South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) is an association of the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

playing nations in

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

. Incorporated in 1997, it is a regional subsidiary of

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

. The members of the association are

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

History

The SAFF was founded in 1997, with

, and

. In 2000, they expanded to 7 members, adding

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

joined in 2005, but left in 2015, to join then newly formed Central Asian Football Association.

Presidents

Member associations

Former member

Competitions

The South Asian Football Federation runs several competitions on subcontinental level.

National teams

;Men *

SAFF Championship The SAFF Championship (erstwhile SAARC Gold Cup and SAFF Gold Cup), is the primary association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the South Asian Football Fede ...

* SAFF U-23 Championship * SAFF U-20 Championship * SAFF U-17 Championship *

South Asian Games The South Asian Games is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among athletes from South Asia. The South Asia Olympic Council, which was formed in 1983, governs it. The Games consist of seven countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, N ...

;Women * SAFF Women's Championship * SAFF U-20 Women's Championship * SAFF U-17 Women's Championship *

Clubs

;Men * SAFF Club Championship ;Women * SAFF Women's Club Championship The South Asian Football Federation announced in April 2011 that they had decided to start a new tournament for association football club sides, the SAFF Club Championship, with the inaugural edition to be held in Bangladesh from 1–15 September of the same year. The competition was postponed and desires to revive the competition were again announced in July 2013 but the competition has still not started with accusations that India, the prime nation in the competition, were not altogether interested in participating. Sri Lanka was supposed to host the first edition in August 2014. A new possible start was set for December 2016 but later announced that 2017 would see the first edition. This again was changed and announced that 2018 would be the start of the tournament. In January 2025, SAFF announced three new competitions: SAFF Club Championship, SAFF Women's Club Championship and the SAFF U-23 Championship.

Current title holders

Titles by nation

''As of'' ''1 June 2025'' Note: (†) Member from 2005 till 2015 , (††) The Russian Under-17 team was invited to the Under-17 tournament

Medals (1993–2025)

Last Update: 2025 SAFF U-19 Championship ''Exclude Football at the South Asian Games and SAFF Club Championship.'' *Note: and shared gold in 2024 SAFF U-19 Women's Championship.

SAFF teams at continental and global tournaments

;Legend * – Champion * – Runner-up * – Third place * – Fourth place *QF – Quarterfinals *R16 – Round of 16 *GS – Group stage *1S – First knockout stage * — Did not qualify * — Qualified but withdrew * — Did not enter / withdrawn / banned / disqualified * * — Hosts For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

Senior

Men's

=FIFA World Cup

=AFC Asian Cup

=AFC Challenge Cup

=AFC Solidarity Cup

Asian Games men's football tournament

:''Football at the Asian Games was a senior tournament until 1998.'' :''Football at the Asian Games has been an under-23 tournament since 2002.''

Women's

=AFC Women's Asian Cup

Asian Games Women's football tournament

Junior

Men's U-20

=AFC U-20 Asian Cup

Men's U-17

=FIFA U-17 World Cup

=AFC U-17 Asian Cup

Women's U-20

=AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup

Women's U-17

=FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

=AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup

Rankings

Rankings are calculated by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Men's national teams

*Last updated: 28 November 2024 Leading men's team: ImageSize = width:200 height:700 PlotArea = left:40 right:0 bottom:5 top:10 DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1992 till:01/01/2025 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1992 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy Colors = id:IND value:blue id:MAD value:white id:BHU value:yellow id:NEP value:red id:AFG value:green PlotData= bar:Leaders width:20 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S from:01/01/1992 till:01/06/2004 shift:(20,-3) text:"

" color:IND from:01/06/2004 till:01/09/2004 shift:(20,-12) text:"

" color:MAD from:01/09/2004 till:01/11/2004 shift:(20,-4) text:"

" color:IND from:01/11/2004 till:01/12/2004 shift:(20,-4) text:"

" color:MAD from:01/12/2004 till:01/07/2006 shift:(20,-4) text:"

" color:IND from:01/07/2006 till:01/10/2006 shift:(20,-11) text:"

" color:MAD from:01/10/2006 till:01/11/2006 shift:(20,-8) text:"

" color:IND from:01/11/2006 till:01/12/2006 shift:(20,-3) text:"

" color:MAD from:01/12/2006 till:01/03/2007 shift:(20,0) text:"

" color:IND from:01/03/2007 till:01/08/2007 shift:(20,-3) text:"

" color:MAD from:01/08/2007 till:01/08/2009 shift:(20,-12) text:"

" color:IND from:01/08/2009 till:01/09/2009 shift:(20,-4) text:"

" color:MAD from:01/09/2009 till:01/09/2010 shift:(20,-4) text:"

" color:IND from:01/09/2010 till:01/10/2010 shift:(20,-11) text:"

" color:MAD from:01/10/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift:(20,-8) text:"

" color:IND from:01/07/2011 till:01/08/2012 shift:(20,-3) text:"

" color:NEP from:01/08/2012 till:01/03/2013 shift:(20,-4) text:"

" color:MAD from:01/03/2013 till:01/02/2014 shift:(20,-11) text:"

" color:AFG from:01/02/2014 till:01/06/2014 shift:(20,-8) text:"

" color:IND from:01/06/2014 till:01/06/2015 shift:(20,-4) text:"

" color:MAD from:01/06/2015 till:02/07/2015 shift:(20,-4) text:"

" color:IND from:02/07/2015 till:02/06/2016 shift:(20,-4) text:"

" color:MAD from:02/06/2016 till:end shift:(20,-4) text:"

" color:IND

Women's national teams

*Last updated: 12 June 2025 Leading women's team: ImageSize = width:200 height:400 PlotArea = left:40 right:0 bottom:5 top:10 DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/06/2003 till:31/08/2025 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2004 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy Colors = id:India value:blue PlotData= bar:Leaders width:20 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S from:01/06/2003 till:end shift:(20,-4) text:"

" color:India

Individual statistics

Top goalscorer in men's football

By number of goals

By country

: ''Players in bold are active international players.''

Top goalscorer in women's football

By number of goals

By country

: ''Players in bold are active international players.''

References

External links

South Asian Football Federation Cup
at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

South Asia Football
– SAFF website (archived) {{AFC teams South Asian Football Federation Sport in South Asia International organisations based in India Sports organizations established in 1997

History

Presidents

Member associations

Former member

Competitions

National teams

Clubs

Current title holders

Titles by nation

Medals (1993–2025)

SAFF teams at continental and global tournaments

Senior

Men's

=FIFA World Cup

=AFC Asian Cup

=AFC Challenge Cup

=AFC Solidarity Cup

Asian Games men's football tournament

Women's

=AFC Women's Asian Cup

Asian Games Women's football tournament

Junior

Men's U-20

=AFC U-20 Asian Cup

Men's U-17

=FIFA U-17 World Cup

=AFC U-17 Asian Cup

Women's U-20

=AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup

Women's U-17

=FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

=AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup

Rankings

Men's national teams

Women's national teams

Individual statistics

Top goalscorer in men's football

By number of goals

By country

Top goalscorer in women's football

By number of goals

By country

See also

References

External links