AFC Challenge League

Not to be confused with AFC Challenge Cup.

AFC Challenge League

Organising body	AFC
Founded	2005;19 years ago (2005) (as AFC President's Cup)
Region	Asia
Number of teams	20 (group stage)
Qualifier for	AFC Champions League Two
Related competitions	AFC Champions League Elite (1st tier) AFC Champions League Two (2nd tier)
Current champions	FC HTTU (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Regar TadAZ (3 titles)
2024–25 AFC Challenge League

The AFC Challenge League (previously known as the AFC President's Cup, abbreviated as ACGL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. The competition is played among clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying slots to the top-tier AFC Champions League Elite or the second-tier AFC Champions League Two, based on the AFC club competitions ranking.

History

Winners

Season	Winners
AFC President's Cup
2005	Regar TadAZ
2006	Dordoi-Dynamo
2007	Dordoi-Dynamo
2008	Regar TadAZ
2009	Regar TadAZ
2010	Yadanarbon
2011	Taipower
2012	Istiklol
2013	Nebitçi FT
2014	HTTU Asgabat
AFC Challenge League
2024–25

The AFC President’s Cup was founded in 2005 as a third tier competition so that clubs from lower-ranked AFC member nations could participate in continental competition. ^[1]

On 25 November 2013, the AFC Competitions Committee proposed the year of 2014 to be the last edition of the competition. ^[2] Starting from 2015, league champions of emerging countries were eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-off. ^[3]

The last edition in 2014 saw HTTU Aşgabat defeat Rimyongsu of North Korea 2–1, and became the second consecutive team from Turkmenistan to win the competition.

On 23 December 2022 it was announced that the AFC competition structure would change from the established formats from the 2024–25 season. A new third-tier tournament called the AFC Challenge League would be introduced. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

On 24 May 2024 AFC announced that the records and statistics of the preceding AFC club competitions will be recognised and integrated within the revamped club competitions, with the data from the AFC President's Cup transferring to the AFC Challenge League. ^[7]

Format

The AFC President's Cup trophy

Qualification to the competition initially was for clubs from AFC-affiliated countries which fall into the AFC's emerging nations category as laid out in their Vision Asia document.

Between 8 and 12 clubs participated in each edition of the competition. From 2005 to 2007, 8 clubs were placed in the two groups of 4. The winners and runners up would advance to the semi-final stage. All the matches were held in a single host country.

From 2008 to 2010, the tournament was increased to 11 clubs. A qualification round was created and clubs were split into three groups. Each group was played in a different country. The three group winners and the best ranked runner up qualified for the final stage.

From 2011 to 2014, the tournament was increased to 12 clubs. In the qualification round, there were three groups of 4 clubs. The group winners and runners up qualified for the final stage. These 6 clubs were broken into two groups of 3. The top clubs of each group qualified for the final. ^[8]

In November 2013 the AFC announced that the 2014 AFC President's Cup would be the last edition of the tournament. ^[9] Starting from 2015, league champions of "emerging countries" are eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-off. ^[10] The qualifying round for the 2016 AFC Cup, with a similar format to the AFC President's Cup (but without a final stage), was held in August 2015, which qualified two teams to the AFC Cup play-offs. ^[11]

After the rebrand in 2024, the new format comprise 20 participating clubs divided into five groups. The clubs will compete in single-leg ties played in a centralized format in the group stage with the top eight sides qualifying for the Quarter Finals.

The Quarter Finals and Semi Finals will be played over two legs, both home and away before the coveted Final is staged over a single leg contest. ^{[12] [13]}

Prize money

Starting with the 2024–25 season, the distribution of the prize money is as follows. ^[14]

• Group stage: $100,000
• Quarter-finals: $80,000
• Semi-finals: $120,000
• Runners-up: $500,000
• Champions: $1,000,000

Records and statistics

Main article: AFC President's Cup and AFC Challenge League records and statistics

Results

Year	Host		Final				Losing semifinalists
			Winner	Score	Runner-up
AFC President's Cup
2005 Details	Nepal		Regar TadAZ	3–0	Dordoi-Dynamo		Blue Star SC Three Star Club
2006 Details	Malaysia		Dordoi-Dynamo	2–1 ( a.e.t. )	Vakhsh		Khemara Tatung
2007 Details	Pakistan		Dordoi-Dynamo	2–1	Mahendra Police Club		Ratnam Sports Club Regar TadAZ
2008 Details	Kyrgyzstan		Regar TadAZ	1–1( a.e.t. ) 4–3 ( p )	Dordoi-Dynamo		FC Aşgabat Mahendra Police Club
2009 Details	Tajikistan		Regar TadAZ	2–0	Dordoi-Dynamo		FC Aşgabat WAPDA
2010 Details	Myanmar		Yadanarbon	1–0 ( a.e.t. )	Dordoi Bishkek		HTTU Aşgabat Vakhsh Qurghonteppa
2011 Details	Taiwan		Taiwan Power Company	3–2	Phnom Penh Crown		Balkan Neftchi Kochkor-Ata (Final stage group runners-up)
2012 Details	Tajikistan		Istiklol	2–1	Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari		Dordoi Bishkek Taiwan Power Company (Final stage group runners-up)
2013 Details	Malaysia		Nebitçi FT	1–0	KRL		Erchim Hilal Al-Quds (Final stage group runners-up)
2014 Details	Sri Lanka		HTTU Asgabat	2–1	Rimyongsu		Manang Marshyangdi Club Sheikh Russel (Final stage group runners-up)
AFC Challenge League
2024–25 Details

