From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base
AFC Challenge League
Annual third tier Asian club football competition
Annual third tier Asian club football competition
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | AFC Challenge League |
| image | AFC Challenge League logo.svg |
| imagesize | 150px |
| organiser | AFC |
| founded | (as AFC President's Cup) |
| (relaunched as AFC Challenge League) | |
| region | Asia |
| number of teams | 20 (group stage) |
| 29 (total) | |
| qualifier for | AFC Champions League Two |
| related comps | AFC Champions League Elite (1st tier) |
| AFC Champions League Two (2nd tier) | |
| current champions | TKM Arkadag (1st title) |
| most successful club | TJK Regar TadAZ |
| (3 titles) | |
| current | 2025–26 AFC Challenge League |
| website |
(relaunched as AFC Challenge League) 29 (total) AFC Champions League Two (2nd tier) (3 titles)
The AFC Challenge League (previously known as the AFC President's Cup, abbreviated as ACGL) is an annual third-tier 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.
The 2024–25 season marked its inaugural edition in the new format. The winner of the AFC Challenge League gets a direct spot in the group stage of the next season's AFC Champions League Two, if they have not already qualified through domestic performance.
History
| Season | Winners | AFC President's Cup | AFC Challenge League |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Regar TadAZ | ||
| 2006 | Dordoi-Dynamo | ||
| 2007 | Dordoi-Dynamo (2) | ||
| 2008 | Regar TadAZ (2) | ||
| 2009 | Regar TadAZ (3) | ||
| 2010 | Yadanarbon | ||
| 2011 | Taipower | ||
| 2012 | Istiklol | ||
| 2013 | Balkan | ||
| 2014 | HTTU Aşgabat | ||
| 2024–25 | TKM Arkadag |
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.
On 25 November 2013, the AFC Competitions Committee proposed the year of 2014 to be the last edition of the President's Cup. Starting from 2015, league champions of emerging countries were eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-offs.
The last edition in 2014 saw HTTU Aşgabat defeat North Korean side Rimyongsu 2–1, becoming 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.
On 24 May 2024, AFC announced that the records and statistics from the 2005-2014 AFC President's Cup were recognised as those of the predecessor competition, and were integrated with the data of the AFC Challenge League.
Format
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.
In November 2013 the AFC announced that the 2014 AFC President's Cup would be the last edition of the tournament. Starting from 2015, league champions of "emerging countries" are eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-off. The qualifying round for the 2016 AFC Cup, with similar format to the AFC President's Cup (without final stage), was held in August 2015, which qualified two clubs to the AFC Cup play-offs.
After the rebrand in 2024, the new format comprised 18 participating clubs divided into four groups for the inaugural season. The clubs compete in single-leg centralized format, with the top eight qualifying for the quarter-finals. The quarter and semi-finals are played over two legs, before the coveted final is staged over a single-leg contest.
Allocation
The allocation of group stage teams by member country is listed below; asterisks represent occasions where at least one team was eliminated in the qualifying rounds. Countries that have not been represented in the group stage are not listed below.
| Associations | Spots | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2024–25 | 2025–26 | East Asia | Total | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | West Asia | Total | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 12 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAM Cambodia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TPE Chinese Taipei | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IDN Indonesia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LAO Laos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MNG Mongolia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MYA Myanmar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PRK North Korea | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PHI Philippines | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BHR Bahrain | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BAN Bangladesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BHU Bhutan | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IND India | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| KGZ Kyrgyzstan | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| KUW Kuwait | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LIB Lebanon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MDV Maldives | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NEP Nepal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| OMA Oman | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PAK Pakistan | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PLE Palestine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SRI Sri Lanka | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TJK Tajikistan | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TKM Turkmenistan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SYR Syria | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Finals | 8 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 18 | 20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Qualifying | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 18 |
Prize money
Starting with the 2024–25 season, the distribution of the prize money is as follows:
| Round | Teams | Amount | Per team | Total | Total | 18 | $4,420,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final (Champions) | 1 | $1 million | |||||
| Final (Runners-up) | 1 | $500,000 | |||||
| Semi-finals | 4 | $120,000 | $480,000 | ||||
| Quarter-finals | 8 | $80,000 | $640,000 | ||||
| Group stage | 18 | $100,000 | $1,800,000 |
Records and statistics
Main article: AFC President's Cup and AFC Challenge League records and statistics
List of finals
| * | Match won after a penalty shoot-out |
|---|
- The "Season" column refers to the season during which the competition was held, and links to the article about that season.
