca Stadium, is the national ...

. Originally scheduled to be held between 26 January 2002 and 5 February 2002, the tournament was postponed due to the suspension of

Bangladesh Football Federation Bangladesh Football Federation (, ''Bānlādēśa phuṭabala phēḍārēśana'') is the governing body that administrates the sport of association football in Bangladesh. It is in charge of running the country's men's and women's national tea ...

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

were not in the draw, but were included in the tournament following the recommendation from

AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...

to do so. It was also

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

's first tournament. The final was contested by

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

and the

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

. Ali Umar had levelled in the second half after Kanchan had given Bangladesh the lead. The match went to penalties and Asraf Lufty had missed from the spot for the Maldives. Mohammed Sujan kept his nerve to score the final penalty giving Bangladesh a 5–3 victory, and with it, their first SAFF Cup championship. Pakistan's Safraz Rasool was top goal scorer.

Venue

The

was the only venue for the tournament. It is also home venue for

Bangladesh national football team The Bangladesh national football team ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় ফুটবল দল) is the national recognised football team of Bangladesh and is controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). It is a member ...

Squads

Group stage

Group A

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group B

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Knockout phase

Bracket

Semi-finals

----

Third Place Match

Final

Champion

Goalscorers

;4 goals * Sarfraz Rasool ;3 goals *

Ashim Biswas Ashim Biswas (born 14 July 1982) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Diamond Harbour in the CFL 1st Division. Club career East Bengal He had scored with a header against Mohammedan from a Syed Rahim Nabi cross, ...

* Alvito D'Cunha *

Rokonuzzaman Kanchan Rokonuzzaman Kanchan (born 22 June 1982) is a retired striker for the Bangladesh national football team. He last played for Dhaka City FC in the Bangladesh Championship League. Honours Abahani Dhaka * National Football Championship: 2000 * ...

* Ali Shiyam * Ali Umar ;2 goals *

Ariful Kabir Farhad Ariful Kabir Farhad ( bn, আরিফুল কবির ফরহাদ; born 12 March 1980) is a retired Bangladeshi professional footballer who played as a centre forward. He played for the Bangladesh national team from 2003 to 2006. Interna ...

* Ashraf Luthfy *

Mohamed Nizam Mohamed Nizam (born 17 May 1974) is a Maldivian former footballer who played as a forward. He was the captain of the Maldives national football team The Maldives national football team ( Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭ ގައުމީ ފުޓ ...

;1 goal *

Alfaz Ahmed Alfaz Ahmed ( bn, আলফাজ আহমদ; born: 7 July 1973) is a retired Bangladeshi footballer who played for the Bangladesh national football team from 1995 to 2008. He is seen as one of the best strikers to ever play for Bangladesh. He ...

Ibrahim Fazeel Ibrahim Fazeel (born 9 October 1980) is a Maldivian footballer nicknamed "Oppo", who can play both as a midfielder and as a forward currently who plays for Llangefni Town FC He started his career while he was a student in Majeedhiyaa School in ...

Arif Khan Joy Arif Khan Joy (born 20 November 1971) is a Bangladeshi politician and a retired Bangladesh National Football player captain. Football Joy played for Bangladesh National Football Team from 2003 until 2008 and was a member of the SAFF Championshi ...

* Zahid Niaz * Motiur Rahman Munna *

I.M. Vijayan Inivalappil Mani Vijayan (born 25 April 1969), also known by the nickname Kalo Harin (Blackbuck), is a former professional football player who also captained the India national football team. He played as a striker, where he formed a successf ...

* Abhishek Yadav

External links

RSSSF 2003 South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup
at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation {{SAFF Championship

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

SAFF 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 members of the association are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Mald ...

2003 in Asian football 2000s in Dhaka