2021 AFF Championship

The 2020 AFF Championship (officially AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), the 7th and the last edition under the name AFF Suzuki Cup.

The final tournament was originally scheduled to run from 23 November to 31 December 2020. However the tournament was postponed and rescheduled at least twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the tournament was first rescheduled to run from 11 April to 8 May 2021 and the schedule later pushed backed further to 5 December 2021 to 1 January 2022. Singapore later was chosen for host this tournament in a centralized venue.

Vietnam were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Thailand in the semi-finals. Thailand won the tournament by a 6–2 victory in the two-legged final against Indonesia to secure their sixth title.

Format

The AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 was hosted in a centralized venue due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia. On 28 September 2021, it was announced that Singapore would host the tournament. Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam also expressed interest in hosting the tournament.

In the group stage of the competition proper, ten teams were drawn in two groups of five with single round-robin format. The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.

The organizers preferred to hold the tournament under its original format, which featured two-leg home-and-away games. Away goals rule wouldn't be applied.

Up to five substitutions may be allowed as per recommendation of FIFA.

Qualification

Nine teams automatically qualified to the AFF Championship final tournament; they were separated into their respective pots based on their performance of the last two editions. Brunei and Timor-Leste who were the two lowest-performing teams were supposed to play a match where the winner will secure a spot to the final tournament but Brunei withdrew citing the COVID-19 pandemic. Australia, a member since 2013, did not enter the tournament.

Due to non-compliance with conditions set by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Thailand and Indonesia were not allowed to be represented by their national flags.

Qualified teams

;Notes

Draw

The draw for the 2020 AFF Championship was originally set to be held on 10 August 2021 in Singapore but due to the enhanced COVID-19 restrictions in the country, the draw was postponed. The draw was done virtually and held on 21 September 2021. The pot placements followed each teams progress in the previous two editions.

At the time of the draw, the identity of the national team that secured qualification was unknown, as it was supposed to be contested between Brunei and Timor Leste. Timor Leste qualified to the group stage after the withdrawal of Brunei from the qualification play-off.

Squads

Each team were allowed a preliminary squad of 50 players. A final squad of 30 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers) 23 players registered for each match.

Officials

The following officials were chosen for the competition.

Referees

* Ammar Ebrahim Mahfoodh
* Ahmed Faisal Al-Ali
* Ahmad Yaqoub Ibrahim
* Kim Dae-yong
* Kim Hee-gon
* Nazmi Nasaruddin
* Qasim Al-Hatmi
* Yaqoob Abdul Baki
* Saoud Ali Al-Adba
* Shukri Al-Hunfush
* Mohammed Al-Hoaish
* Ahmad A'Qashah

Assistant referees

* Salman Mohd Ebrahim
* Nurhadi Sulchan
* Ahmand Mansour Samara Muhsen
* Hamzah Adel Abu-Obaid
* Park Kyun-yong
* Kang Dong-ho
* Saif Talib Al Ghafri
* Abu Bakar Al-Amri
* Zahy Snaid Al-Shammari
* Jasem Abdulla Yousef
* Faisal Nasser Al-Qahtani
* Rawut Nakarit

Venues

Group stage

;Tiebreakers
Ranking in each group shall be determined as follows:
# Greater number of points obtained in all the group matches;
# Goal difference in all the group matches;
# Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches.
If two or more teams are equal on the basis on the above three criteria, the place shall be determined as follows:
# Result of the direct match between the teams concerned;
# Penalty shoot-out if only the teams are tied, and they met in the last round of the group;
# Drawing lots by the Organising Committee.

Group A

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Group B

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Knockout phase

Bracket

Semi-finals

First leg

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Second leg

'' Indonesia won 5–3 on aggregate.''

'' Thailand won 2–0 on aggregate.''

Final

First leg

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Second leg

'' Thailand won 6–2 on aggregate.''

Statistics

Winner

Awards

Goalscorers

Discipline

In the final tournament, a player was suspended for the subsequent match in the competition for either getting red card or accumulating two yellow cards in two different matches.

In addition, 4 Indonesian players ( Elkan Baggott, Victor Igbonefo, Rizky Ridho and Rizky Dwi Febrianto) were barred from the 2nd leg of the Indonesia-Thailand Final on 1 January 2022 for breaching COVID-19 safety measures by leaving the team hotel without authorisation.

Tournament teams ranking

This table will show the ranking of teams throughout the tournament.

Marketing

Matchballs

The official ball for AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 is the ASEAN PULSE, which is sponsored by Warrix.

Sponsorship

Media coverage

Notes

References

External links

AFF Suzuki Cup Official website

ASEAN Federation Official website

{{2022 in Asian football (AFC)

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International association football competitions hosted by Singapore