| Season | Winners | Score | Venue | Attendance | AFC President's Cup (2005–2014) | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | AFC Challenge League (2024–present) | 2024–25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regar-TadAZ | 3–0 | Dordoi-Dynamo | Dashrath Stadium, Kathmandu, Nepal | 8,000 | |||||||||||||
| Dordoi-Dynamo | 2–1 | Vakhsh | Sarawak Stadium, Kuching, Malaysia | 500 | |||||||||||||
| Dordoi-Dynamo | 2–1 | Mahendra Police Club | Punjab Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan | 2,000 | |||||||||||||
| Regar-TadAZ | 1–1* | Dordoi-Dynamo | Spartak Stadium, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan | 10,000 | |||||||||||||
| Regar-TadAZ | 2–0 | Dordoi-Dynamo | Metallurg Stadium, Tursunzoda, Tajikistan | 10,000 | |||||||||||||
| Yadanarbon | 1–0 | Dordoi-Dynamo | Thuwunna Stadium, Yangon, Myanmar | 23,720 | |||||||||||||
| Taiwan Power Company | 3–2 | Phnom Penh Crown | National Stadium, Kaohsiung, Taiwan | 3,238 | |||||||||||||
| Istiklol | 2–1 | Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari | Central Republican Stadium, Dushanbe, Tajikistan | 19,323 | |||||||||||||
| Balkan | 1–0 | KRL | Hang Jebat Stadium, Malacca, Malaysia | 578 | |||||||||||||
| HTTU Aşgabat | 2–1 | Rimyongsu | Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka | 200 | |||||||||||||
| Arkadag | 2–1 | Svay Rieng | Morodok Techo National Stadium, Phnom Penh, Cambodia | 51,610 |
Performance by club
| Club | Title(s) | Years won | Years | TJK Regar-TadAZ | KGZ Dordoi Bishkek | MYA Yadanarbon | TJK Istiklol | TKM Nebitçi | TKM Ýedigen | Arkadag | TJK Khatlon | NEP Nepal Police | CAM Phnom Penh Crown | PLE Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari | PAK KRL | PRK Rimyongsu | Svay Rieng |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 0 | 2005, 2008, 2009 | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | 4 | 2006, 2007 | 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010 | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 2010 | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 2012 | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 2013 | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 2014 | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2006 | |||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2007 | |||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2012 | |||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2013 | |||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2014 | |||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 |
Performance by nation
| Nation | Winners | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 0 | 1 | 1 |
Performance by coach
| Coach | Club | Winners |
|---|---|---|
| TJK Makhmadjon Khabibulloev | TJK Regar TadAZ | 2005, 2008, 2009 |
| KGZ Boris Podkorytov | KGZ Dordoi-Dinamo | 2006, 2007 |
| MYA U Zaw Lay Aung | MYA Yadanarbon | 2010 |
| SRB Nikola Kavazović | TJK Istiklol | 2012 |
| TPE Chen Kuei-jen | 2011 | |
| TKM Rahym Kurbanmämmedow | TKM Balkan | 2013 |
| TKM Begench Garayev | TKM HTTU Aşgabat | 2014 |
| TKM Akhmet Allaberdiyev | Arkadag | 2024–25 |
Awards
Top scorers
| Season | Player(s) | Club(s) | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | SRI Dudley Steinwall | SRI Blue Star SC | 4 |
| CAM Hok Sochetra | CAM Hello United | ||
| TJK Khurshed Mahmudov | TJK Regar-TadAZ | ||
| TJK Dzhomikhon Mukhidinov | TJK Regar-TadAZ | ||
| 2006 | TPE Chuang Yao-tsung | TPE Tatung | 5 |
| KGZ Roman Kornilov | KGZ Dordoi-Dynamo | ||
| 2007 | SRI Channa Ediri Bandanage | SRI Ratnam Sports Club | 6 |
| 2008 | MYA Thi Ha Kyaw | MYA Kanbawza | 6 |
| 2009 | MYA Soe Min Oo | MYA Kanbawza | 6 |
| 2010 | TJK Rustam Usmonov | TJK Vakhsh Qurghonteppa | 5 |
| 2011 | TPE Ho Ming-tsan | TPE Taipower | 6 |
| 2012 | KGZ Mirlan Murzayev | KGZ Dordoi Bishkek | 8 |
| 2013 | KGZ Mirlan Murzayev | KGZ Dordoi Bishkek | 9 |
| 2014 | TKM Suleyman Muhadow | TKM HTTU Aşgabat | 11 |
| 2024–25 | TKM Altymyrat Annadurdyýew | Arkadag | 5 |
Best player
