The South Asian Football Championship and its predecessor, the football event at the South Asian Games, used to elicit a great deal of enthusiasm and excitement, but such feelings have partly dissipated over the course of the past two decades.
Although the growing popularity of cricket in South Asian countries has contributed to a decline in interest in football’s most important event, the supremacy of India has made the result something of a foregone conclusion.
India, which is the largest country in the region in terms of both size and people, has been so dominant in the competition throughout the course of time that it has, at times, been able to field a young squad and still manage to win the trophy. This is due to India being the largest country in the region in terms of both land and population.
Given that India did not have much to gain from this tournament and that its primary goal was to compete favorably against the best teams on the African continent, it is not fair to criticize India for sometimes taking the competition a little less seriously than it should have.
The men in blue have triumphed eight times out of a possible 13 times at the regional competition, with Maldives being the only other team to have done so on numerous occasions.
It has been won by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan, the latter of which is no longer a member of the regional football bloc. However, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bhutan, three of the permanent members of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), are still looking for that elusive silverware.
Afghanistan’s addition to the federation in 2003 brought some luster to the event as the central Asian nation went on to become a powerhouse, but their transfer to the Central Asian Football Federation in 2015 robbed the tournament, once again, of the much-needed competition. Afghanistan’s participation in the federation in 2003 added some luster to the event as the central Asian nation went on to become a powerhouse.
The elimination of Afghanistan from the competition presented the organizers with a formidable obstacle. In the event that all seven countries in the area opted to take part in the most important football competition held every two years, the organizers were forced to divide the teams into two groups with uneven numbers of players in each.
And if any of those seven members elected not to participate or were prevented from participating because of a FIFA suspension, such as Pakistan’s absence from 2014 to 2021 and Sri Lanka’s absence in 2023, the organizers were forced to make due with two groups of three teams each.
It goes without saying that having six teams competing in two groups made for a less exciting competition for the sponsors as well as the viewers, which is what drove the sponsors to hunt for two teams from outside the competition this time around.
In the world of football, it is not unusual to include teams that come from regions that are not part of the regional bloc. Since 1993, CONMEBOL has been the one to start the tradition of inviting two teams from other confederations, making it the pioneer in this particular instance. SAFF, or more specifically the sponsors Sports Partners International, just took a leaf out of CONMEBOL’s book and widened its boundaries by inviting teams from behind the area.
The request was enthusiastically accepted by Lebanon and Kuwait, two members from the West Asian Football Federation.
The position of facilitator in this expansionary strategy was performed by India, the nation that would be hosting the forthcoming edition and providing the largest attraction for the sponsors. This is something that the SAFF and its sponsors plan to continue with and profit from in the future as well.
With Lebanon as the top-ranked team (99), ahead of India (101) and Kuwait in third place (143), the 14th edition of the SAFF Championship promises to be the most competitive and exciting one in the history of the tournament. Lebanon now holds the top spot (99), followed by India (101) and Kuwait (143).
And considering that each of the six South Asian teams will play at least three games in the group stage, one of which will be played against a team from West Asia that is almost certainly better than them, this should be a fantastic educational opportunity for all of them regardless of the outcome.