Maldives

At the 1987 South Asian Games held in Calcutta, the Football Association of Maldives did not have a separately assembled national team and sent Maldives National Championship winning club New Radiant to represent Maldives internationally under Sri Lankan coach Sumith Walpola. The team failed to get past the group stage losing 0–1 to Pakistan, and 0–5 to eventual champions India.

The 2008 SAFF Championship draw, which took place on 26 February 2007, placed Maldives in group A, alongside Nepal, India, and Pakistan. Maldives started with a comfortable 3–0 win over Pakistan. In their second match they defeated Nepal 4–1. They lost their last group stage match against India, 0–1. They advanced to the semi-finals and defeated Sri Lanka 0–1. They then advanced to the final for the third time in SAFF Championship history.

In the final three minutes of full-time during the SAFF Championship final against the four time SAFF Championship Champions India, Mukhthar Naseer scored a single goal from a corner kick taken by Ali Ashfaq, winning the SAFF Championship for Maldives for the first time in their history. Maldives won the SAFF Championship by scoring nine goals and conceding two. In 2008 SAFF Championship, Ali Ashfaq won the Best Player award. Maldives was the team who scored the most goals in this year's competition along with their rivals India. They were also the team who conceded the fewest goals in the tournament.

At the 2009 SAFF Championship, Maldives were drawn with the rivals India in group A, along with Afghanistan and Nepal. In the semi-final, they defeated Sri Lanka with a comfortable score line of 5–1, but they lost 3–1 to eventual winners India from a penalty shootout in the final after playing 120 minutes without seeing a goal from either sides. Ahmed Thoriq shared the top scorer award with Bangladesh's Enamul Haque and Sri Lanka's Channa Ediri Bandanage scoring four goals each in this competition. This was the second time Maldives lost the SAFF Championship final in penalties, and Bangabandhu National Stadium was the venue on both occasions.

At the 2013 SAFF Championship, Maldives were drawn in the group B alongside Afghanistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. They started the group stage by renewing their record of scoring the most goals by a team in a single game; winning 10–0 against Sri Lanka. In this match, skipper Ali Ashfaq scored a double hat-trick and broke the record of India's IM Vijayan who holds the record of all-time top scorer of the tournament with 12 goals. He also made a new record of scoring the highest number of goals by a single player in a match in the tournament. Remaining goals of this match came from Assadhulla Abdulla, Hassan Adhuham, Ali Fasir and Ali Umar. In their second match, Ali Ashfaq scored four goals and Ali Fasir scored a brace while Mohammad Umair and Ali Umar scored one goal each in the 8–2 win against Bhutan. Maldives' third match of the group stage against Afghanistan ended goalless. However, Maldives faced India for a record fourth time in a semi-final match of this competition, and never won a semi-final match against them as Maldives lost 1–0 in this semi-final match at the Dasarath Rangasala Stadium, Kathmandu, Nepal. Ali Ashfaq won the Golden Boot Award, scoring 10 goals in the competition. He now holds the record of competition's all-time top scorer with 18 goals, and the player to score the highest number of goals in one SAFF Championship; 10. India's IM Vijayan was the previous player to hold this record, scoring 6 goals in the 1997 edition.

Maldives hosted the 2021 SAFF Championship, failing to advance to the knockout round from the lone group phase, achieving victories over Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and losing against Nepal and India in their four matches. The team was placed at the top of the table until the eventual defeat against India in the last match of the group stage. Maldives left the tournament at the group stage with a win and two losses.