2015 SAFF Championship

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2015 SAFF Championship
2015 SAFF Suzuki Cup
2015SAFFSuzukiCuplogo.png
2015 SAFF Championship official logo
Tournament details
Host country India
Dates 23 December 2015 – 3 January 2016
Teams 7 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s) 1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions  India (7th title)
Runners-up  Afghanistan
Tournament statistics
Matches played 12
Goals scored 44 (3.67 per match)
Top scorer(s) Afghanistan Khaibar Amani (4 goals)
Best player India Sunil Chhetri
← 2013
2017 →

The 2015 SAFF Championship (officially known as the SAFF Suzuki Cup 2015[1] for sponsorship reasons) was 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.[2]

Heading into the tournament, Afghanistan were the defending champions of the tournament, with it also being the last time they can officially take part, as they have become members of the newly formed Central Asian Football Association.[3]

Originally scheduled to take place in July 2015, monsoon season and schedule congestion led to the tournament being postponed to late December.[2] The tournament saw no participation from Pakistan, who withdrew from the tournament in November 2015 due a dispute within the nation's football federation.[4]

India was chosen as the host nation on 10 September 2013 with the host venue to be decided between Delhi and Kerala.[5] In July 2015, it was announced that matches during the tournament would be held at the Trivandrum International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.[2] 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

Apart from hosts India, six other South Asian nations participated in the tournament, with Pakistan being the only nation not participating. There was no reason cited by the PFF but issues with the federation's elections have forced the courts to prohibit any activities.[6]

File:2015 SAFF Championship participating countries.PNG
Participating nations The participating nations (Pakistan not participating).
Country Appearance Previous best performance FIFA ranking
Dec 2015
 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.[2]

Thiruvananthapuram
Trivandrum International Stadium
Capacity: 50,000
200px

Squads

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Main article: 2015 SAFF Championship squads


Broadcasting

The tournament was broadcast live in India and Nepal on STAR Sports 4. Lemar TV and Tolo TV broadcast it in Afghanistan. Gazi TV broadcast it in Bangladesh and Bhutan TV and MBC broadcast the tournament in Bhutan and the Maldives respectively. Every match was broadcast live on YouTube.[7]

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

Pos Team
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Status
1  India (H) 2 2 0 0 6 1 +5 6 Qualified for semi-finals
2  Sri Lanka 2 1 0 1 1 2 −1 3
3    Nepal 2 0 0 2 1 5 −4 0
Source: soccerway.com
(H) Host.

23 December 2015 (2015-12-23)
18:30
Nepal    0–1  Sri Lanka
Report Rifnas Goal 90+5'
Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Attendance: 200
Referee: Jameel Juma Abdulhusain (Bahrain)

25 December 2015 (2015-12-25)
18:30
Sri Lanka  0–2  India
Report Singh Goal 51', 73'
Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Attendance: 6,417
Referee: Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan)

27 December 2015 (2015-12-27)
18:30
India  4–1    Nepal
Borges Goal 26'
Chhetri Goal 68'
Chhangte Goal 81', 90'		 Report Magar Goal 3'
Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Attendance: 8,093
Referee: Jameel Juma Abdulhusain (Bahrain)

Group B

Pos Team
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Status
1  Afghanistan 3 3 0 0 11 1 +10 9 Qualified for semi-finals
2  Maldives 3 2 0 1 7 6 +1 6
3  Bangladesh 3 1 0 2 4 7 −3 3
4  Bhutan 3 0 0 3 1 9 −8 0
Source: soccerway.com

24 December 2015 (2015-12-24)
15:30
Maldives  3–1  Bhutan
Imaz Goal 9'
Abdulla Goal 31'
Ashfaq Goal 70'		 Report Dorji Goal 20'
Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Attendance: 4,000
Referee: Sudish Pandey (Nepal)

24 December 2015 (2015-12-24)
18:30
Afghanistan  4–0  Bangladesh
Saighani Goal 30'
Shayesteh Goal 32'
Amiri Goal 40'
Amani Goal 69'		 Report
Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Attendance: 150
Referee: Pranjal Banerji (India)

26 December 2015 (2015-12-26)
15:30
Bangladesh  1–3  Maldives
Biswas Goal 86' Report Ashfaq Goal 42' (pen.)
Hassan Goal 90'
Nashid Goal 90+5'

26 December 2015 (2015-12-26)
18:30
Bhutan  0–3  Afghanistan
Report Amani Goal 14', 51'
Saighani Goal 42'
Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Attendance: 1,817
Referee: Nivon Robesh Gamini (Sri Lanka)

28 December 2015 (2015-12-28)
15:30
Bhutan  0–3  Bangladesh
Report Barman Goal 8'
Rony Goal 24' (pen.), 67'
Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Attendance: 218
Referee: Pranjal Banerji (India)

28 December 2015 (2015-12-28)
18:30
Afghanistan  4–1  Maldives
Shayesteh Goal 20'
Popalzay Goal 34', 54'
Hatifi Goal 51'		 Report Fasir Goal 32'
Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Attendance: 1,751
Referee: Nivon Robesh Gamini (Sri Lanka)

Knockout phase

Bracket

 
 Semi-finals Final
 
            
 
 31 Dec – Thiruvananthapuram
 
 
  India 3
 
 3 Jan – Thiruvananthapuram
 
  Maldives 2
 
  India 2
 
 31 Dec – Thiruvananthapuram
 
  Afghanistan 1
 
  Afghanistan 5
 
 
  Sri Lanka 0
 

Semi-finals

31 December 2015 (2015-12-31)
15:30
India  3–2  Maldives
Chhetri Goal 25'
Lalpekhlua Goal 34', 66'		 Report Nashid Goal 45+2'
Amdhan Ali Goal 75'

31 December 2015 (2015-12-31)
18:30
Afghanistan  5–0  Sri Lanka
Hashemi Goal 45+1'
Taher Goal 50'
Amani Goal 56' (pen.)
Hatifi Goal 78'
Shayesteh Goal 89'		 Report
Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Attendance: 300
Referee: Sudhish Pandey (Nepal)

Final

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Main article: 2015 SAFF Championship Final

3 January 2016 (2016-01-03)
18:30
India  2–1 (a.e.t.)  Afghanistan
Lalpekhlua Goal 72'
Chhetri Goal 101'		 Report Amiri Goal 70'
Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Attendance: 40,500
Referee: Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan)

Awards

The following awards were given for the 2015 SAFF Championship.[8]

Fair Play Award MVP of the Tournament Golden Boot Award
 Maldives India Sunil Chhetri Afghanistan Khaibar Amani

Top scorers

4 goals
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.[9] Committee Working President, V Sivankutty, said that the blame for the lack of organization was the responsibility of the tournament organizers.[9]

During the first match of the tournament, both Sri Lanka and Nepal wearing the same dark red jersey in the first half before Nepal changed into their blue second-kit for the second half.

Sponsorship

On 14 September 2015 it was announced that Suzuki would be the title sponsor of the SAFF Championship for 2015.[1]

References

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  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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