ASEAN Championship explained

Organiser:	AFF
Region:	Southeast Asia
Number Of Teams:	10 (finals) 12 (eligible to enter qualification)
Current Champions:	(7th title)
Most Successful Team:	(7 titles)
Top Scorer:	Teerasil Dangda (25)
Current:	2024 ASEAN Championship
ASEAN Championship

The ASEAN Championship (formerly known as the AFF Championship), currently known as the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the primary football tournament organized by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) for men's football national teams in the Southeast Asia.

A biennial international competition, it is contested to determine the sub-continental champion of Southeast Asia. The competition has been held every two years since 1996, scheduled to be in the even-numbered year, except for 2007, and 2020.

The ASEAN Championship title has been won by four national teams; Thailand has won seven titles, Singapore four, Vietnam two, and Malaysia one. To date, Thailand and Singapore are the only teams to have won consecutive titles; Thailand in 2000 and 2002, 2014 and 2016 and also 2020 and 2022, and Singapore in 2004 and 2007. It is one of the most watched football tournaments in the region. The ASEAN Championship is also recognized as an "A" international tournament by FIFA with FIFA ranking points being awarded since 1996.^[1]

Since 2018, the championship winners would compete in the following AFF–EAFF Champions Trophy, against the winner of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship (East Asia). Although having joined the AFF on 27 August 2013, Australia has not played the ASEAN Championship as part of the initial agreement.^[2]

History

The first ASEAN Championship took place in 1996 with the six founding members of the ASEAN Federation competing with four nations being invited that came in that region. The final saw Thailand becoming the first champions of ASEAN as they defeated Malaysia 1–0 in Singapore.^[3] 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, Singapore, Laos and Philippines all made it through to the main tournament. No country have ever won the AFF Championship title three times in a row. Singapore (2004 and 2007) and Thailand (2000 and 2002 and again in 2014 and 2016) have won twice in a row.

Organisation

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

Title sponsorship

It was founded as the Tiger Cup, after Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries brand Tiger Beer sponsored the competition from its inauguration in 1996, until the 2004 edition. After Asia Pacific Breweries withdrew as title sponsor, the competition was known simply as the AFF Championship for the 2007 edition. In 2008, Japanese auto-company Suzuki bought the naming rights for the competition, and the competition was named the AFF Suzuki Cup until the 2020 edition.^[4] On 23 May 2022, AFF announced a new title sponsorship deal with Japanese company Mitsubishi Electric and the competition was named the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup starting in the 2022 edition.^[5]

On 29 February 2024, AFF and Mitsubishi Electric, who is the title partner of the championship, launched a new logo and brand identity for the event. As part of the rebranding, the region’s premier competition formerly known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup, was also renamed to the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup.

!Period!Sponsor!Name
1996–2004	Tiger Beer	Tiger Cup
2007	No title sponsor	AFF Championship
2008–2020	Suzuki	AFF Suzuki Cup
2022	Mitsubishi Electric	AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup
2024–	Mitsubishi Electric	ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup

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 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 qualified automatically while 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.^[6]

Results

Year	Host	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Third place	Score	Fourth place	Number of teams	Total matches played	Total goals in tournament
Year	Host	Final			Third place playoff			Number of teams	Total matches played	Total goals in tournament
1996	Singapore		1–0			3–2		10	24	93
1998			1–0			3–3		8	16	55
2000	Thailand		4–1			3–0		9	20	67
2002	Indonesia Singapore		2–2			2–1		9	20	92
Year	Group stage hosts	Final			Third place playoff or losing semi-finalists			Number of teams	Total matches played	Total goals in tournament
Year	Group stage hosts	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Third place	Score	Fourth place	Number of teams	Total matches played	Total goals in tournament
2004	Malaysia		3–1 2–1			2–1		10	27	113
2004	won 5–2 on aggregate					2–1		10	27	113
2007	Singapore Thailand		2–1 1–1		and	8	18	50
2007	won 3–2 on aggregate					8	18	50
2008	Indonesia Thailand		2–1 1–1		and	8	18	56
2008	won 3–2 on aggregate					8	18	56
2010	Indonesia		3–0 1–2		and	8	18	51
2010	won 4–2 on aggregate					8	18	51
2012	Malaysia Thailand		3–1 0–1		and	8	18	48
2012	won 3–2 on aggregate					8	18	48
2014	Singapore		2–0 2–3		and	8	18	65
2014	won 4–3 on aggregate					8	18	65
2016	Myanmar Philippines		1–2 2–0		and	8	18	50
2016	won 3–2 on aggregate					8	18	50
2018			2–2 1–0		and	10	26	80
2018	won 3–2 on aggregate					10	26	80
2020	Singapore		4–0 2–2		and	10	26	88
2020	won 6–2 on aggregate					10	26	88
2022			2–2 1–0		and	10	26	90
2022	won 3–2 on aggregate					10	26	90
2024						10
2024						10

