SAFF Championship 2023: Hosts, Tournament Format, Previous Winners List, Know All

The premier international football event of South Asia, the SAFF Championship 2023 will be hosted by India for this year. It will be taking place in Bengaluru and India will be hosting it for the first time since 2015.

The premier footballing event of India, the Indian Super League (ISL) 2022-23 recently got over and Juan Ferrando’s ATK Mohun Bagan won the prestigious event. They beat Simon Grayson’s Bengaluru FC on penalties in the marquee final.

SAFF Championship 2023 is one of the key tournaments in Asian football and enables a lot of young talents to spring up and make a name for themselves. India would be playing a Tri-Nation series in Imphal.

India, Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan will be taking part in this tournament and it will be a six-day tournament. Some of the players who excel in this tournament will be hoping to make it to the squad of the SAFF Championship 2023.

The Tri-Nation series is slated to begin from 22^nd March 2023 and will be taking place till 28^th March 2023.

One of the vibrant footballing members in South Asia, Sri Lanka will not be taking part in the SAFF Championship 2023. This is because the apex body of world football, FIFA had banned Sri Lanka on 21^st January 2023. This is why Sri Lanka weren’t able to host the tournament or participate in it.

In this article, we take a look at the hosts, tournament format and previous winners list of the SAFF Championship 2023:

Hosts

The hosts of this year’s SAFF Championship 2023 are India. Bengaluru will be hosting the entire tournament for 6 days. India will be hosting the tournament for the 4^th time and for the 1^st time since 2015.

Teams

1. India
2. Pakistan
3. Bangladesh
4. Bhutan
5. Maldives
6. Nepal

Tournament Format

There will be a group and a knockout format in the SAFF Championship 2023. Groups of 3 will be formed within the 6 nations and the top 2 teams from each group will be qualifying for the semi-finals.

It will be followed by the high-voltage final which will be taking place on 28^th March 2023.

Previous Winners of SAFF Championship

India are the most successful team in this competition. The Blue Tigers have won 8 times out of the 12 times, this competition has taken place.

Also read: UEFA Champions League 2022-23 Quarter Finals: Teams, Fixtures, Live Streaming Details, Know All