South Asian Football Federation


The South Asian Football Federation is an association of the football playing nations in South Asia. Incorporated in 1997, it is a regional subsidiary of the Asian Football Confederation. The members of the association are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

History

The SAFF was founded in 1997, with Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In 2000, they expanded to 7 members, adding Bhutan. Afghanistan 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
  • SAFF U-23 Championship
  • SAFF U-20 Championship
  • SAFF U-17 Championship
  • SAFF Futsal Championship
  • South Asian Games
;Women
  • SAFF Women's Championship
  • SAFF U-20 Women's Championship
  • SAFF U-17 Women's Championship
  • SAFF Women's Futsal Championship
  • South Asian Games

    Clubs

;Men
;Women
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. SAFF struck a deal with marketing partner Sportfive to fund the Men’s, Women’s, Under-23 and Club 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.
;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 are shown.

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
Team

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

are calculated by FIFA.

Men's national teams

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:19/01/2026
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: align:left fontsize:S
from:01/01/1992 till:01/06/2004 shift: text:"India" color:IND
from:01/06/2004 till:01/09/2004 shift: text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/09/2004 till:01/11/2004 shift: text:"India" color:IND
from:01/11/2004 till:01/12/2004 shift: text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/12/2004 till:01/07/2006 shift: text:"India" color:IND
from:01/07/2006 till:01/10/2006 shift: text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/10/2006 till:01/11/2006 shift: text:"India" color:IND
from:01/11/2006 till:01/12/2006 shift: text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/12/2006 till:01/03/2007 shift: text:"India" color:IND
from:01/03/2007 till:01/08/2007 shift: text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/08/2007 till:01/08/2009 shift: text:"India" color:IND
from:01/08/2009 till:01/09/2009 shift: text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/09/2009 till:01/09/2010 shift: text:"India" color:IND
from:01/09/2010 till:01/10/2010 shift: text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/10/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift: text:"India" color:IND
from:01/07/2011 till:01/08/2012 shift: text:"Nepal" color:NEP
from:01/08/2012 till:01/03/2013 shift: text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/03/2013 till:01/02/2014 shift: text:"Afghanistan" color:AFG
from:01/02/2014 till:01/06/2014 shift: text:"India" color:IND
from:01/06/2014 till:01/06/2015 shift: text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:01/06/2015 till:02/07/2015 shift: text:"India" color:IND
from:02/07/2015 till:02/06/2016 shift: text:"Maldives" color:MAD
from:02/06/2016 till:end shift: text:"India" color:IND

Women's national teams

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:01/01/2026
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2004
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy
Colors =
id:India value:blue
PlotData=
bar:Leaders width:20 mark: align:left fontsize:S
from:01/06/2003 till:end shift: text:"India" color:India

Men's Futsal national teams

  • Last updated: 12 December 2025

    Women's Futsal national teams

  • Last updated: 12 December 2025

    Individual statistics

Top goalscorer in men's football

By number of goals

#NameCareerGoalsCapsAvg/Game
1 Sunil Chhetri 2005–202595157
2 Ali Ashfaq 2003–20235898
3 Inivalappil Mani Vijayan 1992–20042970
4 Kasun Jayasuriya 2000–20092755
4 Baichung Bhutia 1995–20112782
6 Jeje Lalpekhlua 2009–20192354
6 Shabbir Ali1974–19842366

By country

#NameCareerGoalsCapsAvg/Game
1 Sunil Chhetri 2005–202595157
2 Ali Ashfaq 2003–20235898
3 Kasun Jayasuriya 2000–20092755
4 Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Chunnu 1975–19851750
5 Nirajan Rayamajhi 2002–20101321
5 Hari Khadka 1995–20061339
5 Anjan Bista 2014–Present1360
6 Chencho Gyeltshen 2011–present1344
7 Muhammad Essa 2000–20091137

Top goalscorer in women's football

By number of goals

#NameCareerGoalsCapsAvg/Game
1 Sabitra Bhandari2014–present5346
2 Bala Devi2007–20244858
3 Sasmita Malik2007–20173642
4 Sabina Khatun2009–present3453
5 Yumnam Kamala Devi2011–20223651

By country

#NameCareerGoalsCapsAvg/Game
1 Sabitra Bhandari2014–present5346
2 Bala Devi2007–20244858
3 Sabina Khatun2009–present3453