ASEAN Championship

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

ASEAN Championship

Organising body	AFF
Founded	1996; 29 years ago (1996)
Region	Southeast Asia
Number of teams	10 (finals) 11 (eligible to enter qualification)
Qualifier for	AFF–EAFF Champions Trophy
Current champions	Vietnam (3rd title)
Most successful team(s)	Thailand (7 titles)
Website	aseanutdfc.com

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.

Four national teams have won the ASEAN Championship title; Thailand has won seven titles, Singapore four, Vietnam three, and Malaysia one. To date, Thailand and Singapore are the only teams to have won consecutive titles. Thailand did it three times: in 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020, and 2022, while Singapore did it once in 2004 and 2007. Australia, an AFF member since 2013, has not played the ASEAN Championship. It is one of the most watched football tournaments in the region. The ASEAN Championship has also been recognized as an official tournament by FIFA since 7 December 2024, having previously been recognized as a Category A tournament since 2016.^[1][2][3]

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).

The defending tournament champions are Vietnam, after a 5–3 aggregate victory over Thailand in the 2024 ASEAN Championship final

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.^[4] 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. The tournament has been the only regional competition for national teams since men's football at the SEA Games was for U23 in 2001. No country has 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.

Although having joined the AFF on 27 August 2013, Australia, because of its superior level compared to Southeast Asia, has not played the ASEAN Championship as part of the initial agreement, though Australia has started searching for ways to enter the tournament in recent years due to growth of various Southeast Asian national teams, due to internal pressures, and due to Southeast Asian interests in seeing more competitive football to improve consistency.^[5][6][7]

Organisation

Sports marketing, media, and event management firm, Sportfive (formerly Lagardère Sports) has been involved in the tournament since the inaugural edition in 1996.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[8] 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.^[9]

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–		ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup

Format

Since 2004, the knockout stage has been played over two legs in 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 was applied for the knockout stage in 2010-2022 editions.^[a]

Starting with the 2018 edition, a new format was applied. The nine highest-ranked teams qualified automatically while the 10th and 11th ranked teams played in a two-legged qualifier to determine the final team to qualify. The 10 teams were split into two groups of five and played 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.^[10]

Results

Regular format (1996–2002)
Year	Host	Final			Third place playoff			Number of teams	Total matches played	Total goals in tournament
		Winners	Score	Runners-up	Third place	Score	Fourth place
1996	Singapore	Thailand	1–0	Malaysia	Vietnam	3–2	Indonesia	10	24	93
1998	Vietnam	Singapore	1–0	Vietnam	Indonesia	3–3 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	Thailand	8	16	55
2000	Thailand	Thailand	4–1	Indonesia	Malaysia	3–0	Vietnam	9	20	67
2002	Indonesia  Singapore	Thailand	2–2 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Indonesia	Vietnam	2–1	Malaysia	9	20	92
Home-and-away format in knockout (2004–2016)
Year	Group stage hosts	Final			Third-place playoff or losing semi-finalists			Number of teams	Total matches played	Total goals in tournament
		Winners	Score	Runners-up	Third place	Score	Fourth place
2004	Malaysia  Vietnam	Singapore	3–1 2–1	Indonesia	Malaysia	2–1	Myanmar	10	27	113
		won 5–2 on aggregate
2007	Singapore  Thailand	Singapore	2–1 1–1	Thailand	Malaysia and  Vietnam			8	18	50
		won 3–2 on aggregate
2008	Indonesia  Thailand	Vietnam	2–1 1–1	Thailand	Indonesia and  Singapore			8	18	56
		won 3–2 on aggregate
2010	Indonesia  Vietnam	Malaysia	3–0 1–2	Indonesia	Philippines and  Vietnam			8	18	51
		won 4–2 on aggregate
2012	Malaysia  Thailand	Singapore	3–1 0–1	Thailand	Malaysia and  Philippines			8	18	48
		won 3–2 on aggregate
2014	Singapore  Vietnam	Thailand	2–0 2–3	Malaysia	Philippines and  Vietnam			8	18	65
		won 4–3 on aggregate
2016	Myanmar  Philippines	Thailand	1–2 2–0	Indonesia	Myanmar and  Vietnam			8	18	50
		won 3–2 on aggregate
Home-and-away format throughout the tournament (2018–present)
Year		Final			Losing semi-finalists			Number of teams	Total matches played	Total goals in tournament
		Winners	Score	Runners-up
2018		Vietnam	2–2 1–0	Malaysia	Philippines and  Thailand			10	26	80
		won 3–2 on aggregate
2020[b]		Thailand[c]	4–0 2–2	Indonesia[c]	Singapore and  Vietnam			10	26	88
		won 6–2 on aggregate
2022		Thailand	2–2 1–0	Vietnam	Indonesia and  Malaysia			10	26	90
		won 3–2 on aggregate
2024		Vietnam	2–1 3–2	Thailand	Philippines and  Singapore			10	26	92
		won 5–3 on aggregate

