2023 SAFF Championship

The 2023 SAFF Championship (known as the 2023 Bangabandhu SAFF Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th edition of the SAFF Championship, the biennial international men's football championship of South Asia organised by South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The event was held at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore, India from 21 June to 4 July 2023.

India, the defending champions, won their record-extending ninth championship by defeating Kuwait in the final.

Host selection At the SAFF Executive Committee meeting, held on 17 October 2021 in the Maldives, Football Sri Lanka expressed their interest to bid for hosting the tournament. However, FIFA suspended Sri Lanka on 21 January 2023, which ceased them from hosting and participation in any football tournament.

Later on 30 January 2023, SAFF unofficially announced that only Nepal had applied for hosting rights till the deadline which is 29 January 2023. The host was supposed to be announced following the SAFF members' meeting during 33rd AFC Congress in Manama, Bahrain on 1 February 2023. On 14 February 2023, India were declared as the hosts of the 14th edition of the championship. On 19 March 2023, AIFF announced Bangalore as the host city for SAFF Championship 2023.

Participating nations Football Sri Lanka was sanctioned by FIFA on 21 January 2023, which made them ineligible for participation in the competition. Kuwait and Lebanon were invited as guest teams with a view to increase the number of teams for the championship and make the event more competitive.

CountryAppearancePrevious best performanceFIFA ranking() 13th (2003)1929th (2008)185 14th101 1stDebut ()143 1stDebut ()99 12th (2008, 2018)154 14th (2021)174 12th (1997)195

Squads

Venue The Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore, Karnataka, India hosted all the matches.

BangaloreSree Kanteerava Stadium Capacity: 25,810

Draw The draw ceremony of this tournament was held on 17 May 2023 at 12:30 IST in New Delhi, India. Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4 (99) (101) (hosts) (143) (154) (174) (185) (192) (195)

Draw result +Group ATeamA1A2A3A4+Group BTeamB1B2B3B4

Officiating Referees

Md Alamgir Sarker Pema Tshewang Crystal John Sinan Hussain Prajwol Chhetri Irshad Ul Haq

Assistant referees

Mohammad Nuruzzaman Phurpa Wangchuk S Manikandan Sumanta Dutta Ahmed Hassan Nani Ram Thapa Magar

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage Bracket

Semi-finals

Final

Statistics

Goalscorers

Awards Most Valuable PlayerTop ScorerGoalkeeperFair Play Sunil Chhetri Sunil Chhetri (5 goals) Anisur Rahman Zico

Champion

Prize money Prize money amounts were announced in 2023. PositionAmount (USD)Champions50,000Runner-up25,000Total75,000

Broadcasting CountryBroadcasterT SportsDD Bharati, DD Sports, FanCodeKuwait TelevisionLBCIICE TV, Yes TVKantipur TelevisionGeo Super, A Sports

2023 SAFF Championship

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