SAFF Championship 2021: Participating teams, fixtures, tables, top scorers, squads, stadium and all you need to know

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Maldives are the defending champions of the SAFF Championship...

The 2021 SAFF Championship will be the 13th edition of the competition since its inception in 1993. It is a biennial international men's football championship and this time, it will be hosted in Male, Maldives.

India are the most successful nation in the SAFF Championship as they have won the competition a record seven times. However, in the last edition Maldives won the title after defeating India 2-1 in the final.

Two other member nations in Pakistan and Bhutan have refrained from competing in the tournament.

The Bureau of the FIFA Council suspended the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on April 7 2021 due to third-party interference. It was deemed as a serious violation of the FIFA statutes. The PFF headquarters in Lahore was taken over by a group of protestors and thereby dislodged the FIFA-appointed normalisation committee of the PFF led by Haroon Malik. The reins of administration were taken over by Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah. FIFA warned PFF of consequences if the status quo was not restored. However, the situation remained unchanged which forced the FIFA Council to suspend Pakistan FA. Hence, no footballing activity can be undertaken by the national team.

Whereas, Bhutan decided to refrain from participating in the tournament after the Bhutanese government did not grant necessary permission to send the national team abroad due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

All the matches of the SAFF Championship will be played at the National Football Stadium in Male, Maldives.

The final will be played on October 16 between the top two teams after the round-robin stage.

2021-09-29 10:00:03

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