Performances by country

Team	Champions	Runners-up
Thailand	7 (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022)	4 (2007, 2008, 2012, 2024)
Singapore	4 (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012)	0
Vietnam	3 (2008, 2018, 2024)	2 (1998, 2022)
Malaysia	1 (2010)	3 (1996, 2014, 2018)
Indonesia	0	6 (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2016, 2020)
Total	15	15

Team	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)	2024 (10)	Total
Australia	OFC member									×	×	×	×	×	×	0
Brunei	GS	•	×	×	×	•	•	×	•	•	•	•	×	GS	•	2
Cambodia	GS	•	GS	GS	GS	•	GS	•	•	•	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	10
Timor-Leste	Part of  Indonesia			×	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	GS	•	GS	4
Indonesia	4th	3rd	2nd	2nd	2nd	GS	SF	2nd	GS	GS	2nd	GS	2nd	SF	GS	15
Laos	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	•	GS	GS	GS	GS	14
Malaysia	2nd	GS	3rd	4th	3rd	SF	GS	1st	SF	2nd	GS	2nd	GS	SF	GS	15
Myanmar	GS	GS	GS	GS	4th	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	SF	GS	GS	GS	GS	15
Philippines	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	•	SF	SF	SF	GS	SF	GS	GS	SF	14
Singapore	GS	1st	GS	GS	1st	1st	SF	GS	1st	GS	GS	GS	SF	GS	SF	15
Thailand	1st	4th	1st	1st	GS	2nd	2nd	GS	2nd	1st	1st	SF	1st	1st	2nd	15
Vietnam	3rd	2nd	4th	3rd	GS	SF	1st	SF	GS	SF	SF	1st	SF	2nd	1st	15

Legend

1st – Champions 2nd – Runners-up 3rd – Third place 4th – Fourth place SF – Semi-finalist

GS – Group stage Q – Qualified for the current tournament  ••  — Qualified but withdrew  •  – Did not qualify  ×  – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned    – Hosts / Group stage's hosts

Notes

Awards

Tournament	Most valuable player	Top goalscorer(s)	Goals	Young player of the tournament	Fair play award
1996	Zainal Abidin Hassan	Natipong Sritong-In	7	Not awarded	Brunei
1998	Nguyễn Hồng Sơn	Myo Hlaing Win	4		Not awarded
2000	Kiatisuk Senamuang	Gendut Doni Christiawan Worrawoot Srimaka	5		Malaysia
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		Thailand
2010	Firman Utina	Safee Sali	5		Philippines
2012	Shahril Ishak	Teerasil Dangda	5		Malaysia
2014	Chanathip Songkrasin	Safiq Rahim	6		Vietnam
2016	Chanathip Songkrasin	Teerasil Dangda	6		Thailand
2018	Nguyễn Quang Hải	Adisak Kraisorn	8		Malaysia
2020	Chanathip Songkrasin[c]	Safawi Rasid Bienvenido Marañón Chanathip Songkrasin[c] Teerasil Dangda[c]	4	Pratama Arhan[c]	Indonesia[c]
2022	Theerathon Bunmathan	Teerasil Dangda Nguyễn Tiến Linh	6	Marselino Ferdinan	Malaysia
2024	Nguyễn Xuân Son	Nguyễn Xuân Son	7	Suphanat Mueanta	Not awarded

