The 2008

AFF Championship The ASEAN Football Federation Championship (less formally the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup for sponsorship reason, is the primary association football tournament organized by the ASEAN Football ...

was the seventh edition of the tournament. It was primarily sponsored by

Suzuki is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal co ...

and therefore officially known as the 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup. The group stage was held in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

from 5 to 10 December 2008. Two-legged home-and-away semi-finals and finals were held between 16 and 28 December 2008.

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

were the defending champions, but were eliminated by

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

in the semi-finals.

won the tournament by a 3–2 victory in the two-legged final against

to win their first title.

Summary

The tournament would originally have been hosted by

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

because of the rotation system among ASEAN countries, however, they withdrew in August 2007 due to security concerns. In the third AFF council meeting in

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and ...

, Indonesia and Thailand beat three other countries to win the right to host (the other three were

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

and

). However, if both countries are unable to fulfill certain obligations set by the

ASEAN Football Federation The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) is an organisation within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and is an international governing body of association football in Southeast Asia. It consists of the federations of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia ...

(AFF), Vietnam will step in and host the tournament. The winning team will take home USD100,000, runners-up USD 50,000, and USD 15,000 for the losing semi-finalists.

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

will be an official supplier for the 2008 AFF Championship. 10 days before the start of the tournament, safety issues were raised contending the safety of the teams who were due to play in Bangkok. This was because of the riots that were happening in the city which also resulted in the closure of the Suvarnabhumi Airport (see

2008 Thai political crisis 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

for further information). Due to the political crisis, the

Football Association of Thailand The Football Association of Thailand under Patronage of His Majesty the King ( th, สมาคมกีฬาฟุตบอลแห่งประเทศไทย ในพระบรมราชูปถัมภ์), or FA Thailand for s ...

stated that the Group Stages in the Thai capital

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

would go ahead, or if the situation got worse, games would be moved to

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...

in the north of the country or

Phuket Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands o ...

in the South of the country. As well as Thailand confirming themselves as steady hosts, Vietnam and Malaysia also stated that they would be prepared to host the tournament at short notice. On 29 November, with less than one week before the start of the tournament, the Group Stages held in Thai sport were moved from the capital

to the southern province

Venues

Indonesia prepare

Gelora Bung Karno Stadium Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium ( id, Stadion Utama Gelora Bung Karno; literally "Bung Karno Sports Arena Main Stadium"), formerly Senayan Main Stadium and Gelora Senayan Main Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located at the center of the Ge ...

in the capital city and

Si Jalak Harupat Stadium Si Jalak Harupat Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Kutawaringin Subdistrict, Bandung Regency, West Java, Indonesia. It is currently used for association football matches and was used for the 2018 Asian Games men's football tourna ...

Bandung Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...

, while Thailand prepare

Rajamangala Stadium The Rajamangala National Stadium ( th, ราชมังคลากีฬาสถาน; , ) is the national stadium of Thailand. It is part of the Hua Mak Sports Complex, and is located in Hua Mak Subdistrict, Bang Kapi, Bangkok. It offici ...

and

Suphachalasai Stadium The National Stadium of Thailand ( th, สนามกีฬาแห่งชาติ or กรีฑาสถานแห่งชาติ) is a sports complex located in Pathum Wan District, Bangkok. Founded in 1937 with the construction of ...

where both of them located in

. All of the stadiums are

2007 AFC Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its h ...

venues except of

. Bung Karno Stadium will be the opening match venue, while Rajmangala Stadium will be the final match venue. Group stage matches in Thai sport were switched from the capital

to the southern provinces

Surakul Stadium Surakul Stadium (; ) is a multi-purpose stadium in Phuket Province, Thailand. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 15,000 and was built in 1959. The stadium co-hosted the 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup. The use of the Su ...

