SAFF Championship Winners List: The All-Time Champions and Runners Up With Final Result

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SAFF Championship, a men's international football tournament of South Asia, is organised by South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) every once in two years and has been held since 1993.

SAFF Championship, which was founded in 1993 as the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Gold Cup, has been held for 14 times now with the tournament starting as a four-team affair and later expanding to an eight-team tournament.

The football championship of South Asia was held once in two years from 1993 to 1999, but the next edition was held four years later in 2003 before there were back-to-back editions held in 2008 and 2009.

The inaugural edition winner was decided on the points table standings after round-robin stage. But, from the next edition in 1995, the champion was decided after the knockout round - semifinals followed by final.

The SAFF Championship has been held 14 times so far and only five of the nine participating teams have gone on to lift the title. Afghanistan, who are no longer part of SAFF, also won the title before they left to form the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA).

Which team has won the SAFF Championship most?

In the 14 editions of SAFF Championship (also known SAFF Cup) held so far, India is the most successful side, having won the title a record nine times and finishing runners up four times, meaning they have reached the final 13 of 14 editions so far.

The next best nation after India in the tournament is Maldives, who have won the SAFF Cup twice in five final appearances followed by Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, who have all won the coveted title one time each.

The SAFF Championship final has gone into extra time four times with two of them needing a penalty shootout to decide the winner, while one of the earlier edition final was decided by Sudden Death and one match was decided in extra time.

The tournament has also seen a third place playoff match for the bronze medal, but that has not been the case in most editions as only the inaugural edition and four other editions after that so far has seen the losing semifinalists battle for the third spot.

India (2003), Bangladesh (1995), Maldives (1999), Pakistan (1997) and Nepal (1993) have all clinched the third place playoff once so far. The remaining nine editions did not feature a third-place playoff match. Nepal and Pakistan have also finished as the fourth place team twice.

Now, let's take a look at the SAFF Championship (also known as SAFF Cup) champions, runners up along with the final result of every edition of the football tournament of South Asian Football Federation so far:

SAFF Championship Winners, Runners Up & Final Score

AET - After Extra Time; PS - Penalty Shootout