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Revision as of 04:16, 28 December 2015

2015 SAFF Championship
2015 SAFF Suzuki Cup
2015 SAFF Championship official logo
Tournament details
Host countryIndia
Dates23 December 2015 – 3 January 2016
Teams7 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
Tournament statistics
Matches played7
Goals scored23 (3.29 per match)
Top scorer(s)Afghanistan Khaibar Amani ( 3 goals )
← 2013

The 2015 SAFF Championship (officially known as the 2015 SAFF Suzuki Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the 11th edition of the SAFF Championship, the biennial international men's football championship of South Asia organized by SAFF. It is being held in India from 23 December 2015 to 3 January 2016.[1] Afghanistan are the defending champions of the tournament.

Originally scheduled to take place in July 2015, monsoon season and schedule congestion led to the tournament being postponed to late December.[1] The tournament marks the last SAFF Championship for Afghanistan, who shall leave SAFF and join the newly-formed Central Asian Football Association once the tournament concludes.[2] The tournament shall also see no participation from Pakistan, who withdrew from the tournament in November 2015 due a dispute within the nation's football federation.[3]

India was chosen as the host nation on 10 September 2013 with the host venue to be decided between Delhi and Kerala.[4] In July 2015, it was announced that matches during the tournament would be held at the Trivandrum International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.[1] This is the third time in which India has hosted the tournament, when it was known as the Gold Cup in 1999 and under the current name in 2011.

Participating nations

The participating nations (Pakistan not participating).

As well as India, six other South Asian nations are participating in the tournament, with Pakistan being the only nation not participating after withdrawing.[3]

Country Appearance Previous best performance FIFA ranking entering tournament
 India (Host) 11th Champions (1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011) 166
 Afghanistan 8th Champions (2013) 150
 Bangladesh 10th Champions (2003) 182
 Bhutan 7th Semi-finals (2008) 188
 Maldives 9th Champions (2008) 160
   Nepal 11th Third-place (1993) 192
 Sri Lanka 11th Champions (1995) 194

Venue

On 2 July 2015, it was announced that the matches during the tournament would take place at the newly constructed Greenfield Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.[1]

Trivandrum
Greenfield Stadium
Capacity: 50,000

Squads

Main article: 2015 SAFF Championship squads


Broadcasting

The tournament is being broadcast live in India and Nepal on STAR Sports 4. Lemar TV and Tolo TV are broadcasting for Afghanistan. Gazi TV are broadcasting for Bangladesh and Bhutan TV and MBC are broadcasting the tournament in Bhutan and the Maldives respectively. Every match is broadcast live on YouTube[5]

Group stage

All times are local, IST (UTC+5:30).

Key to colors in group tables
Teams that advance to the semi-finals
  • Group winners
  • Group runners-up

Group A

Template:2015 SAFF Championship Group A table

Nepal   0–1 Sri Lanka
Report Rifnas 90+5'
Attendance: 200
Referee: Jameel Juma Abdulhusain (Bahrain)
Sri Lanka 0–2 India
Report Singh 51', 73'
Attendance: 6,417
Referee: Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan)
India 4–1   Nepal
Borges 26'
Chhetri 68'
Chhangte 81', 90'		 Report Magar 3'
Referee: Jameel Juma Abdulhusain (Bahrain)

Group B

Template:2015 SAFF Championship Group B table

Maldives 3–1 Bhutan
Imaz 9'
Abdulla 31'
Ashfaq 70'		 Report Dorji 20'
Attendance: 4,000
Referee: Sudish Pandey (Nepal)
Afghanistan 4–0 Bangladesh
Saighani 30'
Shayesteh 32'
Amiri 40'
Amani 69'		 Report
Attendance: 150
Referee: Pranjal Banerji (India)
Bangladesh 1–3 Maldives
Biswas 86' Report Ashfaq 42' (pen.)
Naiz 90'
Nashid 90+5'
Bhutan 0–3 Afghanistan
Report Amani 14', 51'
Saighani 42'
Bhutan v Bangladesh
Afghanistan v Maldives

Knockout phase

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
31 December – Thiruvananthapuram
 
 
 IndiaTBD
 
3 January – Thiruvananthapuram
 
Runner up BTBD
 
Finalist ATBD
 
31 December – Thiruvananthapuram
 
Finalist BTBD
 
Winner BTBD
 
 
 Sri LankaTBD
 

Semi-finals

 IndiavRunner-up B
Winner Bv Sri Lanka

Final

Main article: 2015 SAFF Championship Final
Winner 13vWinner 14

Top scorers

3 goals
2 goals
1 goal

Controversies

A couple of days before the tournament, it was revealed by the head coaches of the participating nations that they were upset with the lack of proper training facilities and overall lack of organization of the tournament.[6] Committee Working President, V Sivankutty, said that the blame for the lack of organization was the responsibility of the tournament organizers.[6]

Meanwhile, the first match of the tournament was rife with troubles with both Sri Lanka and Nepal wearing the same dark red jersey in the first half before Nepal changed into their blue third-kit for the second half. Attendance during the match was also very low and the match was momentarily stopped when a dog ran onto the pitch.[7]

Sponsorship

On 14 September 2015 it was announced that Suzuki would be the title sponsor of the SAFF Championship for 2015.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Chaudhuri, Arunava (2 July 2015). "Trivandrum will host upcoming SAFF Cup in December 2015/January 2016". SportsKeeda. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  2. ^ "Afghanistan FA Secretary General Sayed Alireza Aghazada: This is our last Participation in SAFF Championship". GoalNepal. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Pakistan Withdraw From SAFF Cup Football in Kerala". NDTV Sports. 23 November 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  4. ^ "India to host 2015 SAFF Cup". Times of India. 10 September 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  5. ^ "TV Channels Broadcasting SAFF Championship 2015 Live Coverage". SportsCola. 5 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  6. ^ a b "SAFF Cup hasn't even kicked off, but teams are already complaining about facilities and logistics". FirstPost. 22 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  7. ^ "Who Let the Dog In?". Goal Nepal. 24 December 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  8. ^ "Suzuki Motor Corporation to sponsor SAFF Football Championship 2015". Times of India. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
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