Phuket City Phuket ( ; or , ) is a city in the southeast of Phuket Island, Thailand. It is the capital of Phuket province. the city had a population of 79,308. It covers the subdistricts (''tambons'') Talat Yai () and Talat Nuea () of Mueang Phuket dis ...

on 29 November due to security issues in

Qualification

The qualification took place in

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...

, the capital of

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...

, from 17 October 2008 to 25 October 2008. The five lower-ranked teams in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

play within a round-robin tournament format and the top two countries in the group will qualify for this tournament.

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the tournament.

Squads

Referees

Confirmed referees during the tournament: * Mohamed Hadimin *

Midi Setiyono MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and r ...

* Mohd Nafeez Abdul Wahab * Ramachandran Krishnan *

Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (born 17 November 1966) is a Malaysian retired football referee who currently resides in Parit Buntar. He has been refereeing in the Super League Malaysia since 1995. He has been a full international referee for FIFA sinc ...

Win Cho Sergeant Win Cho (born 10 August 1974) is a Burmese football referee. He officiates in the Myanmar National League. Win Cho became a FIFA referee in 2004. He refereed at the 2006 AFC Challenge Cup,Yoon, Hyung-Jin"Kyrgyzstan International Ma ...

* Allan Martinez * Malik Abdul Bashir * Pandian Palaniyandi *

Chaiya Mahapab Chaiya Alee Mahapab ( th, ชัยยะ มหาปราบ,born 21 September 1976) is a Thai former football referee. He referees in the Thai Premier League, Chinese Super League and Chinese FA Cup. He became a FIFA elite referee class in 20 ...

* Phùng Đình Dũng * Võ Minh Trí

Final tournament

Group stage

Group A

* All matches played in

. * All times are Western Indonesian Time (WIB) –

UTC+7 UTC+07:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +07:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as . It is 7 hours ahead of UTC, meaning that when the time in UTC areas is midnight (00:00), the time in UTC+07:00 areas would ...

. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group B

* All Matches played in

. * All times are Indochina Time (ICT) –

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Knockout stages

''Note: Although the knockout stages are two-legged,

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

is not applied. If the total aggregate score of both teams after both matches remained the same, extra time would have been played, followed by a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

if necessary.''

Semi-finals

;First Leg ---- ;Second Leg ''Thailand won 3–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Vietnam won 1–0 on aggregate.''

Final

;First leg ;Second leg ''Vietnam won 3–2 on aggregate.'' Đi bão 28 tháng 12

Awards

Goalscorers

;4 goals *

Budi Sudarsono Budi Sudarsono (born 19 September 1979 in Kediri, East Java) is a retired Indonesian footballer and currently work as football coach. He normally plays either as an attacking midfielder or a forward. He played for Persik Kediri in the 2007 AFC ...

Agu Casmir Agu Casmir (born 23 March 1984 in Lagos, Nigeria) is a retired professional football player. Born in Nigeria, he represented the Singapore national team. Club career Casmir previously played for S.League clubs Young Lions and Woodlands Welli ...

* Teerasil Dangda ;3 goals *

Indra Putra Mahayuddin Indra Putra Bin Mahayuddin (born 2 September 1981) is a former Malaysian professional footballer. He is the all-time highest goalscorer of the Malaysia Super League. He is a versatile forward, who can operate as a striker or a winger. Clu ...

* Nguyễn Vũ Phong ;2 goals *

Bambang Pamungkas Bambang Pamungkas (born 10 June 1980), also known as Bepe, is an Indonesian football manager and former player. As a footballer, he predominantly played for Persija Jakarta and the Indonesia national football team. His natural position is strike ...

* Safee Sali * Myo Min Tun *

Noh Alam Shah Mohd Noh Alam Shah (born 3 September 1980) is a retired professional football player from Singapore who currently manages Tanjong Pagar United. Once regarded as one of the best forwards in South East Asia, Alam Shah was a member of the Singapo ...

Anon Sangsanoi Anon Sangsanoi ( th, อานนท์ สังสระน้อย, born March 1, 1984), is a Thai retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He was the league's top goalscorer in 2008 and 2009 seasons. International career A ...

