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AFC Challenge Cup

Field	Value
name	AFC Challenge Cup
logo	AFC Challenge Cup.svg
organiser	AFC
related comps	AFC Solidarity Cup
founded
abolished
region	Asia
number of teams	8 (final stage)
current champions	(1st title)
most successful team	(2 titles)

The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries that were categorised as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" programme. It was created by former AFC president Mohammed Bin Hammam as the AFC's plan for a continent-wide programme to raise the standards of Asian football. The AFC Challenge Cup was created for teams to experience playing in a continental competition, with the possibility to win an AFC trophy and potentially discover new talents.

The inaugural tournament was hosted by Bangladesh in 2006 and was held biennially. An amendment to men's national team competitions in July 2006, meant that starting with the 2008 and 2010 editions of the AFC Challenge Cup, the winners automatically qualify for the AFC Asian Cup.

In the 2011 and 2015 AFC Asian Cup tournaments, two qualification spots have been allocated to the two most recent AFC Challenge Cup winners. The 2014 tournament was the last edition of this competition, due to the expansion of the Asian Cup to the 24-nations format from the 16-nations one after the 2015 edition. In April 2016, due to several associations requesting a new competition to replace the Challenge Cup as they were having problems arranging friendly matches, the AFC created the AFC Solidarity Cup.

Selection of teams

The AFC initially divided their 46 member nations into three groups in 2006. Although the tournament was meant for the countries of emerging associations class, some countries from the developing associations class have participated in the qualification and the finals of the tournament such as India, Maldives, Myanmar, North Korea, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. As a result, only one team from the emerging class ever won the tournament, Palestine in 2014. In late March 2012, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association, although only an associate member of the AFC, was approved to enter their national team in the competition. In November 2012, the AFC announced North Korea's exclusion from future AFC Challenge Cups.

The top 15 are classed as developed associations:

The next 14 are classed as developing associations:

Former participants}}

The last 17 are classed as emerging associations, which need time to develop their football. They are eligible in the AFC Challenge Cup. These are the teams which participate:

Results

Years	Hosts	Final	Winners
2006
Details	BAN
Bangladesh	****	4–0	16
2008
Details	IND
India	****	4–1	8
2010
Details	SRI
Sri Lanka	****	1–1	8
2012
Details	NEP
Nepal	****	2–1	8
2014
Details	MDV
Maldives	****	1–0	8

Most successful teams

Champion	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place
2 (2010, 2012)		1 (2008)
1 (2006)	1 (2008)	1 (2010)
1 (2014)				1 (2012)
1 (2008)
	2 (2010, 2012)
	1 (2014)	1 (2012)
	1 (2006)
		1 (2006^)
		1 (2006^)
		1 (2014)
			2 (2008, 2010)
			1 (2014)

Participating nations

The participating countries of the AFC Challenge Cup and their number of appearances in the tournament.<br>

]]

;Legend

For each tournament, the number of teams in each of the finals tournament are shown.

Teams	2006
(16)	2008
(8)	2010
(8)	2012
(8)	2014
(8)	Years	3	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	3	1	1	2	0	3	3	3	0	1	3	3	3	4	0	4
	GS	GS	×	•	4th
	QF	•	GS	•	•
	GS	•	•	•	•
	GS	•	•	×	×
	GS	•	•	•	•
	QF	•	•	•	•
	GS	•	•	•	•
	•	1st	•	GS	•
IND India U20	QF	•	•	•	•
IND India U23	•	•	GS	•	•
	SF	•	GS	•	GS
	•	×	•	•	GS
	GS	•	•	•	•
	‡	‡	•	GS	3rd
	•	×	•	•	•
	‡	4th	4th	•	GS
	SF	GS	•	GS	•
	‡	3rd	1st	1st	‡
	‡	‡	‡	‡	•
	GS	•	•	•	•
	QF	×	•	4th	1st
	GS	•	•	3rd	2nd
	2nd	GS	GS	•	•
	1st	2nd	3rd	GS	•
	×	×	×	×	×
	‡	GS	2nd	2nd	GS

Champions by region

Federations (Region)	Titles	Years
EAFF (East Asia)	2	2010, 2012
WAFF (West Asia)	1	2014
CAFA (Central Asia)	1	2006
SAFF (South Asia)	1	2008
AFF (South East Asia)

Summary

AFC Challenge Cup (2006–2014)

Rank		width=200	Team		Part		M		W		D		L		GF		GA		GD		Points
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21

AFC Challenge Cup (Qualification) (2008– 2014)

Rank		width=200	Team		Part		M		W		D		L		GF		GA		GD		Points
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23

Awards

Most valuable player

Year	Player
2006	TJK Ibrahim Rabimov
2008	IND Bhaichung Bhutia
2010	PRK Ryang Yong-Gi
2012	PRK Pak Nam-Chol
2014	PLE Murad Ismail

Top scorer

Year	Player	Goals
2006	PLE Fahed Attal	8
2008	PRK Pak Song-Chol	6
2010	PRK Ryang Yong-Gi	4
2012	PHI Phil Younghusband	6
2014	PLE Ashraf Nu'man	4

Winning coach

Year	Country	Coach
2006		TJK Sharif Nazarov
2008		ENG Bob Houghton
2010		PRK Jo Tong-sop
2012		PRK Yun Jong-su
2014		JOR Jamal Mahmoud

References

"Regulations — AFC Challenge Cup". [[Asian Football Confederation]].
(31 August 2007). "Visiona Asian Philosophy". [[Asian Football Confederation]].
"AFC Challenge Cup in 2006 competition information". [[Asian Football Confederation]].
(21 July 2006). "AFC Competitions Update following meeting of the AFC Executive Committee". [[Asian Football Confederation]].
(25 January 2014). "Revamp of AFC competitions". [[Asian Football Confederation]].
(16 April 2014). "ExCo approves expanded AFC Asian Cup finals". [[Asian Football Confederation]].
(12 April 2016). "AFC Competitions Committee decisions".
"A tournament remembered: The AFC Challenge Cup".
(22 March 2012). "Competitions Committee takes key decisions". [[Asian Football Confederation]].
(28 November 2012). "Maldives to host 2014 AFC Challenge Cup". [[Asian Football Confederation]].

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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