One of the major talking points of the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup tournament has been the switch to home and away hosting of the group stage matches for the very first time.

Logic dictates that those nations that play at home have a real advantage with limited travel, familiar surrounds and strong fan support but, surprisingly, that notion hasn’t generally held true – at least in the group stage of the AFF Suzuki Cup.

In the 22-year history of the region’s showpiece event no fewer than seven different nations have hosted group stage action but only two of those – Thailand in 2000 & Singapore in 2007 – have actually gone on to win the tournament.

Across the first eight editions of the competition it was the ‘big five’ (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand & Vietnam) that dominated hosting duties and it wasn’t until 2012 that the Philippines joined the party, as they earned the right to host a semifinal.

Myanmar become the most recent host nation at the previous edition in 2016 and they showed just how important that local backing can be as they overcame Cambodia and Malaysia to reach the semifinals for the second time (although on the first occasion they played the knockout stage match in neutral Malaysia).

That should give comfort then to the newest pair of host nations – Laos and Cambodia – that they too can upset the odds and find success in front of what’s expected to be huge home backing.

It’s perhaps no surprise that the tournament’s most successful nation, Thailand, also has a very strong record at home, having won more matches on home soil (14) than any other, including winning every single match they played at home in 2000, 2012, 2014 and 2016 – indeed the War Elephants have only ever lost the one match at home, and that was back in the first leg of the 2008 final.

Vietnam (13), Indonesia (12), Singapore (11) and Malaysia (9) are the next most successful nations with Myanmar the only other to have won at home (doing so twice), so the hope is that the Philippines, along with Laos and Cambodia, can join that list in 2018.

Unfortunately for Timor-Leste they will host their two ‘home’ matches at neutral venues in Thailand and Malaysia due to lighting issues in Dili but even so they’ll be aiming to pick up what would be their first points at the finals.

By the numbers:

Most home wins: Thailand (14)

Fewest home losses: Thailand (1), Philippines (1)

Most home draws: Vietnam (8)

Only nation yet to win at home: Philippines