The tournament will take place in Maldives between October 1 and 16.
After a year’s delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SAFF Championship 2021 is back with its 13th edition. The biennial tournament will be played from October 1 to October 16. Organized by the South Asian Football Federation, the 2021 edition of the SAFF was initially scheduled to take place in Pakistan last year. But the pandemic and other factors pushed back the tournament by a year. Maldives will play host to the competition this year.
India are the most successful nation in the tournament with seven titles to their name. While, Maldives has won the SAFF Championship twice and Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka clinched the trophy once each. Maldives are the defending champions having beaten the Blue Tigers to win the competition in 2018.
Interestingly, Pakistan and Bhutan have withdrawn from the SAFF Championship this year meaning the tournament will only be played with five teams. Pakistan are suspended by FIFA while Bhutan refrained from travelling to the Maldives for the competition after being denied permission by their government.
Venue
All matches in the 13th edition of the SAFF Championship will take place at the National Football Stadium in Male, the capital of Maldives.
SAFF Championship 2021 – India Squad
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh, Dheeraj Singh and Vishal Kaith.
Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Seriton Fernandes, Chinglensana Singh, Rahul Bheke, Subhasish Bose and Mandar Rao Dessai.
Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Brandon Fernandes, Lalengmawia, Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad, Jeakson Singh, Glan Martins, Suresh Singh, Liston Colaco and Yasir Mohammad.
Forwards: Manvir Singh, Rahim Ali, Sunil Chhetri and Farukh Choudhary.
SAFF Championship 2021 Fixtures
- October 1, 2021 – 4:00 pm – Sri Lanka 0-1 Bangladesh
- October 1, 2021 – 9:00 pm – Nepal 1-0 Maldives
- October 4, 2021 – 4:30 pm – Bangladesh vs India
- October 4, 2021 – 9:30 pm – Sri Lanka vs Nepal
- October 7, 2021 – 4:30 pm – India vs Sri Lanka
- October 7, 2021 – 9:30 pm – Maldives vs Bangladesh
- October 10, 2021 – 4:30 pm – Maldives vs Sri Lanka
- October 10, 2021 – 9:30 pm – Nepal vs India
- October 13, 2021 – 4:30 pm – Bangladesh vs Nepal
- October 13, 2021 – 9:30 pm – India vs Maldives
Telecast
Eurosport will live telecast the SAFF Championship 2021 tournament in India.
