| Tourney Name: | AFF Championship |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Size: | 250px |
| Dates: | 5 December 2021 – 1 January 2022 |
| Num Teams: | 10 |
| Sub-Confederations: | 1 |
| Venues: | 2 |
| Cities: | 1 |
| Count: | 6 |
| Matches: | 26 |
| Goals: | 88 |
| Top Scorer: | Safawi Rasid Bienvenido Marañón Chanathip Songkrasin Teerasil Dangda (4 goals each) |
| Player: | Chanathip Songkrasin |
| Young Player: | Pratama Arhan |
| Prevseason: | 2018 |
| Nextseason: | 2022 |
The 2020 AFF Championship (officially AFF Suzuki Cup 2020[1] 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.[2]
The final tournament was originally scheduled to run from 23 November to 31 December 2020.[3] 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[4] and the schedule later pushed backed further to 5 December 2021 to 1 January 2022.[5] 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.[6] [7]
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.[8] Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam also expressed interest in hosting the tournament.[9] [10] [11] [12]
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.[13]
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.[14] Australia applied to attend the 2020 AFF Championship but was rejected by the AFF.[15]
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.[16] [17]
| Team | data-sort-type="number" | Appearance | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8th | Group Stage (1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2016, 2018) | ||
| 13th | Runners-up (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2016) | ||
| 12th | Group Stage (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018) | ||
| 13th | Winners (2010) | ||
| 13th | Fourth place / Semi-finalists (2004, 2016) | ||
| 12th | Semi-finalists (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018) | ||
| 13th | Winners (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012) | ||
| 13th | Winners (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016) 2020) 2022) | ||
| 3rd | Group Stage (2004, 2018) | ||
| 13th | Winners (2008, 2018) |
The draw for the 2020 AFF Championship was originally set to be held on 10 August 2021[18] in Singapore but due to the enhanced COVID-19 restrictions in the country, the draw was postponed.[19] The draw was done virtually and held on 21 September 2021.[20] 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.[21]
See main article: 2020 AFF Championship 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.
The following officials were chosen for the competition.
Referees
Assistant referees
| Kallang | Bishan | |
|---|---|---|
| National Stadium | Bishan Stadium | |
| Capacity: 55,000 | Capacity: 6,254 | |
If two or more teams are equal on the basis on the above three criteria, the place shall be determined as follows:
See main article: 2020 AFF Championship Group A. ----------------
See main article: 2020 AFF Championship Group B. ----------------
See main article: 2020 AFF Championship knockout stage.
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Indonesia won 5–3 on aggregate.Thailand won 2–0 on aggregate.
See main article: 2020 AFF Championship Final.
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Thailand won 6–2 on aggregate.
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.
| Player | Offences | Suspensions |
|---|---|---|
| Ken Chansopheak | in Group B v Malaysia in Group B v Vietnam | Team already eliminated from tournament |
 Ramai Rumakiek | in Group B v Cambodia in Group B v Malaysia | Semi-finals 1st-leg v Singapore |
| Pratama Arhan | in Semi-finals 1st-leg v Singapore in Semi-finals 2nd-leg v Singapore | Finals 1st-leg v Thailand |
 Aphixay Thanakhanty | in Group B v Malaysia in Group B v Indonesia | Group B v Cambodia |
| Nyein Chan | in Group A v Singapore in Group A v Philippines | Team already eliminated from tournament |
| Stephan Schröck | in Group A v Singapore in Group A v Thailand | Group A v Myanmar |
| Martin Steuble | in Group A v Thailand in Group A v Myanmar | Team already eliminated from tournament |
 Safuwan Baharudin | in Semi-finals 1st-leg v Indonesia in Semi-finals 2nd-leg v Indonesia | Team already eliminated from tournament |
| Irfan Fandi | in Semi-finals 2nd-leg v Indonesia | Team already eliminated from tournament |
| Hassan Sunny | in Semi-finals 2nd-leg v Indonesia | Team already eliminated from tournament |
 Theerathon Bunmathan | in Semi-finals 1st leg v Vietnam in Semi-finals 2nd-leg v Vietnam | Finals 1st-leg v Indonesia |
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.[23]
This table will show the ranking of teams throughout the tournament.
The official ball for AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 is the ASEAN PULSE,[24] which is sponsored by Warrix.[25]
| 2020 AFF Championship television broadcasters in Southeast Asia | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Broadcast network | Television | Radio | Streaming | |
| RTB | RTB Aneka | ||||
| Smart Axiata[39] | Hang Meas HDTV | ||||
| MNC Media, Emtek | RCTI (Indonesian matches only), iNews (FTA), (Pay)[40] | |||
| Next Media | ||||
| Astro, RTM | Astro Arena, Sukan RTM | ||||
| Next Media | |||||
| TAP DMV | Premier Sport (Pay) | TAP Go | |||
| Mediacorp | meWATCH | |||
| BBTV | CH7 | Bugaboo, AIS Play | ||
 | RTTL | TVTL | |||
| VTV, Next Media | VTV5, VTV6 | On 365 FM | TV360, VTVcab ON, FPT Play | ||
| 2020 AFF Championship international television broadcasters | |||||
| International | YouTube | AFF Suzuki Cup (unsold markets only) | |||
 | Hong Kong Cable Television | ||||
 | Seoul Broadcasting System | SBS, SBS Sports (Indonesian and Vietnamese matches only)[41] [42] | |||