Template:Infobox international football competition 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 was 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]
| Country | Appearance | Previous best performance | FIFA ranking Dec 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Fb (Host) | 11th | Champions (1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011) | 166 |
| Template:Fb | 8th | Champions (2013) | 150 |
| Template:Fb | 10th | Champions (2003) | 182 |
| Template:Fb | 7th | Semi-finals (2008) | 188 |
| Template:Fb | 9th | Champions (2008) | 160 |
| Template:Fb | 11th | Third-place (1993) | 192 |
| Template:Fb | 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][7]
| Thiruvananthapuram | Template:Location map+ |
|---|---|
| Trivandrum International Stadium | |
| Capacity: 55,000 | |
|
Squads
Broadcasting
The tournament was broadcast live in India on STAR Sports 4, Kantipur Television Network in Nepal, Lemar TV and Tolo TV in Afghanistan. Gazi TV in Bangladesh, Bhutan Broadcasting Service in Bhutan and Television Maldives in Maldives. Every match was broadcast live on YouTube.[8]
Group stage
All times are local, IST (UTC+5:30).
Group A
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Group B
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Template:Football box Template:Football box
Template:Football box Template:Football box
Knockout phase
Bracket
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Semi-finals
Final
Champion
Awards
The following awards were given for the 2015 SAFF Championship.[9]
| Fair Play Award | Most Valuable Player | Golden Boot Award | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Fb | Template:Flagicon Sunil Chhetri | Template:Flagicon Khaibar Amani |
Goalscorers
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
- Template:Flagicon Faysal Shayesteh
- Template:Flagicon Jeje Lalpekhlua
- Template:Flagicon Sunil Chhetri
- 2 goals
- Template:Flagicon Masih Saighani
- Template:Flagicon Omid Popalzay
- Template:Flagicon Ahmad Hatifi
- Template:Flagicon Shakhawat Hossain Rony
- Template:Flagicon Lallianzuala Chhangte
- Template:Flagicon Robin Singh
- Template:Flagicon Ali Ashfaq
- Template:Flagicon Ahmed Nashid
- 1 goal
- Template:Flagicon Zubayr Amiri
- Template:Flagicon Sayed Mohammad Hashemi
- Template:Flagicon Kanischka Taher
- Template:Flagicon Hemanta Vincent Biswas
- Template:Flagicon Topu Barman
- Template:Flagicon Tshering Dorji
- Template:Flagicon Rowllin Borges
- Template:Flagicon Bimal Magar
- Template:Flagicon Ahmed Imaz
- Template:Flagicon Asadhulla Abdulla
- Template:Flagicon Amdhan Ali
- Template:Flagicon Naiz Hassan
- Template:Flagicon Mohamed Rifnas
Team statistics
This table shows all team performance.
| Template:Tooltip | Team | Template:Tooltip | Template:Tooltip | Template:Tooltip | Template:Tooltip | Template:Tooltip | Template:Tooltip | Template:Tooltip | Template:Tooltip |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | |||||||||
| 1 | Template:Fb | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 12 |
| 2 | Template:Fb | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 3 | +14 | 12 |
| Semi-finals | |||||||||
| 3 | Template:Fb | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | Template:Fb | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | -6 | 3 |
| Eliminated in the group stage | |||||||||
| 5 | Template:Fb | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 3 |
| 6 | Template:Fb | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 |
| 7 | Template:Fb | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 0 |
Source:[10]
Controversies
During the first match of the tournament, both Sri Lanka and Nepal were 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
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Suzuki Motor Corporation to sponsor SAFF Football Championship 2015. Times of India(14 September 2015). Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Trivandrum will host upcoming SAFF Cup in December 2015/January 2016. SportsKeeda(2 July 2015). Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ↑ Afghanistan FA Secretary General Sayed Alireza Aghazada: This is our last Participation in SAFF Championship. GoalNepal(23 February 2015). Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ↑ Pakistan Withdraw From SAFF Cup Football in Kerala. NDTV Sports(23 November 2015). Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ↑ India to host 2015 SAFF Cup. Times of India(10 September 2013). Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ↑ Pak withdraw from SAFF. NDTV Sports. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ↑ India win 2015 SAFF Championship title thedailystar.net. Retrieved 22 August 2021
- ↑ TV Channels Broadcasting SAFF Championship 2015 Live Coverage. SportsCola(5 December 2015). Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ↑ Video of the award presentation. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ↑ South Asian Championship 2015/16 (Trivandrum). Retrieved 11 December 2021.