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 members of the association are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

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.

Presidents

: *Due to health issues in 2016, Ranjith Rodrigo replaced Salahuddin as acting president for two months.

Member associations

Former member

Competitions

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

National team

Men's

* SAFF Championship
* South Asian Games Men's football tournament
*SAFF U-20 Championship
*SAFF U-17 Championship

Women's

* SAFF Women's Championship
* South Asian Games Women's football tournament
*SAFF U-18 Women's Championship
*SAFF U-15 Women's Championship

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. 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.

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

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

Current title holders

Titles by nation

Note: (†) Member from 2005 till 2015

SAFF teams at continental and global tournaments

;Legend
* – Champion
* – Runner-up
* – Third place
* – Fourth place
*QF – Quarterfinals
*R16 – Round of 16
*GS – Group stage
*1S – First knockout stage
* — Did not qualify
* — Qualified but withdrew
* — Did not enter / withdrawn / banned / disqualified
*
* — Hosts

For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

Senior

Men's

=FIFA World Cup

=

=AFC Asian Cup

=

=AFC Challenge Cup

=

=AFC Solidarity Cup

=

Women's

=AFC Women's Asian Cup

=

Junior

Men's U-20

=AFC U-20 Asian Cup

=

Men's U-17

=FIFA U-17 World Cup

=

=AFC U-17 Asian Cup

=

Women's U-20

=AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup

=

Women's U-17

=FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

=

=AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup

=

Rankings

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.

Men's National Teams

* Last updated: 6 October 2022

Leading Men's Team:

ImageSize = width:250 height:700
PlotArea = left:40 right:0 bottom:5 top:10
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1997 till:15/03/2023
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1997
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy

Colors =
id:IND value:blue
id:MAD value:white
id:BHU value:yellow
id:NEP value:red
id:AFG value:green

PlotData=
bar:Leaders width:25 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S
from:01/01/1997 till:01/06/2004 shift:(20,-3) text:"India" color:IND
from:01/06/2004 till:01/09/2004 shift:(20,-12) text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/09/2004 till:01/11/2004 shift:(20,-4) text:"India" color:IND
from:01/11/2004 till:01/12/2004 shift:(20,-4) text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/12/2004 till:01/07/2006 shift:(20,-4) text:"India" color:IND
from:01/07/2006 till:01/10/2006 shift:(20,-11) text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/10/2006 till:01/11/2006 shift:(20,-8) text:"India" color:IND
from:01/11/2006 till:01/12/2006 shift:(20,-3) text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/12/2006 till:01/03/2007 shift:(20,0) text:"India" color:IND
from:01/03/2007 till:01/08/2007 shift:(20,-3) text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/08/2007 till:01/08/2009 shift:(20,-12) text:"India" color:IND
from:01/08/2009 till:01/09/2009 shift:(20,-4) text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/09/2009 till:01/09/2010 shift:(20,-4) text:"India" color:IND
from:01/09/2010 till:01/10/2010 shift:(20,-11) text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/10/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift:(20,-8) text:"India" color:IND
from:01/07/2011 till:01/08/2012 shift:(20,-3) text:"Nepal" color:NEP
from:01/08/2012 till:01/03/2013 shift:(20,-4) text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/03/2013 till:01/02/2014 shift:(20,-11) text:"Afghanistan" color:AFG
from:01/02/2014 till:01/06/2014 shift:(20,-8) text:"India" color:IND
from:01/06/2014 till:01/06/2015 shift:(20,-4) text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/06/2015 till:02/07/2015 shift:(20,-4) text:"India" color:IND
from:02/07/2015 till:02/06/2016 shift:(20,-4) text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:02/06/2016 till:end shift:(20,-4) text:"India" color:IND

Women's National Teams

* Last updated: 9 December 2022

Leading Women's team:

ImageSize = width:250 height:400
PlotArea = left:40 right:0 bottom:5 top:10
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/06/2003 till:31/03/2023
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2004
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy

Colors =
id:India value:blue

PlotData=
bar:Leaders width:25 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S
from:01/06/2003 till:end shift:(20,-4) text:"India" color:India

Individual statistics

Top goalscorer in men's football

, the players with most goals scored in career from South Asia (SAFF) are:

By number of goals

By country

: ''Players in bold are active international players.''

Top goalscorer in women's football

, the players with most goals scored in career from South Asia (SAFF) are:

By number of goals

By country

: ''Players in bold are active international players.''

References

External links

South Asian Football Federation Cup
at RSSSF

South Asia Football
– SAFF website (archived)

{{AFC teams

South Asian Football Federation