2020 AFF Championship
The 2020 AFF Championship (officially AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), and the 7th under the name AFF Suzuki Cup. The final tournament was originally scheduled to run from 23 November to 31 December 2020. However the tournament was postponed and rescheduled at least twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the tournament was first rescheduled to run from 11 April to 8 May 2021 and the schedule later pushed backed further to 5 December 2021 to  1 January 2022. Singapore later was chosen for host this tournament in a centralized venue. Vietnam were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Thailand in the semi-finals. Thailand won the tournament by a 6–2 victory in the two-legged final against Indonesia to secure their sixth title. Format. The AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 will be hosted in a centralized venue due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia. On 28 September 2021, it was announced that Singapore would host the tournament. Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam also expressed interest in hosting the tournament. In the group stage  of the competition proper, ten teams will be drawn in two groups of five with single round-robin format. The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals. The organizers preferred to hold the tournament under its original format, which featured two-leg home-and-away games. Away goals rule wouldn't be applied. Up to five substitutions may be allowed as per recommendation of FIFA. Qualification. Nine teams automatically qualified to the AFF Championship final tournament; they were separated into their respective pots based on their performance of the last two editions. Brunei and Timor-Leste  who were the two lowest-performing teams were supposed to play a match where the winner will secure a spot to the final tournament but Brunei withdrew citing the COVID-19 pandemic. Australia, a member since 2013, did not enter the tournament. Due to non-compliance with conditions set by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Thailand and Indonesia were not allowed to be represented by their national flags. Draw. The draw for the 2020 AFF Championship was originally set to be held on 10 August 2021 in Singapore but due to the enhanced COVID-19 restrictions in the country, the draw  was postponed. The draw was done virtually and held on 21 September 2021. The pot placements followed each teams progress in the previous two editions. At the time of the draw, the identity of the national team that secured qualification was unknown, as it was supposed to be contested between Brunei and Timor Leste. Timor Leste qualified to the group stage after the withdrawal of Brunei from the qualification play-off. Squads. Each team were allowed a preliminary squad of 50 players. A final squad of 30 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers) 23 players registered for each match . Officials. The following officials were chosen for the competition. Referees Assistant Referees Fourth Officials Ranking in each group shall be determined as follows: If two or more teams are equal on the basis on the above three criteria, the place shall be determined as follows: Knockout phase. Semi-finals. Section:::: "Indonesia won 5–3 on aggregate." "Thailand won 2–0 on aggregate." Finals. Section:::: "Thailand won 6–2 on aggregate." Statistics. Discipline. In the final tournament, a player was suspended for the subsequent match in the competition for either getting red card or accumulating two yellow cards in two different matches. In addition , 4 Indonesian players (Elkan Baggott, Victor Igbonefo, Rizky Ridho and Rizky Dwi Febrianto) were barred from the 2nd leg of the Indonesia-Thailand Final on 1 January 2022 for breaching COVID-19 safety measures by leaving the team hotel without authorisation. Marketing. Matchballs. The official ball for AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 is the ASEAN PULSE, which is sponsored by Warrix. Incidents. The second leg of the semi-finals between Singapore and Indonesia riled up controversy after Singapore fans believing that referee Kassem Matar Al-Hatmi made several decisions against the home side. Such decisions including not calling for a penalty after  a foul on Amy Recha, Safuwan Baharudin receiving two controversial yellow cards, and allowing Pratama Arhan's equaliser which saw many home fans asking for it to be called offside. Singapore ultimately lost the tie 5-3 on aggregate which left the home fans fuming and even going to the extent of finding where Al-Hatmi was residing for the tournament. During the same game, Asnawi Mangkualam was seen shouting in Faris Ramli's face after the latter had missed a penalty to win Singapore the game. The incident was met with dissatisfaction by the home fans and Indonesian head  coach, Shin Tae-yong, who said that if the incident were to happen again, he would not call up Asnawi for future games. The incident was touched on again after Asnawi posted on Instagram an apology for the incident but many fans and players saw it as a sign of sarcasm. Brothers Ikhsan and Irfan Fandi were quick to condemn him for his actions whilst defender Safuwan Baharudin posted a photo of him shouting at Al-Hatmi with a similar caption. This incident made the split between Singaporean and Indonesia fans even bigger.