2018 AFF Championship

Format

Qualification

Qualified teams

Draw

Squads

Officials

• Chris Beath
• Amdillah Zainuddin
• Fu Ming
• Ma Ning
• Thoriq Munir Alkatiri
• Alireza Faghani
• Hiroyuki Kimura
• Adham Makhadmeh
• Ahmed Al-Ali
• Amirul Izwan Yaacob
• Nagor Amir Noor Mohamed
• Nazmi Nasaruddin
• Suhaizi Shukri
• Ahmed Al-Kaf
• Clifford Daypuyat
• Abdulrahman Al-Jassim
• Khamis Al-Marri
• Turki Al-Khudhayr
• Ahmad A'qashah
• Nathan Chan
• Kim Hee-gon
• Sivakorn Pu-udom
• Aziz Asimov
• Nguyễn Hiền Triết

• Ali Faisal Rosli
• Raffizal Ramli
• Pisal Kimsy
• Chi Sopheap
• Zhou Fei
• Bambang Syamsudar
• Dinan Lazuardi
• Malang Nurhadi
• Mohammadreza Mansouri
• Reza Sokhandan
• Akane Yagi
• Ahmed Al-Roalle
• Kilar Ladsavong
• Somphavanh Louanglath
• Arif Shamil
• Azman Ismail
• Zairul Khalil
• Chit Moe Aye
• Win Thiha
• Zayar Maung
• Abu Bakar Al-Amri
• Krizmark Nanola
• Relly Balila
• Saoud Al-Maqaleh
• Taleb Al-Marri
• Abdul Hannan
• Lim Kok Heng
• Manoj Kalwani
• Ronnie Koh Min Kiat
• Komsun Khumpan
• Pattarapong Kijsathit
• Phubes Lekpha
• Phulsawat Samransuk
• Rachen Srichai
• Thanet Chuchueun
• Nguyễn Trung Hậu
• Phạm Mạnh Long
• Trần Liêm Thanh
• Trương Đức Chiến

• Abdul Hakim Haidi
• Chy Samdy
• Khuon Virak
• Oki Dwi Putra
• Souei Vongkham
• Xaypaseuth Phongsanith
• Fitri Maskon
• Myat Thu
• Thant Zin Oo
• Steve Supresencia
• Jansen Foo Chuan Hui
• Letchman Gopalakrishnan
• Muhammad Taqi
• Mongkolchai Pechsri
• Titichai Nuanchan
• Wiwat Jumpao-on

  Venues

Group stage

1. Greater number of points obtained in all the group matches;
2. Goal difference in all the group matches;
3. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches.

1. Result of the direct match between the teams concerned;
2. Penalty shoot-out if only the teams are tied, and they met in the last round of the group;
3. Drawing lots by the Organising Committee.

   Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Bracket

Semi-finals

Finals

Best XI

Pos.

