The 2007 AFF Championship (officially designated as the ASEAN Football Championship 2007) was the 6th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of Southeast Asia. The group stage was co-hosted by Singapore and Thailand from 12 to 17 January. Knockout stage with two-leg Home-and-away format was hosted from 23 January to 4 February 2007.

It was renamed from the Tiger Cup, due to the cup's main sponsor, Tiger Beer, not continuing their title sponsorship. This was the last event held at Singapore's National Stadium before its redevelopment.

Singapore set an AFF Cup record of a 15-match unbeaten run under coach Radojko Avramović, stretching back to the 2004 AFF Championship, and 17-match unbeaten run since the 4–0 defeat at home to neighbours Malaysia in the same competition on 18 December 2002.

Hosts

Group stage was co-hosted Thailand and Singapore from 12 to 17 January 2007. The two hosts are the only two teams that have won the championship since its inception in 1996. Both nations with Malaysia and Vietnam were qualified from group stage and would host the knockout stage with Home-and-away format from 23 to 28 January 2007.

Qualification

The qualifying round for the lower ranked teams in Southeast Asia was held in Bacolod, Philippines from 12 to 20 November 2006. It was played in a single round-robin format with the top two teams advancing to the finals. This was the first time since 1998 where a qualification tournament was held.

Six teams as qualified directly to the finals.

Two teams qualified via the qualification tournament.

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the tournament.

CountryPrevious best performance
ThailandWinners (1996, 2000, 2002)
SingaporeWinners (1998, 2004)
IndonesiaRunners-up (2000, 2002, 2004)
MalaysiaRunners-up (1996)
MyanmarFourth-place (2004)
VietnamRunners-up (1998)
LaosGroup stage (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004)
PhilippinesGroup stage (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004)

Squads

Venues

Thailand BangkokVietnam Hanoi
Supachalasai StadiumThai Army Sports StadiumMỹ Đình National Stadium
Capacity: 40,000Capacity: 20,000Capacity: 40,192
Singapore SingaporeMalaysia Shah Alam
National StadiumJalan Besar StadiumShah Alam Stadium
Capacity: 55,000Capacity: 6,000Capacity: 80,372

Final tournament

Group stage

Key to colours in group tables
Top two placed teams advanced to the semi-finals

Group A

  • All matches played in Thailand.
  • Times listed are UTC+7
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
Thailand321061+57
Malaysia311141+34
Myanmar30301103
Philippines301208−81
Malaysia4–0Philippines
Hairuddin 9', 80' Nizaruddin 16' Del Rosario 69' (o.g.)
Thailand1–1Myanmar
Suchao 90+4'Si Thu Win 25'
Malaysia0–0Myanmar
Thailand4–0Philippines
Sarayuth 15', 28' Pipat 21' Natthapong 84'
Myanmar0–0Philippines
Thailand1–0Malaysia
Sarayuth 48'

Group B

  • All matches played in Singapore.
  • Times listed are UTC+8
TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
Singapore3120132+115
Vietnam3120101+95
Indonesia312064+25
Laos3003123-220
Indonesia3–1Laos
Atep 51', 75' Saktiawan 67'Sounthalay 13'
Singapore0–0Vietnam
Indonesia1–1Vietnam
Saktiawan 90'Supardi 35' (o.g.)
Singapore11–0Laos
Ridhuan 10' Alam Shah 11', 24', 61', 72', 76', 88', 90+2' Shahril 47' Khairul 71' Dickson 78'
Vietnam9–0Laos
Lê Công Vinh 1', 28', 58' Phan Thanh Bình 29', 73' (pen.), 81', 84' Nguyễn Văn Biển 45', 90'
Singapore2–2Indonesia
Alam Shah 10' (pen.) Sahdan 52'Ilham 27' Zaenal 56'

Knockout stage

Note: Although the knockout stages were two-legged, away goals rule was not applied. If the total aggregate score of both teams after both matches remained the same, extra time would have been played, followed by a penalty shootout if necessary.

SemifinalsFinals
A1Thailand202
B2Vietnam000
A1Thailand112
B2Singapore213
B1Singapore (a.e.t.)112 (5)
A2Malaysia112 (4)

Semi-finals

First Leg

Malaysia1–1Singapore
Hardi 57'Alam Shah 73'
Vietnam0–2Thailand
Datsakorn 28' Pipat 81'

Second Leg

Singapore1–1 (a.e.t.)Malaysia
Ridhuan 74'Eddy 57'
Penalties
Sahdan Alam Shah Mustafić Fazrul Shi J.Y.5–4Hardi Rezal Samransak Thirumurgan Khyril

2–2 on aggregate. Singapore won via a penalty shootout.

Thailand0–0Vietnam

Thailand won 2–0 on aggregate.

Final

After a group stage with two pools of four, the two host nations met in a two-game final. In the first leg of the final, a controversial penalty was awarded to Singapore at the 83rd minute of the match, and the Thailand team walked off the pitch as a protest to the referee's decision. The Thailand team returned to the pitch at the 98th minute, and Singapore later won 2-1.

In the second leg of the final, Singapore had a goal controversially chalked off for being offside, but finally drew 1-1 to fellow Thailand, with Khairul Amri scoring the decisive goal in the closing stages of the match, giving Singapore their 2nd title in succession, winning with an aggregate score of 3-2 and successfully defending the title. While Thailand can point to the controversial penalty for their defeat in the first leg, they failed to defeat Singapore in the second leg in Bangkok. It could have been worse for Thailand had the match officials seen Thai midfielder Datsakorn Thonglao headbutt Singapore's Khairul Amri to vent his anger after the equaliser.

First leg

Singapore2–1Thailand
Alam Shah 17' Mustafić 83' (pen.)Pipat 50'

Second leg

Thailand1–1Singapore
Pipat 37'Khairul 81'

Singapore won 3–2 on aggregate.

Awards

2007 AFF Championship
Singapore Third title
Most Valuable PlayerGolden Boot
Singapore Noh Alam ShahSingapore Noh Alam Shah

Goalscorers

10 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Own goal

Team statistics

This table shows all team performance.

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGD
Final
1Singapore7250186+12
2Thailand7331104+6
Semi-finals
3Vietnam5131103+7
4Malaysia513163+3
Eliminated in the group stage
5Indonesia312064+2
6Myanmar3030110
7Philippines301208–8
8Laos3003123–22
  • Hamdan Saaid. . RSSSF. Retrieved 2010-03-02.

External links

  • official website