Performances by country

Team	Champions	Runners-up
	bgcolor=gold	7 (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022)	bgcolor=silver	3 (2007, 2008, 2012)
	bgcolor=gold	4 (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012)	–
	bgcolor=gold	2 (2008, 2018)	bgcolor=silver	2 (1998, 2022)
	bgcolor=gold	1 (2010)	bgcolor=silver	3 (1996, 2014, 2018)
	–	bgcolor=silver	6 (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2016, 2020)
Total	14	14

Participating nations

1996 (10)	1998 (8)	2000 (9)	2002 (9)	2004 (10)	2007 (8)	2008 (8)	2010 (8)	2012 (8)	2014 (8)	2016 (8)	2018 (10)	2020 (10)	2022 (10)	Total
Not an AFF member									×	×	×	×	×	0
GS	•	×	×	×	•	•	×	•	•	•	•	×	GS	2
GS	•	GS	GS	GS	•	GS	•	•	•	GS	GS	GS	GS	9
Part of Indonesia			×	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	GS	•	3
4th	3rd	bgcolor=silver	2nd	2nd	bgcolor=silver	2nd	GS	SF	2nd	GS	GS	bgcolor=silver	2nd	GS	bgcolor=silver	2nd	SF	14
GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	•	GS	GS	GS	13
bgcolor=silver	2nd	GS	3rd	4th	3rd	SF	GS	bgcolor=gold	1st	SF	bgcolor=silver	2nd	GS	bgcolor=silver	2nd	GS	SF	14
GS	GS	GS	GS	4th	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	SF	GS	GS	GS	14
GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	•	SF	SF	SF	GS	SF	GS	GS	13
GS	bgcolor=gold	1st	GS	GS	bgcolor=gold	1st	1st	SF	GS	bgcolor=gold	1st	GS	GS	GS	SF	GS	14
bgcolor=gold	1st	4th	1st	bgcolor=gold	1st	GS	2nd	2nd	GS	2nd	bgcolor=gold	1st	bgcolor=gold	1st	SF	bgcolor=gold	1st	bgcolor=gold	1st	14
3rd	2nd	4th	3rd	GS	SF	bgcolor=gold	1st	SF	GS	SF	SF	bgcolor=gold	1st	SF	bgcolor=silver	2nd	14

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

Tournament	Most valuable player	Top goalscorer(s)	Goals	Young player of the tournament
1996	Zainal Abidin Hassan	Natipong Sritong-In	7	Not awarded
1998	Nguyễn Hồng Sơn	Myo Hlaing Win	4	Not awarded
2000	Kiatisuk Senamuang	Gendut Doni Christiawan Worrawoot Srimaka	5
2002	Therdsak Chaiman	Bambang Pamungkas	8	Not awarded
2004	Lionel Lewis	Ilham Jaya Kesuma	7
2007	Noh Alam Shah	Noh Alam Shah	10
2008	Dương Hồng Sơn	Budi Sudarsono Agu Casmir Teerasil Dangda	4
2010	Firman Utina	Safee Sali	5
2012	Shahril Ishak	Teerasil Dangda	5
2014	Chanathip Songkrasin	Safiq Rahim	6
2016	Chanathip Songkrasin	Teerasil Dangda	6
2018	Nguyễn Quang Hải	Adisak Kraisorn	8
2020	Chanathip Songkrasin	Safawi Rasid Bienvenido Marañón Chanathip Songkrasin Teerasil Dangda	4	Pratama Arhan
2022	Theerathon Bunmathan	Teerasil Dangda Nguyễn Tiến Linh	6	Marselino Ferdinan

Winning coaches

Year! scope="col"
Winning coaches	National team
1996	Thawatchai Sartjakul
1998	Barry Whitbread
2000	Peter Withe
2002	Peter Withe (2)
2004
2007	Radojko Avramović (2)
2008	Henrique Calisto
2010	K. Rajagopal
2012	Radojko Avramović (3)
2014	Kiatisuk Senamuang
2016	Kiatisuk Senamuang (2)
2018	Park Hang-seo
2020	Alexandré Pölking
2022	Alexandré Pölking (2)

Notes

All-time ranking table

Rank										Best finish
1	14	85	54	21	10	195	68	+127	183	align=left style="background:gold"
2	14	79	41	22	16	161	77	+84	145	align="left" style="background:gold"
3	14	76	37	18	21	182	107	+75	129	align="left" style="background:silver"
4	14	75	34	15	26	129	88	+41	117	align=left style="background:gold"
5	14	66	33	16	17	118	68	+50	115	align="left" style="background:gold"
6	14	52	15	11	26	78	110	–32	56	align="left" style="background:#c96"
7	13	53	11	9	33	55	115	–60	42	align="left" style="background:#c96"
8	9	34	6	0	28	39	110	–71	18	align=left
9	13	45	2	6	37	32	170	–138	12	align=left
10	2	8	1	0	7	3	37	–34	3	align=left
11	3	12	0	0	12	6	50	–44	0	align=left

