The 2018 SAFF Championship, also known as 2018 SAFF

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Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 12th edition of the

SAFF Championship The South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly known as SAFF Championship (previously known as ''South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup'' and ''South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup''), is the main international ...

, the biennial international men's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

championship of South Asia organized by

SAFF South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), founded in 1997, is an association of the football playing nations in South Asia and is part of the larger Asian Football Confederation. The members of the association are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Mald ...

. It was initially scheduled to be hosted by

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

in December 2017, but later rescheduled to 4–15 September 2018.

Host selection

On 2 January 2016, SAFF executive committee made a decision that Bangladesh would host the 2017 SAFF Championship at a meeting held in

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

and

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

made bids to host the games but the latter withdrew its bid. This was the third SAFF Championship hosted by Bangladesh, after victory in the

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edition and semi finalists in

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. The draw ceremony was held on 18 April 2018 in Dhaka.

Participating nations

Squads

Venue

Officials

;Referees * Rowan Arumughan * Hasan Akrami * Mohammad Arafah * Hettikamkanamge Perera * Hanna Hattab * Sivakorn Pu-udom ;Assistant Referees * Manir Ahmmad Dali * Sapam Kennedy * Hassan Zeheiri * Priyanga Palliya Guruge * Apichit Nophuan * Ali Mohammed Al Hasani

Group stage

Group A

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Group B

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Knockout phase

Bracket

Semi-finals

Final

Champion

Awards

The following awards were given for the 2018 SAFF Championship.

Goalscorers

Media coverage

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:SAFF Championship, 2018 2018 SAFF Championship 2018 in Asian football 2018 in Bangladeshi football

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

September 2018 sports events in Asia