2015 SAFF Championship


The 2015 SAFF Championship was the 11th edition of the SAFF Championship, the biennial international men's football championship of South Asia organized by SAFF. It is being held in India from 23 December 2015 to 3 January 2016.
Heading into the tournament, Afghanistan were the defending champions of the tournament, with it also being the last time they can officially take part, as they have become members of the newly formed Central Asian Football Association.
Originally scheduled to take place in July 2015, monsoon season and schedule congestion led to the tournament being postponed to late December. The tournament saw no participation from Pakistan, who withdrew from the tournament in November 2015 due a dispute within the nation's football federation.
India was chosen as the host nation on 10 September 2013 with the host venue to be decided between Delhi and Kerala. In July 2015, it was announced that matches during the tournament would be held at the Trivandrum International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. This is the third time in which India has hosted the tournament, when it was known as the Gold Cup in 1999 and under the current name in 2011.

Participating nations

Apart from hosts India, six other South Asian nations participated in the tournament, with Pakistan being the only nation not participating. There was no reason cited by the PFF but issues with the federation's elections have forced the courts to prohibit any activities.
CountryAppearancePrevious best performanceFIFA ranking
Dec 2015
11thChampions 166
8thChampions 150
10thChampions 182
7thSemi-finals 188
9thChampions 160
11thThird-place 192
11thChampions 194

Venue

On 2 July 2015, it was announced that the matches during the tournament would take place at the newly constructed Greenfield Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Thiruvananthapuram
Trivandrum International Stadium
Capacity: 55,000

Squads

Broadcasting

The tournament was broadcast live in India on STAR Sports 4, Kantipur Television Network in Nepal, Lemar TV and Tolo TV in Afghanistan. Gazi TV in Bangladesh, Bhutan Broadcasting Service in Bhutan and Television Maldives in Maldives. Every match was broadcast live on YouTube.

Group stage

All times are local, IST.

Group A


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Group B


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Knockout phase

Bracket

Semi-finals

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Final

Awards

The following awards were given for the 2015 SAFF Championship.

Goalscorers

; 4 goals
; 3 goals
; 2 goals
; 1 goal
During the first match of the tournament, both Sri Lanka and Nepal were wearing the same dark red jersey in the first half before Nepal changed into their blue second-kit for the second half.

Sponsorship

On 14 September 2015 it was announced that Suzuki would be the title sponsor of the SAFF Championship for 2015.