2025 SAFF Championship

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2025 SAFF Championship
Tournament details
Host country India
Nepal
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
Pakistan
Maldives
Bhutan
Dates15 June – 25 July [1]
Teams7 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue(s)7 (in 7 host cities)
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The 2025 SAFF Championship will be the 15th edition of the SAFF Championship, the biennial international men's football championship of South Asia organized by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The event will be held in all seven member nations, in a home-away format from 15 June to 25 July 2025. [2] [3]

Contents

India, the defending champions, won their record-extending ninth championship by defeating Kuwait in the final in the previous edition. [4]

Host selection

SAFF proposed the new format in a meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal on 8 January 2025. This format encompasses all member nations hosting three matches in the group stage (except for India and Pakistan if drawn together) and each team would play 6 games in the group stage (3 home & 3 away). This shift is inspired by the AFF Cup in the ASEAN region, aiming to enhance fan engagement and provide teams with the advantage of playing on home soil. [5] For the matches between India and Pakistan, a neutral venue will be employed to avoid tension between the nations' political climate. The committee also noted if any "unfavorable situation" were to arise, a centralized venue, pre-decided, would become the emergency host and host the remaining matches. [6] However, if any member nation declines this format, then SAFF will choose a singular host nation and city, going back to their traditional format. [6] [7]

Participating nations

In the previous edition, Lebanon and Kuwait made guest appearances, but so far it seems only the seven SAFF members will compete.

CountryAppearancePrevious best performance FIFA ranking
(6 April 2025)
Flag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh 13thChampions (2003)
Flag of Bhutan.svg  Bhutan 9thSemi-finals (2008)
Flag of India.svg  India 14thChampions (1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2021, 2023 )
Flag of Maldives.svg  Maldives 12thChampions (2008, 2018)
Flag of Nepal.svg    Nepal 14thRunners-up (2021)
Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 12thThird place (1997)
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg  Sri Lanka 14thChampions (1995)
TBAInvitee

Squads

Each team had to register a squad with a minimum of 18 players and a maximum of 23 players, at least three of whom must be goalkeepers.

Schedule

Group stage Group A Group B
DateMatchesDateMatches
Matchday 115 June 20252 v 3

1 v 4

16 June 20252 v 3

1 v 4

Matchday 218 June 20254 v 2

3 v 1

19 June 20254 v 2

3 v 1

Matchday 321 June 20253 v 4

1 v 2

22 June 20253 v 4

1 v 2

Knockout stageSemi-finals
DateMatchesDateMatches
First leg25 June 20252nd B v 1st A26 June 20251st B v 2nd A
Second leg28 June 20251st A v 2nd B29 June 20252nd A v 1st B
Finals
DateMatches
First leg2 July 2025Semi-final Winner 1 v Semi-final Winner 2
Second leg5 July 2025Semi-final Winner 2 v Semi-final Winner 1

Venues

The Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata will host all of India's home matches. The Jinnah Sports Stadium for Pakistan, and Kathmandu's Dasharath Rangasala will be the home for Nepal. The National Football Stadium in the capital Malé for the Maldives. Bashhundhara Kings Arena will host Bangladesh's home fixtures, while the Colombo Racecourse will host Sri Lanka. And finally, the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu will be the home ground for Bhutan. The SAFF have yet to confirm these proposed venues, but they all have hosted previous editions of the tournament. [2]

Flag of India.svg Kolkata Flag of Pakistan.svg Islamabad Flag of Nepal.svg Kathmandu
Salt Lake Stadium Jinnah Sports Stadium Dasharath Rangasala
Capacity: 68,000Capacity: 48,700Capacity: 20,000
Yuva Bharati Krirangan.png Jinnah Sports Stadium.JPG Dasarath Stadium during 2022 SAFF Women's Championship Final match.jpg
Flag of Bhutan.svg Thimphu
class=notpageimage|
Location of stadiums of the 2025 SAFF Championship.
 Flag of Maldives.svg Malé
Changlimithang Stadium National Football Stadium
Capacity: 15,000Capacity: 11,850
Changlimithang Stadium from mezzanine.jpg Rashmee Dhandu Stadium on a matchday of the 2021 SAFF Championship.jpg
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Colombo Flag of Bangladesh.svg Dhaka
Colombo Racecourse Bashundhara Kings Arena
Capacity: 10,000Capacity: 6,000
Colombo Racecourse grandstand - 03.jpg Bashundhara Kings Arena Football Venu.jpg

Draw

The draw will most likely take place about a month prior to the tournament, similar to the previous edition. The location of the draw has not been disclosed.

