2004 AFF Championship
The 2004 AFF Championship was the 5th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation, and the last time under the name Tiger Cup. This was the first time a new format had been applied, in which the format was still in use until now. The group stage was jointly hosted by Vietnam and Malaysia from 7 to 16 December 2004, and the top two teams from each group advanced to the Semi-finals and the Final, which was played in a two-leg home-and-away format from 28 December 2004 to 16 January 2005. This was also the final AFF Cup to feature a third-place match, as it was removed in the 2007 edition.
Thailand were the two-time defending champions, but were eliminated in Group stage. Singapore won the tournament by a 5–2 victory in the two-legged final against Indonesia to secure their second title.
Summary
In the group matches, Indonesia, coached by former Thailand coach Peter Withe, emerged as the Group A winners with ten points, 17 goals scored and none conceded. They were the hot favourites to win the 2004 AFF Championship after bundling out the hosts Vietnam with an unexpected 3–0 victory. Less than a day after the match had ended, the Vietnam Football Federation requested the resignation from its national coach Edson Tavares, despite his requests to stay on until the last match. Singapore, led by Radojko Avramović pipped out the hosts by just a single point and remained unbeaten to become the only team in the championship to not lose a single match.Following the tournament motto "Anything can happen", Myanmar, under coach Ivan Kolev emerged as the surprise, holding defending champions Thailand to a draw and beating Malaysia on their own turf.
Teams
All teams from member associations of the ASEAN Football Federation participated with the exception of Brunei. However, they would be replaced by East Timor when sponsors Tiger Beer stated in May 2004 that the world's newest country at the time would be joining the competition. This kept the tournament at 10 teams.Squads
Venues
Tournament
Group stage
Group A
- All times are Indochina Time – UTC+7
- All matches played in Vietnam
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 0 | +17 | 10 | Advance to knockout stage | |
| 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 8 | Advance to knockout stage | |
| 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 5 | +8 | 7 | - | |
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 16 | −12 | 3 | - | |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 22 | −20 | 0 | - |
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Group B
- All times are Malaysia Standard Time – UTC+8
- All matches played in Malaysia
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 10 | Advance to knockout stage | |
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage | |
| 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 7 | - | |
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 3 | - | |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 18 | −16 | 0 | - |
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Knockout stage
Semi-finals
;First Leg----
;Second Leg
Singapore win 8–5 on aggregate
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''Indonesia win 5–3 on aggregate''
Third place play-off
Final
;First Leg;Second Leg
''Singapore win 5–2 on aggregate''
Awards
| Most Valuable Player | Golden Boot |
 Goal scorers;7 goals;6 goals ;5 goals ;4 goals
;2 goals
|