Records and statistics

All time top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Goals
1	Teerasil Dangda	25
2		17
3		15
Lê Công Vinh
5		14
6	Adisak Kraisorn	13

8		12
Kiatisuk Senamuang
10		11
11		10

Bold denotes players still playing international football

Other statistics

Indonesia (2004), Thailand (2008) and Vietnam (2022) did not concede a single goal in their group stage campaigns in the indicated years
The 2002 AFF Championship Final is still the only final to have been settled on penalties

Most titles

– 7 (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022)

Consecutive championships

– 3 (2000 and 2002, 2014 and 2016, 2020 and 2022)
– 1 (2004 and 2007)

Biggest wins

13–1 on 23 December 2002 at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta)

Most successful coach

Radojko Avramović – 3 (2004, 2007 and 2012)

Most successful player

Sarach Yooyen – 4 (2014, 2016, 2020, 2022)

Most goals scored in a single tournament

Noh Alam Shah – 10 (2007)

Most goals scored in a match

Noh Alam Shah – 7 (for vs, 2007)

Most tournaments scored in

Teerasil Dangda – 4 (2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020)

First ever hat-trick

K. Sanbagamaran – 53 minutes (for vs on 4 September 1996)

Fastest hat-trick

Sarayuth Chaikamdee – 4 minutes (for vs Timor-Leste on 12 December 2004)

Youngest player

Zenivio – 16 years 7 months 13 days old (for Timor-Leste vs on 5 December 2021)

Youngest goal scorer

Marselino Ferdinan – 18 years 3 months 24 days (for vs on 2 January 2023)

Oldest player

Hassan Sunny – 38 years 9 months 1 day old (for vs on 3 January 2023)

Oldest goal scorer

Aleksandar Đurić – 42 years 3 months 7 day old (for vs on 25 November 2012)

Marketing

Official Match Ball through the years!Year!Official match ball name!Manufacturer
1996	Adidas Questra	Adidas
1998	Adidas Tricolore	Adidas
2000	Adidas Tricolore	Adidas
2002	Adidas Fevernova	Adidas
2004	Adidas Roteiro	Adidas
2007	Nike Total 90 Aerow II (Yellow winter)	Nike
2008	Nike Total 90 Omni (Yellow winter)	Nike
2010	Nike Total 90 Tracer (Yellow winter)	Nike
2012	Nike Maxim (Yellow winter)	Nike
2014	Mitre Delta V12S	Mitre
2016	Mitre Delta Fluo Hyperseam (Yellow winter)	Mitre
2018	Grand Sport Primero Mundo X Star	Grand Sport
2020	Warrix Asean Pulse	Warrix
2022	Warrix Bersatu	Warrix
2024	Adidas Tiro Pro	Adidas

References

https://web.archive.org/web/20170719114250/https://football-tribe.com/malaysia/2016/11/13/isu-mata-fifa-ranking-dalam-sejarah-kejohanan-piala-aff-suzuki/ Isu Mata FIFA Ranking Dalam Sejarah Kejohanan Piala AFF
News: Bossi . Dominic . Socceroos seeking entrance into 2020 Suzuki Cup . 27 January 2019 . The Sydney Morning Herald . 31 January 2019 . 31 January 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190131145513/https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/socceroos-seeking-entrance-into-2020-suzuki-cup-20190131-p50us0.html . live .
Web site: About AFF. aseanfootball.org. 15 April 2019. 19 May 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200519072848/https://www.aseanfootball.org/v3/about/. live.
Web site: Global News News.2008 . 2022-10-04 . Global Suzuki . 4 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221004015212/https://www.globalsuzuki.com/globalnews/2008/0807b.html . live .
Web site: AFF Announces Mitsubishi Electric As The New Title Sponsor Of AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022 . 2022-05-24 . www.affmitsubishielectriccup.com . en-gb . 10 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220610212946/https://www.affmitsubishielectriccup.com/2022/news/media-releases/1806-aff-announces-mitsubishi-electric-as-the-new-title-sponsor-of-aff-mitsubishi-electric-cup-2022 . live .
Web site: New format for AFF Suzuki Cup 2018 . 2023-03-07 . AFF – The Official Website Of The Asean Football Federation . en-US . 30 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221230160242/https://www.aseanfootball.org/v3/new-format-aff-suzuki-cup-2018/ . live .

External links

- AFF Cup — RSSSF