The ASEAN Football Federation Championship (less formally the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup for sponsorship reason, is the primary

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

tournament organized by the

ASEAN Football Federation The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) is an organisation within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and is an international governing body of association football in Southeast Asia. It consists of the federations of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia ...

(AFF). A biennial international

competition, it is contested by the men's national teams of the AFF to determe the sub-continental champion of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

. The competition has been held every two years since

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

scheduled to be in the even-numbered year, except for

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

, and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

(which was postponed to 2021 due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

). The AFF Championship title have been won by four national teams;

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

have won six titles,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

has four titles,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

has two titles and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

with one title. To date, Thailand and Singapore are the only teams in history to have won consecutive titles; Thailand in 2000 and 2002 and also in 2014 and 2016, and Singapore in 2004 and 2007. It is one of the most watched football tournaments in the region. Since 2018, the championship winners would compete in the following

AFF–EAFF Champions Trophy The AFF–EAFF Champions Trophy is a planned biennial football match organised by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF). It is contested by the reigning champions of the respective Asian internationa ...

, against the winner of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship, the champions of

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...

, to determine the champions of East and Southeast Asia. Although have joined the

AFF #REDIRECT AFF Aff comes from Brazil and comes from the great general Barbaros Kee. it comes from that he often used to say Aff when he did something. {{R from other capitalisation ...

since 2013,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

has never competed in the AFF Championship due to its overwhelming strength compared to the remaining teams.

History

The first ASEAN Championship took place in

with the six founding members of

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, milita ...

Federation competing with four nations being invited that came in that region. The final saw

become the first champions of ASEAN as they defeated

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 Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist s ...

and

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

all made it through to the main tournament.

Organisation

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

Sponsorship

Founded as the Tiger Cup after

-based

Asia Pacific Breweries Heineken Asia Pacific, formerly Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) is a Singaporean brewery company. Founded in 1931 as a joint venture between Heineken International and Fraser and Neave, it was renamed Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) in 1989 and given i ...

brand Tiger Beer, it sponsored the competition from the competition's inauguration in

until the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

edition. After Asia Pacific Breweries withdrew as title sponsor, the competition was known simply as the AFF Championship for the

edition. In 2008, Japanese auto-company

Suzuki is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal co ...

bought the naming rights for the competition, and the competition was named the AFF Suzuki Cup until the

edition. On 23 May 2022, AFF announced a new title sponsorship deal with Japanese company

Mitsubishi Electric , established on 15 January 1921, is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi. The products from MELCO include elevators an ...

and the competition was named the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup starting in the 2022 edition.

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 The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

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 would automatically qualify with 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 * – Champions * – Runners-up * – Third place * – Fourth place * – Semi-finalist * GS – Group stage * q – Qualified for the current tournament * — Qualified but withdrew * – Did not qualify * – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned * – Hosts

Notes

Awards

Overall top goalscorers

* Bold denotes players still playing international football

Winning coaches

;Notes # - being the only person to win the competition as a player (1996, 2000, 2002) then coach (2014, 2016).

All-time ranking table

Notes

References

External links

*
AFF Cup
at RSSSF.com {{International football AFF competitions Recurring sporting events established in 1996 1996 establishments in Southeast Asia Biennial sporting events

History

Organisation

Sponsorship

Format

Results

Performances by country

Participating nations

Notes

Awards

Overall top goalscorers

Winning coaches

All-time ranking table

See also

Notes

References

External links