| Season | Player | Club | N/A | N/A | KGZ Valery Kashuba | N/A | TJK Khurshed Mahmudov | KGZ Mirlan Murzayev | TPE Chen Po-liang | TJK Alisher Tuychiev | TKM Amir Gurbani | TKM Suleyman Muhadow | Şanazar Tirkişow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | N/A | ||||||||||||
| 2006 | N/A | ||||||||||||
| 2007 | KGZ Dordoi-Dynamo | ||||||||||||
| 2008 | N/A | ||||||||||||
| 2009 | TJK Regar-TadAZ | ||||||||||||
| 2010 | KGZ Dordoi-Dynamo | ||||||||||||
| 2011 | TPE Taipower | ||||||||||||
| 2012 | TJK Istiklol | ||||||||||||
| 2013 | TKM Balkan | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | TKM HTTU Asgabat | ||||||||||||
| 2024–25 | Arkadag |
Top goalscorers
| Rank | Player | Club(s) | Goals | KGZ Mirlan Murzaev | KGZ David Tetteh | TJK Khurshed Makhmudov | TKM Suleyman Muhadow | TKM Amir Gurbani | SRI Channa Ediri Bandanage | TJK Ibrahim Rabimov | PAK Kaleemullah Khan | TKM Arslanmyrat Amanow | MYA Yan Paing | NEP Ju Manu Rai |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dordoi Bishkek | 19 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Dordoi Bishkek | 12 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Regar-TadAZ | 11 | ||||||||||||
| HTTU | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | Aşgabat | |||||||||||||
| Balkan | 10 | |||||||||||||
| Ratnam | ||||||||||||||
| Regar-TadAZ | ||||||||||||||
| Istiklol | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | KRL | 9 | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Aşgabat | |||||||||||||
| HTTU | 8 | |||||||||||||
| Yadanarbon | ||||||||||||||
| Nepal Police |
Notes
References
References
- "AFC President's Cup: The end of a glorious journey". Asian Football Confederation.
- (25 November 2013). "ACL: East vs West final proposed". Asian Football Confederation.
- "AFC Competitions Committee recommends strategic reforms to elevate Asian club football". Asian Football Confederation.
- (14 August 2023). "AFC Executive Committee approves biggest prize purse in Asian club football history from 2024/25; announces AFC Women's Champions League". Asian Football Confederation.
- "AFC Club Competitions 2024/25 Slot Allocation". Football Association of Singapore.
- (24 May 2024). "Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee". Asian Football Confederation.
- "AFC Competitions Committee meeting".
- (2013-11-25). "ACL: East vs West final proposed". The-afc.com.
- (26 July 2014). "AFC President's Cup: The end of a glorious journey". AFC.
- (29 June 2015). "Stage set for 2016 AFC Cup play-off qualifiers". AFC.
- "AFC Competitions Committee recommends strategic reforms to elevate Asian club football".
- "Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee".
- The AFC Hub. (2024-06-19). "AFC Challenge League™ 2024/25".
- "AFC Cup and Presidents Cup".
- "AFC President's Cup 2005 - Results, fixtures, tables and stats - Global Sports Archive".
- "AFC President's Cup 2006 - Results, fixtures, tables and stats - Global Sports Archive".
- "AFC President's Cup 2007 - Results, fixtures, tables and stats - Global Sports Archive".
- "AFC President's Cup 2008 - Results, fixtures, tables and stats - Global Sports Archive".
- "AFC President's Cup 2009 - Results, fixtures, tables and stats - Global Sports Archive".
- "AFC President's Cup 2010 - Results, fixtures, tables and stats - Global Sports Archive".
- "AFC President's Cup 2011 - Results, fixtures, tables and stats - Global Sports Archive".
- "AFC President's Cup 2012 - Results, fixtures, tables and stats - Global Sports Archive".
- "AFC President's Cup 2013 - Results, fixtures, tables and stats - Global Sports Archive".
- "AFC President's Cup 2014 - Results, fixtures, tables and stats - Global Sports Archive".
- (10 May 2025). "Match Report of Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng FC vs Arkadag FK - 2025-05-10 - AFC Challenge League".
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.
Ask Mako anything about AFC Challenge League — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.
Research with MakoFree with your Surf account
Create a free account to save articles, ask Mako questions, and organize your research.
Sign up freeThis content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.
Report