6 extremely interesting things about AFF Cup you may not know

First goal

K. Sanbagaraman scored the first goal in the tournament's history, in the 76th minute, to give Malaysia the lead against Singapore on 1 September 1996. But the nearly 44,000 home fans present at the National Stadium in Kallang were not disappointed when Fandi Ahmad equalized in the 89th minute.

Sanbagaraman later scored five more goals en route to taking Malaysia to the final - where Kiatisuk Senamuang scored the only goal to give Thailand their first title.

Full of goals

The 1996 AFF Cup was the first and only tournament without a 0-0 draw. All 24 matches had a goal before the 77th minute. There were 93 goals scored, at a rate of 3.88 goals/match.

The first 0-0 draw was between Malaysia and Laos in Hanoi in 1998. On the same day at Hang Day, Vietnam drew with Singapore by the same score. That was also the entire two goalless matches in the 1998 tournament.

The 2007 AFF Cup saw the most 0-0 scores (4 matches), but the tournament with the lowest goal ratio was 2012 (2.67 goals/match). A total of 741 goals were scored in 215 matches, an average of 3.44 goals/match. This ratio is much higher than the top football tournaments such as the Asian Cup, Euro or World Cup.

Goal scoring record

Noh Alam Shah scored a record seven goals against Laos in the 2007 group stage, finishing with 10 for champions Singapore. No one scored more goals than Alam Shah that year. Runners-up Thailand and joint third-place Vietnam also scored just 10. The Philippines were the only team to go home without a goal that year.

Alam Shah still holds the AFF Cup scoring record with a total of 17 goals. Behind him are three players with 15 goals, including Worrawoot Srimaka, Teerasil Dangda (Thailand) and Le Cong Vinh. Srimaka and Cong Vinh have retired, while Dangda will not participate in the upcoming AFF Cup. Alam Shah will likely hold the record for a few more tournaments.

African Representative

The AFF Cup has seen coaches from all over the world. Serbian coach Raddy Avramovic stands out with three titles with Singapore, while English coach Peter Withe has also won twice with Thailand. Only one African coach has ever appeared in the tournament, Hatem Souissi.

The Tunisian coach wanted to help Malaysia win the 1998 AFF Cup in Vietnam, but left the tournament without a goal. They lost 0-1 and 0-2 to Singapore and Vietnam, interspersed with a disappointing draw against Laos.

"Multiple personality" person

Avramovic and Withe are the two most successful coaches at the AFF Cup, while Kiatisuk Senamuang has also helped Thailand win the last two titles. But only one coach has led three teams to the tournament, and that is David Booth.

In 1996, the English coach helped Brunei Darussalam qualify for the AFF Cup for the first and only time. He also led Myanmar to the tournament in 2000 and 2002. At the 2010 AFF Cup, Booth completed a "hat-trick" by helping Laos to a historic 2-2 draw with Thailand.

Coach Alfred Riedl also deserves to be mentioned with six AFF Cup appearances, divided equally between Vietnam and Indonesia. He led Vietnam in 1998, 2000 and 2007, then participated with Indonesia in 2010, 2014 and 2016. He reached the final three times but failed all the times.

Home power

Thailand have lost just one of their 24 home matches in the AFF Cup. Their first home game was in 2000, a 3-1 win over Myanmar in Chiang Mai. They also played in Phuket in the 2008 group stage, but the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok has seen the most Thai games.

They celebrated their 2010, 2014 and 2016 titles there. But the nearly 50,000-seat stadium also witnessed Thailand's only defeat on home soil. That was in the first leg of the 2008 final. Nguyen Vu Phong and Le Cong Vinh scored two goals in the last two minutes of the first half, helping Vietnam leave Bangkok with a 2-1 advantage. In the second leg at My Dinh Stadium, Cong Vinh scored the "golden goal" to help the home team win 3-2 on aggregate, winning the AFF Cup for the first time.