The AFC Challenge League 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.
 | |
| Organising body | AFC |
|---|---|
| Founded | 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 | |
The tournament was founded in 2005 as the AFC President's Cup, the third-tier club competition in Asian football, and was discontinued in 2014. In 2024, the AFC re-introduced a revamped competition under the name AFC Challenge League, with the records and statistics of the AFC President's Cup transferring to the new competition.
Format edit
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.[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 would be reintroduced from the 2024–25 season, which would be named the AFC Challenge League.[5][6]
Results edit
Performance edit
By coach edit
By nation edit
| # | 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 |
By club edit
| 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 |
Awards edit
Top scorers edit
| 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 edit
| 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 edit
| 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 edit
References edit
- ^ "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.