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2026 SAFF Club Championship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

SAFF Club Championship
Tournament details
DatesTBA[1]
Teams8 (from 7 associations)

2026 SAFF Club Championship or 2026 South Asian Football League is the inaugural edition of the SAFF Club Championship, an international men's club football championship of South Asia organised by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), was stalled for over a decade due to lack of sponsors.[2][3][4][5]

Format

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Initially, a centralized venue was planned for the tournament. Eventually, a home-and-away format over six or seven months was finalized as the AIFF expressed reservations over allotting two weeks during the regular Indian football calendar. It was planned to be held in 2024 but postponed to 2026.[6][7]

Association team allocation

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A total of 8 teams from 7 SAFF member associations are set to participate in the 2026 SAFF Club Championship. The association ranking based on the FIFA World Ranking is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association. This will include two teams from India and one team from Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.[8][9]

Participation for 2026 SAFF Club Championship
Participating
Not participating
SAFF rank Member association Slots
1 India India 2
2 Bangladesh Bangladesh 1
3 Maldives Maldives 1
4 Nepal Nepal 1
5 Sri Lanka Sri Lanka 1
6 Bhutan Bhutan 1
7 Pakistan Pakistan 1
Total Participating associations: 7 8

Teams and locations

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The following teams will participate in the tournament:[10]

Bracket

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The matches will be played in home and away knockout format.[11]

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
            
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Quarter-finals

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg

Semi-finals

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg

Final

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "SAFF Club Championship to comprise two teams from India". Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  2. ^ "SAFF announces start of club championship from next year". www.dawn.com. 6 May 2023. Archived from the original on 7 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  3. ^ "First-ever SAFF Club C'ship likely next year". www.newagebd.net. 6 May 2023. Archived from the original on 6 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  4. ^ "SAFF Club C'ship from next year". www.thedailystar.net. 6 May 2023. Archived from the original on 6 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  5. ^ "সাফ ক্লাব চ্যাম্পিয়নশিপ হতে পারে আগামী বছর থেকে". www.prothomalo.com (in Bengali). 6 May 2023. Archived from the original on 7 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  6. ^ "SAFF mulls home and away system for its inaugural club championship". www.news9live.com. 17 May 2023. Archived from the original on 24 May 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  7. ^ "SAFF announces start of club championship from next year". www.dawn.com. 7 May 2023. Archived from the original on 24 May 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  8. ^ "SAFF Club Championship to comprise two teams from India". Khel Now. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  9. ^ "Two spots for India in the inaugural SAFF Club Championship". thebridge.in. 7 December 2023. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  10. ^ Lakhani, Faizan. "Pakistani club to participate in SAFF's inaugural club championship". Geo Super. Archived from the original on 28 November 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  11. ^ "@MarcusMargulhao: SAFF Club Championship will have eight teams, including two from India, the highest-ranked member association". X (formerly Twitter). Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
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