2007 AFF Championship
Tourney nameASEAN Football Championship 2007
Other titles2007 Kejohanan Bola Sepak ASEAN
2007 東盟足球錦標賽
2007 ஏசியான் கால்ப கோப்பை
2007 อาเซียนฟุตบอลแชมเปียนชิพ
CountrySingapore
Thailand
(for group stage)
Dates12 January – 4 February
Num teams8
Venues4
Cities3
ChampionSingapore
Count3
SecondThailand
Matches18
Goals50
Top scorerNoh Alam Shah
(10 goals)
PlayerNoh Alam Shah
Prevseason2004
Nextseason2008

The 2007 AFF Championship (officially designated as the ASEAN Football Championship 2007)[1] 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

BangkokHanoi
Supachalasai StadiumThai Army Sports StadiumMỹ Đình National Stadium
Capacity: 40,000Capacity: 20,000Capacity: 40,192
SingaporeShah 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

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
Thailand321061+57
Malaysia311141+34
Myanmar30301103
Philippines301208−81


Group B

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
Singapore3120132+115
Vietnam3120101+95
Indonesia312064+25
Laos3003123-220


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.

Semi-finals

First Leg
Second Leg

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

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.[2]

First leg

Second leg

Singapore won 3–2 on aggregate.

Awards

Most Valuable PlayerGolden Boot
Noh Alam ShahNoh 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

References

  1. ^ "AFF Championship – ASEAN Football Championship 2007". AFF - The Official Website Of The Asean Football Federation. 2010-11-25. Retrieved 2024-12-08.
  2. ^ Withers, Andy. "Thailand". Fox Sports