The 2007 AFF Championship 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.

2007 AFF Championship
2007 Kejohanan Bola Sepak ASEAN
2007 東盟足球錦標賽
2007 ஏசியான் கால்ப கோப்பை
2007 อาเซียนฟุตบอลแชมเปียนชิพ
Tournament details
Host countrySingapore
Thailand
(for group stage)
Dates12 January – 4 February
Teams8
Venue(s)4 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Singapore (3rd title)
Runners-up Thailand
Tournament statistics
Matches played18
Goals scored50 (2.78 per match)
Top scorer(s)Singapore Noh Alam Shah
(10 goals)
Best player(s)Singapore Noh Alam Shah
2004
2008

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

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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

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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

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The following eight teams qualified for the tournament.

Country Previous best performance
  Thailand Winners (1996, 2000, 2002)
  Singapore Winners (1998, 2004)
  Indonesia Runners-up (2000, 2002, 2004)
  Malaysia Runners-up (1996)
  Myanmar Fourth-place (2004)
  Vietnam Runners-up (1998)
  Laos Group stage (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004)
  Philippines Group stage (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004)

Squads

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Venues

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  Bangkok   Hanoi
Supachalasai Stadium Thai Army Sports Stadium Mỹ Đình National Stadium
Capacity: 40,000 Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 40,192
     
  Singapore   Shah Alam
National Stadium Jalan Besar Stadium Shah Alam Stadium
Capacity: 55,000 Capacity: 6,000 Capacity: 80,372
     

Final tournament

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Group stage

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

Group A

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Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Thailand 3 2 1 0 6 1 +5 7
  Malaysia 3 1 1 1 4 1 +3 4
  Myanmar 3 0 3 0 1 1 0 3
  Philippines 3 0 1 2 0 8 −8 1
Malaysia  4–0  Philippines
Hairuddin   9', 80'
Nizaruddin   16'
Del Rosario   69' (o.g.)
Report
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Abbas Daud (Singapore)
Thailand  1–1  Myanmar
Suchao   90+4' Report Si Thu Win   25'
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Hajime Matsuo (Japan)

Malaysia  0–0  Myanmar
Report
Attendance: 28,000
Thailand  4–0  Philippines
Sarayuth   15', 28'
Pipat   21'
Natthapong   84'
Report
Attendance: 30,000

Myanmar  0–0  Philippines
Report
Attendance: 500
Referee: Abbas Daud (Singapore)
Thailand  1–0  Malaysia
Sarayuth   48' Report
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Hajime Matsuo (Japan)

Group B

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Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Singapore 3 1 2 0 13 2 +11 5
  Vietnam 3 1 2 0 10 1 +9 5
  Indonesia 3 1 2 0 6 4 +2 5
  Laos 3 0 0 3 1 23 -22 0
Indonesia  3–1  Laos
Atep   51', 75'
Saktiawan   67'
Report Sounthalay   13'
Singapore  0–0  Vietnam
Report
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: Chanwalit Sananwai (Thailand)

Indonesia  1–1  Vietnam
Saktiawan   90' Report Supardi   35' (o.g.)
Attendance: 4,500
Referee: Mohamed Shahbuddin (Brunei)
Singapore  11–0  Laos
Ridhuan   10'
Alam Shah   11', 24', 61', 72', 76', 88', 90+2'
Shahril   47'
Khairul   71'
Dickson   78'
Report
Attendance: 5,224
Referee: U Hla Tint (Myanmar)

Vietnam  9–0  Laos
Lê Công Vinh   1', 28', 58'
Phan Thanh Bình   29', 73' (pen.), 81', 84'
Nguyễn Văn Biển   45', 90'
Report
Singapore  2–2  Indonesia
Alam Shah   10' (pen.)
Sahdan   52'
Report Ilham   27'
Zaenal   56'
Attendance: 13,819
Referee: Chanwalit Sananwai (Thailand)

Knockout stage

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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.

Semifinals Finals
          
A1   Thailand 2 0 2
B2   Vietnam 0 0 0
A1   Thailand 1 1 2
B2   Singapore 2 1 3
B1   Singapore (a.e.t.) 1 1 2 (5)
A2   Malaysia 1 1 2 (4)

Semi-finals

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First Leg
Malaysia  1–1  Singapore
Hardi   57' Report Alam Shah   73'
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Wan Daxue (China PR)
Vietnam  0–2  Thailand
Report Datsakorn   28'
Pipat   81'
Second Leg
Singapore  1–1 (a.e.t.)  Malaysia
Ridhuan   74' Report Eddy   57'
Penalties
Sahdan  
Alam Shah  
Mustafić  
Fazrul  
Shi J.Y.  
5–4   Hardi
  Rezal
  Samransak
  Thirumurgan
  Khyril
Attendance: 55,000
Referee: Cheung Yim Yau (Hong Kong)

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

Thailand  0–0  Vietnam
Report
Attendance: 35,000
Referee: Suresh Srinivasan (India)

Thailand won 2–0 on aggregate.

Final

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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.[1]

First leg

Singapore  2–1  Thailand
Alam Shah   17'
Mustafić   83' (pen.)
Report Pipat   50'
Attendance: 55,000
Referee: C. Ravichandran (Malaysia)

Second leg

Thailand  1–1  Singapore
Pipat   37' Report Khairul   81'

Singapore won 3–2 on aggregate.

Awards

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 2007 AFF Championship 
 
Singapore

Third title
Most Valuable Player Golden Boot
  Noh Alam Shah   Noh Alam Shah

Goalscorers

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10 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Own goal

Team statistics

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This table shows all team performance.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD
Final
1   Singapore 7 2 5 0 18 6 +12
2   Thailand 7 3 3 1 10 4 +6
Semi-finals
3   Vietnam 5 1 3 1 10 3 +7
4   Malaysia 5 1 3 1 6 3 +3
Eliminated in the group stage
5   Indonesia 3 1 2 0 6 4 +2
6   Myanmar 3 0 3 0 1 1 0
7   Philippines 3 0 1 2 0 8 –8
8   Laos 3 0 0 3 1 23 –22

References

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  1. ^ Withers, Andy. "Thailand". Fox Sports.
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