* Arthit Sunthornpit *

Sutee Suksomkit Sutee Suksomkit ( th, สุธี สุขสมกิจ, born June 5, 1978) is a Thai professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Thai League 3 club Bankhai United. He is known for his skillful style of play, ...

* Ronnachai Rangsiyo *

Lê Công Vinh Lê Công Vinh (born 10 December 1985, in Nghệ An, Vietnam) is a former Vietnamese footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are associatio ...

* Phạm Thành Lương ;1 goal *

Khim Borey Khim Borey ( km, ឃឹម បូរី; born 29 September 1989) is a former Cambodian association football, footballer who lasted for Nagaworld FC, Nagaworld and the Cambodia national football team, Cambodia national team. He is currently head c ...

Kouch Sokumpheak Kouch Sokumpheak ( km, កួច សុកុម្ភៈ; born 15 February 1987) is a Cambodian footballer who plays for Nagaworld in the Cambodian Premier League and the Cambodia national team. He plays as a midfielder. International career ...

Firman Utina Firman Utina (born 15 December 1981) is a retired Indonesian professional footballer, he normally plays as an attacking midfielder. Throughout his career, Firman has played for several clubs in Indonesia, most notably winning league titles with Sr ...

* Nova Arianto * Moe Win * Ya Zar Win Thein *

Indra Sahdan Daud Indra Sahdan bin Daud (born 5 March 1979) is a former Singapore international footballer who played as a forward. He previously played for S.League clubs Geylang United, Home United, Sengkang Punggol and Singapore Armed Forces. He is known fo ...

* Fahrudin Mustafić *

Baihakki Khaizan Baihakki bin Khaizan (born 31 January 1984) is a former Singaporean professional footballer who played as a centre back for the Singapore national team. Football career Club career Along with Khairul Amri, Shahril Ishak and Hassan Sunn ...

Shi Jiayi Shi Jiayi ( born 2 September 1983) is a naturalized Singaporean former footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Born in Shanghai, China, Shi started his career at Shanghai state's Football Academy. He moved to Singaporean's Sinchi F ...

Suchao Nuchnum Suchao Nuchnum (born May 17, 1983) is a Thai professional footballer who plays as a midfielder of Kanchanaburi City of the Thai League 3. Club career Before becoming a footballer, Suchao was a Muay Thai boxer. His ring name of "Kobnoi Sor. ...

Patiparn Phetphun Patiparn Phetphun ( th, ปฏิภาณ เพชรพูล; born September 25, 1980), simply known as Tob ( th, ต็อบ), is a Thai retired professional footballer who played as a center back. He graduated from Wat Suthiwararam School ...

Teerathep Winothai Teeratep Winothai ( th, ธีรเทพ วิโนทัย, born 16 February 1985), simply known as Leesaw ( th, ลีซอ) is a Thai retired footballer playing as a forward. He previously spent his youth career with England's Crystal ...

* Nguyễn Việt Thắng *

Huỳnh Quang Thanh Huỳnh Quang Thanh (born October 10, 1984 in Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam) is a Vietnamese footballer who was a defender for Long An. He was also the captain of the Vietnam national football team. He retired in 2018. International goal :''Sc ...

Phan Thanh Bình Phan Thanh Bình (born November 1, 1986) is a retired Vietnamese footballer who played as a striker. He was a member of the Vietnam national football team The Vietnam national football team ( vi, Đội tuyển bóng đá quốc gia Việt N ...

* Nguyễn Quang Hải ;1 own goal * Dương Hồng Sơn

Team statistics

This table shows all team performance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:AFF Championship

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

1 2008–09 in Indonesian football 2008 in Thai football

2008 in Cambodian football 2008 in Vietnamese football 2008 in Laotian football 2008 in Malaysian football 2008 in Burmese football 2008 in Singaporean football