AFC President's Cup

AFC Challenge League
Organising body	AFC
Founded	2005;19 years ago; (rebranded in 2024)
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

Last updated May 25, 2024

The AFC Challenge League is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). 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.

The tournament was founded in 2005 as the AFC President's Cup, the third-tier club competition in Asian football which targeted clubs from emerging football nations, and was discontinued in 2014. In 2024, the AFC re-introduced a revamped third-tier club competition under the name AFC Challenge League, with the records and statistics of the AFC President's Cup transferring to the new competition.

Competition format

Between 8 and 12 teams participated in each edition of the competition. From 2005 to 2007, 8 clubs were placed into two groups of 4 teams. 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 the 11 clubs were split into three groups of 3 or 4 clubs. Each group was played in a different country. The three group winners and the best ranked runner up qualified for the finals stage, hosted in another country.

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 qualify for the final stage. These 6 clubs are broken into two groups of 3. The top teams of each group qualified directly for the final.^[1]

In November 2013 the AFC announced that the 2014 AFC President's Cup would be the last edition of the tournament.^[2] Starting from 2015, league champions of "emerging countries" are eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-off.^[3] 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.^[4]

On 23 December 2022, it was announced that a third-tier club competition for Asian football would be reintroduced from the 2024–25 season, which would be named the AFC Challenge League.^[5] 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.^[6]

Qualification and participating nations

Qualification to the competition was to clubs from AFC-affiliated countries which fall into the AFC's 'emerging nations' category as laid out in their 'Vision Asia' document. Countries which were 'mature' and 'developing' nations were entered into the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup, respectively. For an 'emerging nation' to have a team representing it in the competition, however, the country must have an acceptable football league. The team that represents a country in one season of the competition is the defending champion of the top-level leagues of participating countries.

Clubs from Nepal, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Cambodia were invited every year.

Clubs from Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Philippines and North Korea were also invited in some of the years of the competition.

Some participating countries – Palestine, Myanmar, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan – applied for an upgrade to the AFC Cup, so their club teams subsequently played in that competition.

Other nations that could enter a team, but never did so are: Brunei, Timor-Leste, Guam, Laos, Macau and Afghanistan.

In March 2012 the AFC announced that the Northern Mariana Islands were approved to participate in the AFC Challenge Cup and AFC President's Cup if they fulfilled the criteria.^[7] However, they never entered a team.

Results

Year	Host	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Losing Semifinalists (No third place match)
Year	Host	Final			Losing Semifinalists (No third place match)
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)

Performance

Performance by nation

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

Performance by club

Team	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

By coach

Coach	Team	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	Goal
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 players

Season	Player	Team
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

All-time 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
3	Suleyman Muhadow	HTTU	11
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

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References

↑ "AFC Competitions Committee meeting". Archived from the original on 2018-08-18. Retrieved 2009-11-24.
↑ "ACL: East vs West final proposed". The-afc.com. 2013-11-25. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
↑ "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.
↑ "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.
↑ "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.
↑ "Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee". the-AFC. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
↑ "Competitions Committee takes key decisions". The-afc.com. 2012-03-22. Archived from the original on 2012-08-02. Retrieved 2012-08-13.

External links

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[1] "AFC Competitions Committee meeting". Archived from the original on 2018-08-18. Retrieved 2009-11-24.

[2] "ACL: East vs West final proposed". The-afc.com. 2013-11-25. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-11-25.

[3] "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.

[4] "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.

[5] "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.

[6] "Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee". the-AFC. Retrieved 2024-05-24.

[7] "Competitions Committee takes key decisions". The-afc.com. 2012-03-22. Archived from the original on 2012-08-02. Retrieved 2012-08-13.

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v t e International men's club football competitions
Intercontinental Cup (defunct) Afro-Asian Club Championship (defunct) Under-20 Intercontinental Cup World Leagues Forum Lists of association football clubs
Global	FIFA – Club World Cup Intercontinental Cup
Africa	CAF – Champions League Confederation Cup Super Cup
Asia	AFC – Champions League Elite Champions League Two Challenge League
Europe	UEFA – Champions League Europa League Europa Conference League Super Cup
North, Central America and the Caribbean	CONCACAF – Champions Cup Leagues Cup Central American Cup Caribbean Cup
Oceania	OFC – Champions League
South America	CONMEBOL – Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana Recopa Sudamericana
See also: International women's club football


Organising body	AFC
Founded	2005;19 years ago (2005) (rebranded in 2024)
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