The format of the SAFF Championship, the most notable regional tournament in which the Maldives national football team competes, has undergone a major change and is scheduled to be held this July.

At the EXCO meeting held today in Kathmandu, Nepal, it was decided that the group stage matches of the upcoming SAFF Championship will be hosted in multiple countries. All countries participating in the group stage will host matches, with each country playing both home and away matches.

With this decision, EXCO also set the dates for this year's tournament, which will be from July 15 to 25. While matches will be hosted in different countries, a host country for the final and semi-final matches, as well as the exact format, have not yet been finalized by SAFF.

Several other decisions were made at the SAFF EXCO meeting, including discussions about holding a women's club tournament this year. It was also decided to start an Under-23 tournament from 2026, and in the same year, to hold a brand new SAFF men's club tournament.

This will be a tournament with 8 clubs competing. Slots for the tournament will be allocated based on AFC club rankings, given to the four highest-ranked countries in the region. Two clubs from each of these countries will compete in the tournament.

Looking at the AFC club rankings, India is the highest-ranked country in this region at 16th place. Below that, Bangladesh is currently 27th, while the Maldives is 33rd. Although the Maldives was 31st for the 2023-24 season, with the decline in club football, the Maldives has slowly started to fall in the club rankings.

Bhutan is currently fourth closest to the Maldives with an AFC ranking of 36. The countries in this region currently ranked below Bhutan are Nepal at 39th, Sri Lanka at 41st, and Pakistan at 43rd.

SAFF has also finalized dates for junior tournaments today. The SAFF Under-19 tournament will be held in May this year, while the SAFF Under-20 women's tournament will be in July. The Under-17 men's tournament is scheduled for October, and the Under-17 women's tournament will be in September.