Player

GK

Statistics Winner Awards Goalscorers Discipline In the final tournament, a player was suspended for the subsequent match in the competition for either getting red card or accumulating two yellow cards in two different matches. Player Offences Suspensions yelyel Tournament teams ranking This table will show the ranking of teams throughout the tournament. Marketing New tournament visuals, including a logo, for the AFF Championship was unveiled for the 2018 edition during the official draw held on 2 May 2018. The ASEAN Football Federation cooperated with Lagardère Sports for the tournament's branding. Five attributes were identified that are "synonymous" to the tournament. Elements combined to form the logo are a beating heart, a goalpost and raised hands by a fan that is meant to signify "pride, loyalty, football, rivalry, and passion". In addition a colour scheme was developed for the branding. The colours devised are magenta, cyan, green and blue. Matchballs The official ball for AFF Suzuki Cup 2018 is the Primero Mundo X Star, which is sponsored by Grand Sport Group. Sponsorship Media coverage Incidents and controversies The Vietnam Football Federation was fined VND 220 million by the ASEAN Football Federation for failing to send any Vietnamese players to attend the press conference before the opening match against Laos on 8 November in Vientiane, with a warning that the penalty will be heavier if it happens again. Under AFF rules, any head coach and a starting player from each team must show up at the pre-match press conference one day prior to the match. During the encounter between Myanmar and Vietnam in Group A in Yangon, the Vietnamese side was dissatisfied over the controversial decision made by Qatari referee Khamis Al-Marri after two penalty calls were denied, and another goal was ruled offside by Thai linesman Phubes Lekpha despite video replay showing the Vietnamese player was indeed onside at that time. An argument then occurred between Burmese coach Antoine Hey and Vietnamese coach Park Hang-seo which resulted in Park not shaking hands with Hey after the match. As a result, the availability and importance of video assistant referee like in the recent 2018 FIFA World Cup is questioned where many believed it should have been enforced in all international football matches. Prior to the group match between Malaysia and Vietnam in Hanoi, young Vietnamese football fans who waiting over a night to buy tickets are being threatened by local thugs and gangsters and forced to leave. Police scouts was then being dispatched to monitor the gangs activities. In another situation, 20 Myanmar fans who were waiting for a bus in Kuala Lumpur to return after the end of the last Group A match between Malaysia and Myanmar when they were physically and verbally attacked by around 30 unidentified assailants. Three of the Myanmar fans were injured and had to be sent to hospital for treatment. The victims decided not to make a police report for its perceived lack of effectiveness on similar cases in the past. Nevertheless, the Secretary of Football Association of Malaysia, Stuart Michael Ramalingam, made a visit to the victims' representative to apologise, explaining that they have ensured security measures being taken inside the stadium during the game but cannot prevent any untoward incident that happened outside the stadium, thus urging every football supporter to control their behaviour with a sportsmanship spirit. Despite the apology, the Myanmar Football Federation sent a letter to the AFF to take action against the host country since it was a repeat of similar fan violence in recent years, urging for a definite end to such violence towards any visiting fans in any future matches hosted by Malaysia, as well as for a heavy penalty to be imposed on them if such problems keep recurring. As stated in their letter, the MFF wrote: Following the complaint, FAM were given two warning notices by the AFF with a possible fine of RM21,000, with the latter warning a direct result of some Malaysian supporters throwing airbomb into the stadium track after the end of the group match against Myanmar. The Football Association of Indonesia was fined Rp116 million by the AFF after one of their players were found to be using a shirt with sponsor logo during their training session before the group match against Timor-Leste. Under the AFF Disciplinary Code 6.11, each team may not display the sponsor's logo either inside or outside the stadium during official training, games and at press conferences. Another possible fines of Rp73 million also received by the team after they forgot to put the tournament logo in their home shirt during the match against Timor-Leste. Following the team's poor performance and early elimination in Group B, PSSI chairman Edy Rahmayadi blamed Indonesian media and press as the main cause for the team failure. Coach Bima Sakti's accusation on the Philippines team using many "naturalised players" also angered many Filipino football supporters. Philippines midfielder Stephan Schröck, a Filipino-German, also expressed his anger via social media saying "call us half-bloods all day, but once we've met, only half of you will be left". During the press conference of the first leg final in Malaysia, a dispute between Malaysian and Vietnamese photographer occurred when the latter overshadow Malaysian photographer sights who was standing behind to taking the photo of both teams, causing them to react angrily and saying "Don't stand up!" with another Malaysian photographer wearing a cap with black shirt began to approaching the Vietnamese photographer but was being calmed by the press conference staffs as well Malaysian coach Tan Cheng Hoe who urging everyone to remain calm during the tense situation before making his speech on the upcoming final matches. A video footage on the incident had been circulating on YouTube with another voice also being recorded as saying "Oh no! A stupid photographer!". Many Malaysian and Vietnamese fans who could not get a single ticket were also disappointed over how ticket management was being conducted by both FAM and VFF. In Malaysia, many of the fans queued up overnight and camped outside the stadium with some becoming unconscious after being trampled by other fans in crowded areas. Similar situation also occurred in Vietnam, hundreds of Vietnam People's Army wounded veteran gathered outside the VFF's office gate to buy priority tickets for the second final match since the VFF had announced that it would sell direct tickets to those who had difficulty to buy online tickets. This resulted in chaos when they broke the federation office main gate. Prior to the first final match between the two countries in Malaysia, many Vietnamese fans who came to the stadium were disappointed when they were not allowed to enter despite having tickets, due to what was claimed to be "over-crowding" by the stadium management. One of the fans telling that an auxiliary police officer already said to her the seating area in the second tier at the stadium is actually allocated for their fans but it seems to be already overtaken by the host fans instead. Both sides fans also expressed their frustration over the no decision taken by Australian referee Chris Beath in two incidents in the first final game such as the scuffle between two players and another foul when the ball hitting one of the Malaysian player hand in their penalty area in the 28th minute.