Winning coaches

AFF Championship-winning coaches

Year	Winning coaches	National team
1996	Thawatchai Sartjakul	Thailand
1998	Barry Whitbread	Singapore
2000	Peter Withe	Thailand
2002	Peter Withe (2)	Thailand
2004	Radojko Avramović	Singapore
2007	Radojko Avramović (2)	Singapore
2008	Henrique Calisto	Vietnam
2010	K. Rajagopal	Malaysia
2012	Radojko Avramović (3)	Singapore
2014	Kiatisuk Senamuang[A]	Thailand
2016	Kiatisuk Senamuang (2)	Thailand
2018	Park Hang-seo	Vietnam
2020	Alexandré Pölking	Thailand
2022	Alexandré Pölking (2)	Thailand
2024	Kim Sang-sik	Vietnam

Notes

1. being the only person to win the competition as a player (1996, 2000, 2002) then coach (2014, 2016).

All-time ranking table

As of the 2024 edition

Rank	Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Best finish
1	Thailand	15	94	59	20	15	213	108	+105	197	Champions (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022)
2	Vietnam	15	87	48	23	16	182	83	+99	167	Champions (2008, 2018, 2024)
3	Indonesia	15	80	39	18	23	193	134	+59	135	Runners-up (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2016, 2020)
4	Singapore	15	72	35	17	20	126	78	+48	122	Champions (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012)
5	Malaysia	15	79	35	17	27	136	93	+43	122	Champions (2010)
6	Myanmar	15	54	16	9	29	66	119	–53	57	Semi-finalists (2004, 2016)
7	Philippines	14	54	13	7	34	62	67	–5	46	Semi-finalists (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2024)
8	Cambodia	10	38	7	1	30	46	118	–72	22	Group stage (10 times)
9	Laos	14	49	2	8	39	39	181	–142	14	Group stage (14 times)
10	Brunei	2	8	1	0	7	3	37	–34	3	Group stage (1996, 2022)
11	Timor-Leste	4	16	0	0	16	9	68	–59	0	Group stage (2004, 2018, 2020, 2024)

Records and statistics

All time top goalscorers

As of 2024 final

Rank	Player	Goals
1	Teerasil Dangda	25
2	Noh Alam Shah	17
3	Worrawoot Srimaka	15
	Lê Công Vinh
5	Lê Huỳnh Đức	14
6	Nguyễn Tiến Linh	13
	Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto
	Adisak Kraisorn
9	Bambang Pamungkas	12
	Kiatisuk Senamuang

1. Bold denotes players still playing international football

Other statistics

See also: List of ASEAN Championship hat-tricks

• Indonesia (2004), Thailand (2008), and Vietnam (2000, 2018, 2020, and 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

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

Consecutive championships

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

Biggest wins

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

Most successful coach

• Radojko Avramović – 3 ( Singapore, 2004, 2007 and 2012)

Most successful player

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

Most goals scored in a single tournament

• Noh Alam Shah – 10 ( Singapore, 2007)

Most goals scored in a match

• Noh Alam Shah – 7 (for  Singapore vs  Laos, 2007)

Most tournaments scored in

• Teerasil Dangda – 5 ( Thailand, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2022)

First ever hat-trick

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

Fastest hat-trick

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

Youngest player

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

Youngest goal scorer

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

Oldest player

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

Oldest goal scorer

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

Marketing

Official Match Ball through the years

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

Current sponsorship
Title Partner	Presenting Partner	Official Supplier	Official Supporters
Mitsubishi Electric	Shopee	Adidas	Acecook Vietnam Pocari Sweat

See also

• Football at the Southeast Asian Games
• AFF Women's Championship
• AFC Asian Cup
• CAFA Nations Cup
• EAFF E-1 Football Championship
• SAFF Championship
• WAFF Championship

Notes

1. Except the 2020 edition due to all matches being hosted in the centralized venue, Singapore.
2. The 2020 AFF Championship was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and hosted in a centralized venue. On 28 September 2021, it was announced that Singapore would host the tournament.^[11] Knockout stage had been kept playing over two legs without away goal rule.
3. 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.^[12][13] The sanctions took effect in October 2021.^[14] Thailand is represented by its national team logo while Indonesia is represented by its coat of arms.