The latest updated FIFA rankings will be used for the tournament, 8 teams will be divided into 4 pots, the nations ranked at the top will occupy the respective positions in the group.

Group stage

Group A

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1TBD100000000Advance to knockout stage
2TBD200000000
3TBD300000000
4TBD400000000
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: [ citation needed ]

Group B

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1TBD100000000Advance to knockout stage
2TBD200000000
3TBD300000000
4TBD400000000
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: [ citation needed ]

Marketing

The marketing rights for the tournament have been awarded to Sportfive until 2029, with the championship occurring biennially. [2] [8]

Sponsorship

Title PartnerPresenting PartnersOfficial SponsorsOfficial Performance PartnerCommercial partner

Match Ball

Broadcasting

CountryBroadcasterReference
Flag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh
Flag of Bhutan.svg  Bhutan
Flag of India.svg  India
Flag of Maldives.svg  Maldives
Flag of Nepal.svg    Nepal
Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg  Sri Lanka

The SAFF Championship is typically not broadcast outside of South Asia on any television network, however, sometimes one of the broadcaster's YouTube channel will live stream their network's coverage of the tournament to every region of the world. In the 2023 edition, Bangladesh's T Sports did this. [9]

Controversies

India-Pakistan

While SAFF holds the vision to have this edition of the championship in home and away format, it faces various problems in the form of political and logistical challenges. For instance, India and Pakistan, if drawn in the same group would have to play the game on neutral venue. It still remains to be seen how receptive are the member associations about the change from centralized venues. In case of losing out on support from member associations, SAFF has shown intent to go back to the traditional, centralized venue format. [10]

Format Change

SAFF noted some key reasons for the change in format, emphasizing the ASEAN tournament as their inspiration. One reason was to increase stadium attendances for matches by guaranteeing their be a 'home' team in each fixture (barring an India and Pakistan game). In past editions, matches without the host nation averaged significantly low numbers despite still being played in South Asia. For instance in 2023, matches with the host India averaged an attendance of 17,853 spectators per match. However, the other rest managed merely 291 spectators per match. While the new format appears to mitigate this gulf in quantities, some critics argued that not having one host nation reduces the sense of unity and festivity typically associated with a single-host tournament. They believe that the absence of a centralized host dilutes the tournament's atmosphere, making it less of a grand event for fans to rally behind. Additionally, logistical and financial challenges, such as traveling and costs between countries for teams and supporters, were cited as potential drawbacks.

Lack of Invitees

According to the new format, schedule, and SAFF, it is unclear if guest nations will be invited. Based on the nature of the 3 home and 3 away game round-robin, there needs to be at least 8 nations (2 groups of 4). But, there are only seven SAFF-member nations. The absence of guest nations like Lebanon and Kuwait could significantly diminish the tournament's competitiveness and continental appeal. Guest nations often bring higher FIFA rankings, better skill levels, and more diverse playing styles, which can elevate the overall quality of matches. [11] For a region like South Asia, where teams have historically struggled to succeed beyond their borders, competing against stronger opponents provides invaluable exposure and experience. The India national team has commented on this in their "Vision 2047", a plan regarding football development in India from 2023-2047. [12] It states that an increase in competition will provide invaluable experience to the players and will improve the teams in the region.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "SAFF Championship 2025: Dates & format revealed".
  2. 1 2 3 khelnow
  3. ↑ "Format of SAFF Championship likely to change". unb.com.bd. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  4. ↑ "Gurpreet Singh Sandhu the penalty hero again as India beat Kuwait to become SAFF champions". ESPN.com. 4 July 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  5. ↑ "SAFF Championship 2025: Dates & format revealed". Khel Now. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  6. 1 2 "June's SAFF Championship to feature home-and-away fixtures". The Daily Star. 8 January 2025. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  7. ↑ https://www.newagebd.net/post/others/254845/saff-2025-to-be-held-on-home-and-away-format
  8. ↑ Wijewickrama, Navod (8 January 2025). "Ex.Co approves home or away format for SAFF Championship". ThePapare. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  9. ↑ "Bashundhara Toiletries Limited becomes title sponsor of SAFF Championship 2023". Daily Sun. 21 June 2023.
  10. ↑ "News Details".
  11. ↑ Malik, Varun (4 July 2023). "SAFF Championship 2023: Why Kuwait and Lebanon played South Asian tournament despite not being member nations?". India TV .
  12. ↑ https://www.the-aiff.com/media/uploads/2023/01/Vision-2047-The-Indian-Football-Strategic-Roadmap-2023-2047.pdf
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