Asean Championship

ASEAN Championship

Organising body	AFF
Founded	1996; 28 years ago (1996)
Region	Southeast Asia
Number of teams	10 (finals) 12 (eligible to enter qualification)
Current champions	Thailand (7th title)
Most successful team(s)	Thailand (7 titles)
Website	affmitsubishielectriccup.com
2024 ASEAN Championship

A biennial international competition, it is contested by the men's national teams of the AFF to determine the sub-continental champion of Southeast Asia. The competition has been held every two years since 1996, scheduled to be in the even-numbered year, except for 2007, and 2020 (which was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). It was felt that a close co-operation at the football level would improve the quality of sport across the region and make it more competitive at the Asian and world level.

The ASEAN Championship title has been won by four national teams; Thailand have won seven titles, Singapore has four titles, Vietnam has two titles and Malaysia with one title. To date, Thailand and Singapore are the only teams in history to have won consecutive titles; Thailand in 2000 and 2002, 2014 and 2016 and also 2020 and 2022, and Singapore in 2004 and 2007. It is one of the most watched football tournaments in the region. The ASEAN Championship is also recognized as an 'A' international tournament by FIFA with FIFA ranking points being awarded since 1996.

Since 2018, the championship winners would compete in the following AFF–EAFF Champions Trophy, against the winner of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship, the champions of East Asia, to determine the champions of East and Southeast Asia. Although having joined the AFF on 27 August 2013, Australia has not played the ASEAN Championship as part of the initial agreement.

The first ASEAN Championship took place in 1996 with the six founding members of ASEAN Federation competing with four nations being invited that came in that region. The final saw Thailand become the first champions of ASEAN as they defeated Malaysia 1–0 in Singapore. The top four nations automatically qualified through to the finals in the following edition. This meant the other six nations had to compete in qualifying for the remaining four spots. Myanmar, Singapore, Laos and Philippines all made it through to the main tournament. No country have ever won the AFF Championship title three times in a row. Singapore (2004 and 2007) and Thailand (2000 and 2002 and again in 2014 and 2016) have won twice in a row.

Sports marketing, media and event management firm, Lagardère Sports has been involved in the tournament since the inaugural edition in 1996.^{[citation needed]}

Title sponsorship

Founded as the Tiger Cup after Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries brand Tiger Beer, it sponsored the competition from the competition's inauguration in 1996 until the 2004 edition. After Asia Pacific Breweries withdrew as title sponsor, the competition was known simply as the AFF Championship for the 2007 edition. In 2008, Japanese auto-company Suzuki bought the naming rights for the competition, and the competition was named the AFF Suzuki Cup until the 2020 edition. On 23 May 2022, AFF announced a new title sponsorship deal with Japanese company Mitsubishi Electric and the competition was named the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup starting in the 2022 edition.

On 29 February 2024, AFF and Mitsubishi Electric, who is the title partner of the championship, launched a new logo and brand identity for the event. As part of the rebranding, the region’s premier competition formerly known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup, was also renamed to the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup.

From 2004, the knockout stage is played over two legs on a home-and-away format. Since the 2007 edition, there was no third place match; semi-finalists are listed in alphabetical order. The away goals rule has been applied for knockout stage since the 2010 edition.

Starting with the 2018 edition, a new format was applied. The nine highest ranked teams qualified automatically while the 10th and 11th ranked teams playing in a two-legged qualifier. The 10 teams were split in two groups of five and play a round robin system, with each team playing two home and two away fixtures. A draw was made to determine where the teams play while the format of the knockout round remained unchanged.

Team	1996 (10)	1998 (8)	2000 (9)	2002 (9)	2004 (10)	2007 (8)	2008 (8)	2010 (8)	2012 (8)	2014 (8)	2016 (8)	2018 (10)	2020 (10)	2022 (10)	Total
Australia	Not an AFF member									×	×	×	×	×	0
Brunei	GS	•	×	×	×	•	•	×	•	•	•	•	×	GS	2
Cambodia	GS	•	GS	GS	GS	•	GS	•	•	•	GS	GS	GS	GS	9
Indonesia	4th	3rd	2nd	2nd	2nd	GS	SF	2nd	GS	GS	2nd	GS	2nd	SF	14
Laos	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	•	GS	GS	GS	13
Malaysia	2nd	GS	3rd	4th	3rd	SF	GS	1st	SF	2nd	GS	2nd	GS	SF	14
Myanmar	GS	GS	GS	GS	4th	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	SF	GS	GS	GS	14
Philippines	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	•	SF	SF	SF	GS	SF	GS	GS	13
Singapore	GS	1st	GS	GS	1st	1st	SF	GS	1st	GS	GS	GS	SF	GS	14
Thailand	1st	4th	1st	1st	GS	2nd	2nd	GS	2nd	1st	1st	SF	1st	1st	14
Timor-Leste	Part of Indonesia			×	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	GS	•	3
Vietnam	3rd	2nd	4th	3rd	GS	SF	1st	SF	GS	SF	SF	1st	SF	2nd	14

Legend

Notes

Tournament	Most valuable player	Top goalscorer(s)	Goals	Young player of the tournament	Fair play award
1996	Zainal Abidin Hassan	Natipong Sritong-In	7	Not awarded	Brunei
1998	Nguyễn Hồng Sơn	Myo Hlaing Win	4		Not awarded
2000	Kiatisuk Senamuang	Gendut Doni Christiawan   Worrawoot Srimaka	5		Malaysia
2002	Therdsak Chaiman	Bambang Pamungkas	8		Not awarded
2004	Lionel Lewis	Ilham Jaya Kesuma	7
2007	Noh Alam Shah	Noh Alam Shah	10
2008	Dương Hồng Sơn	Budi Sudarsono   Agu Casmir   Teerasil Dangda	4		Thailand
2010	Firman Utina	Safee Sali	5		Philippines
2012	Shahril Ishak	Teerasil Dangda	5		Malaysia
2014	Chanathip Songkrasin	Safiq Rahim	6		Vietnam
2016	Chanathip Songkrasin	Teerasil Dangda	6		Thailand
2018	Nguyễn Quang Hải	Adisak Kraisorn	8		Malaysia
2020	Chanathip Songkrasin	Safawi Rasid   Bienvenido Marañón   Chanathip Songkrasin   Teerasil Dangda	4	Pratama Arhan	Indonesia
2022	Theerathon Bunmathan	Teerasil Dangda   Nguyễn Tiến Linh	6	Marselino Ferdinan	Malaysia

Winning coaches

AFF Championship-winning coaches

Year	Winning coaches	National team
1996	Thawatchai Sartjakul	Thailand
1998	Barry Whitbread	Singapore
2000	Peter Withe	Thailand
2002	Peter Withe (2)	Thailand
2004	Radojko Avramović	Singapore
2007	Radojko Avramović (2)	Singapore
2008	Henrique Calisto	Vietnam
2010	K. Rajagopal	Malaysia
2012	Radojko Avramović (3)	Singapore
2014	Kiatisuk Senamuang	Thailand
2016	Kiatisuk Senamuang (2)	Thailand
2018	Park Hang-seo	Vietnam
2020	Alexandré Pölking	Thailand
2022	Alexandré Pölking (2)	Thailand

Notes