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years lost
Regar TadAZ	3	0	2005, 2008, 2009
Dordoi Bishkek	2	4	2006, 2007	2005, 2008, 2009, 2010
Yadanarbon FC	1	0	2010
Taiwan Power Company	1	0	2011
Istiklol	1	0	2012
Nebitçi	1	0	2013
Ýedigen	1	0	2014
Khatlon	0	1		2006
Nepal Police Club	0	1		2007
Phnom Penh Crown	0	1		2011
Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari	0	1		2012
KRL	0	1		2013
Rimyongsu	0	1		2014

Performance by nation

#	Nation	Winners	Runners-up
1	Tajikistan	4	1
2	Kyrgyzstan	2	4
3	Turkmenistan	2	0
4	Myanmar	1	0
	Chinese Taipei	1	0
6	Cambodia	0	1
	Nepal	0	1
	Pakistan	0	1
	Palestine	0	1
	North Korea	0	1

Performance by coach

Coach	Club	Winners
Makhmadjon Khabibulloev	Regar TadAZ	2005, 2008, 2009
Boris Podkorytov	Dordoi-Dinamo	2006, 2007
U Zaw Lay Aung	Yadanarbon FC	2010
Nikola Kavazović	Istiklol	2012
Chen Kuei-jen	Taiwan Power Company	2011
Rahym Kurbanmämmedow	Balkan	2013
Begench Garayev	HTTU Aşgabat	2014

Awards

Top scorers

Season	Player	Goals
2005	Dudley Steinwall Hok Sochetra Khurshed Mahmudov Dzhomikhon Mukhidinov	4
2006	Chuang Yao-tsung Roman Kornilov	5
2007	Channa Ediri Bandanage	6
2008	Thi Ha Kyaw	6
2009	Soe Min Oo	6
2010	Rustam Usmonov	5
2011	Ho Ming-tsan	6
2012	Mirlan Murzaev	8
2013	Mirlan Murzaev	9
2014	Suleyman Muhadow	11

Best player

Season	Player	Club
2005	-	-
2006	-	-
2007	Valery Kashuba	Dordoi-Dynamo
2008	-	-
2009	Khurshed Mahmudov	Regar-TadAZ
2010	Mirlan Murzaev	Dordoi-Dynamo
2011	Chen Po-liang	Taipower
2012	Alisher Tuychiev	Istiqlol
2013	Amir Gurbani	Balkan
2014	Suleyman Muhadow	HTTU Asgabat

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Goals
1	Mirlan Murzaev	Dordoi Bishkek	19
2	David Tetteh	Dordoi Bishkek	12
3	Khurshed Makhmudov	Regar-TadAZ	11
	Suleyman Muhadow	HTTU
5	Amir Gurbani	Aşgabat Balkan	10
	Channa Ediri Bandanage	Ratnam
	Ibrahim Rabimov	Regar-TadAZ Istiklol
8	Kaleemullah Khan	KRL	9
9	Arslanmyrat Amanow	Aşgabat HTTU	8
	Yan Paing	Yadanarbon
	Ju Manu Rai	Nepal Police Club

See also

• AFC President's Cup and AFC Challenge League records and statistics

References

1. "AFC President's Cup: The end of a glorious journey". www.the-afc.com.
2. "ACL: East vs West final proposed". AFC. 25 November 2013.
3. "AFC President's Cup: The end of a glorious journey". AFC. 26 July 2014.
4. "AFC Competitions Committee recommends strategic reforms to elevate Asian club football". theAFC.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
5. "AFC Executive Committee approves biggest prize purse in Asian club football history from 2024/25; announces AFC Women's Champions League". AFC. 14 August 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
6. "AFC Club Competitions 2024/25 Slot Allocation" (PDF). Football Association of Singapore. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
7. "Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee". the-AFC. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
8. "AFC Competitions Committee meeting". Archived from the original on 2018-08-18. Retrieved 2009-11-24.
9. "ACL: East vs West final proposed". The-afc.com. 2013-11-25. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
10. "AFC President's Cup: The end of a glorious journey". AFC. 26 July 2014. Archived from the original on 18 August 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
11. "Stage set for 2016 AFC Cup play-off qualifiers". AFC. 29 June 2015. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
12. "AFC Competitions Committee recommends strategic reforms to elevate Asian club football". theAFC.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
13. "Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee". the-AFC. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
14. The AFC Hub (2024-06-19). AFC Challenge League™ 2024/25 . Retrieved 2024-06-20– via YouTube.

External links

• AFC President's Cup – RSSSF