Visakha’s cup history offers a practical test for any Cambodian football statistics project. Reports refer to consecutive trophies, matches settled after extra time and penalty shootouts, while later announcements discuss entirely different competitions. This guide reconstructs the verified sequence without turning incomplete evidence into an invented all-time total. It also explains how to preserve the original match result when presenting a dramatic final in a compact table.
Start from the official organisation
Visakha FC appears in the CPL’s club directory as a Phnom Penh club. The profile separates the squad, fixtures and results, which is a useful model for a research file. Club identity is relatively stable; a squad listing belongs to a particular season and may change during a transfer period. A researcher should not treat the names currently displayed as the team that won an older cup final.
For historical work, record the team and competition first, then consult the report for the specific event. Only add a player to a historical starting lineup when a contemporary match sheet or report supports it. A current profile can confirm the organisation but cannot reconstruct every past squad.
What the 2021 final establishes
The ASEAN Football Federation’s report dated 26 November 2021 says Visakha retained the Hun Sen Cup by defeating Svay Rieng on penalties at RSN Stadium. The match stood at 2–2 after extra time and Visakha won the shootout 5–4. Those details support three separate fields: the drawn match score, the penalty result and the eventual cup winner.
The report’s description of a second consecutive title also supports Visakha as the previous edition’s winner. That inference is limited and explicit: it establishes the sequence discussed by the federation. It does not independently supply the earlier final’s opponent, score or venue. Keep those earlier-match fields blank until their own primary evidence is available.
Extend the sequence with a later primary source
The AFC’s July 2023 domestic roundup identifies Visakha as the 2022 Hun Sen Cup winner when introducing its Super Cup meeting with Phnom Penh Crown. Combined with the AFF’s 2021 report, that supports a documented sequence covering 2020, 2021 and 2022. It is reasonable to list those three verified winner entries together, with sources and the limits of each source stated.
Avoid presenting the sequence as an exhaustive current trophy cabinet. A later edition may have been won by another club, and the sources used here are not a complete annual register. An accurate page can be useful while openly saying which editions it covers. Completeness is a separate research objective from correctness.
Why a shootout is not a nine-goal match
The IFAB’s Law 10 places a penalty shootout after the match. In a statistical table, a 2–2 game followed by a 5–4 shootout therefore remains a 2–2 match with a separate shootout outcome. Writing 7–6 by adding the two sets of numbers would create a score that the teams never produced during the match itself.
Use clear labels rather than relying on parentheses that readers may interpret differently. “2–2 after extra time; Visakha won the shootout 5–4” is longer but unambiguous. If the display must be compact, provide a column heading or legend distinguishing goals in play from successful kicks in the shootout.
Do not convert the Super Cup into another cup title
The same AFC report describes Crown winning the 2023 Super Cup 2–1 after extra time at National Olympic Stadium. Visakha’s participation reflects its 2022 Hun Sen Cup success; its defeat in the Super Cup does not undo that earlier championship. Equally, reaching this separate event does not create an additional Hun Sen Cup final appearance.
When calculating final appearances, define the competition boundary before counting. A database can contain both finals, but the event identifiers must differ. This prevents a common mistake in quick club summaries, where domestic cup, league cup, Super Cup and friendly tournament results are all grouped under the vague word “cup”.
Read stadium labels at the match level
Current CPL fixture rows use Visakha Stadium for relevant home matches. The generic club summary may leave the stadium field to be confirmed. The most useful response is to preserve the fixture’s venue for that fixture and avoid a broader assertion the source does not make. Historical articles may also use an earlier or commercially branded stadium name.
For a venue index, keep the exact source name as an alias and verify whether two labels refer to the same physical location before merging them. Similar names, the same club badge or the same city are not sufficient proof. A change of event venue is also different from a stadium being renamed.
Licence, youth requirements and entry are different records
Visakha is one of the five clubs named in the CPL’s 2026/27 AFC licensing announcement. The document also discusses requirements concerning youth teams and education. These are organisational criteria within a licensing process; they are not an invitation for a particular child to join an academy and do not publish training availability or fees.
The FFC’s separate representation policy makes sporting priority and AFC entry conditions relevant to continental participation. A research dossier should therefore have separate fields for licence status, qualifying domestic result and confirmed Asian entry. Linking those fields helps explain the pathway without promising a continental berth from one document alone.
A source-limited Visakha chronology
| Edition or event | Supported conclusion | Research limit |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 Hun Sen Cup | Previous title implied explicitly by AFF’s back-to-back 2021 report | Earlier final details require their own report |
| 2021 Hun Sen Cup | Winner; 2–2 after extra time, 5–4 on penalties | Shootout kicks are not match goals |
| 2022 Hun Sen Cup | AFC identifies Visakha as champion | No final score supplied by this roundup |
| 2023 Super Cup | Lost 2–1 after extra time to Crown | Separate competition from Hun Sen Cup |
| 2026/27 licensing | Named AFC club licensee | Entry still depends on applicable conditions |
A reproducible checking workflow
- Create one row per competition edition rather than one row per article.
- Store the primary report’s wording alongside the extracted champion field.
- Keep the match result and shootout result in different columns.
- Record whether an earlier title is stated directly or established through a consecutive-title description.
- Use a separate table for Super Cups and other competitions.
- Verify venue aliases before combining maps or attendance records.
- Recheck season-specific licensing and entry announcements before publication.
Present uncertainty usefully
A missing final score is not a defect to disguise. State that the champion is verified while the final details are outside the evidence collected. This helps the next researcher know exactly what to retrieve. Likewise, a club profile displaying a temporary stadium placeholder should not erase venue information from a completed official fixture.
For readers comparing clubs, place the same evidence limits beside each organisation. Otherwise a well-documented club can appear stronger simply because its archive is easier to search. Separate the sporting comparison from the completeness of the research, and resist ranking academies, stadium quality or professional standards using trophy reports that never assessed those subjects.
Official sources: Cambodian Premier League — Visakha FC — CPL club profile; ASEAN Football Federation — Back to back Hun Sen Cup crown for Visakha; Asian Football Confederation — Phnom Penh retain Super Cup; The IFAB — Law 10: Determining the outcome of a match.
Frequently asked questions
Which Visakha cup titles are documented here?
The linked AFF and AFC reports support Hun Sen Cup winner entries for 2020, 2021 and 2022. This is a selected verified sequence, not a complete current honours register.
How should the 2021 final score be written?
Use 2–2 after extra time, followed by Visakha winning the penalty shootout 5–4. The shootout figures are separate from match goals.
Does the licensing report publish academy enrolment?
No. Youth and education criteria in licensing do not establish open trials, enrolment dates, fees or a place for an individual player.
Sources and verification
- Visakha FC — CPL club profile — Cambodian Premier League — 2026-10-23
- Back to back Hun Sen Cup crown for Visakha — ASEAN Football Federation — 2026-10-23
- Phnom Penh retain Super Cup — Asian Football Confederation — 2026-10-23
- Law 10: Determining the outcome of a match — The IFAB — 2026-10-23
- Five Cambodian clubs receive AFC club licences for 2026/27 — Cambodian Premier League — 2026-10-23
- Determination of Cambodian representative clubs for AFC 2026/27 — Football Federation of Cambodia via CPL — 2026-10-23