AFC Challenge League

Not to be confused with AFC Challenge Cup.

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.

AFC Challenge League

Organising body	AFC
Founded	2005; 20 years ago (2005) (as AFC President's Cup) 2024; 1 year ago (2024) (relaunched as AFC Challenge League)
Region	Asia
Number of teams	18 (group stage)
Qualifier for	AFC Champions League Two
Related competitions	AFC Champions League Elite (1st tier) AFC Champions League Two (2nd tier)
Current champions	FK Arkadag (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Regar TadAZ (3 titles)
Website	AFC Challenge League at the-afc.com
2024–25 AFC Challenge League

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
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
AFC Challenge League
2024–25	FK 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.^[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-offs.^[1]

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.^[3][4][5]

On 24 May 2024, AFC announced that the records and statistics from the AFC President's Cup were recognised and integrated with the data of the AFC Challenge League.^[6]

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.^[7]

In November 2013 the AFC announced that the 2014 AFC President's Cup would be the last edition of the tournament.^[8] Starting from 2015, league champions of "emerging countries" are eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-off.^[9] 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.^[10]

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.^[11][12]

Prize money

Starting with the 2024–25 season, the distribution of the prize money is as follows:^[13]

Round	Teams	Amount
		Per team	Total
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
Total	18	$4,420,000

Records and statistics

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

List of finals

Key

†	Match won after extra time
*	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.

List of AFC President's Cup and AFC Challenge League finals^[14]

Season	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Attendance	Ref.
AFC President's Cup (2005–2014)
2005	Regar-TadAZ	3–0	Dordoi-Dynamo	Dashrath Stadium, Kathmandu, Nepal	8,000	[15]
2006	Dordoi-Dynamo	2–1†	Vakhsh	Sarawak Stadium, Kuching, Malaysia	500	[16]
2007	Dordoi-Dynamo	2–1	Mahendra Police Club	Punjab Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan	2,000	[17]
2008	Regar-TadAZ	1–1*[a]	Dordoi-Dynamo	Spartak Stadium, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan	10,000	[18]
2009	Regar-TadAZ	2–0	Dordoi-Dynamo	Metallurg Stadium, Tursunzoda, Tajikistan	10,000	[19]
2010	Yadanarbon	1–0†	Dordoi-Dynamo	Thuwunna Stadium, Yangon, Myanmar	23,720	[20]
2011	Taiwan Power Company	3–2	Phnom Penh Crown	National Stadium, Kaohsiung, Taiwan	3,238	[21]
2012	Istiklol	2–1	Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari	Central Republican Stadium, Dushanbe, Tajikistan	19,323	[22]
2013	Balkan	1–0	KRL	Hang Jebat Stadium, Malacca, Malaysia	578	[23]
2014	HTTU Aşgabat	2–1	Rimyongsu	Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka	200	[24]
AFC Challenge League (2024–present)
2024–25	Arkadag	2–1	Svay Rieng	Morodok Techo National Stadium, Phnom Penh, Cambodia	51,610	[25]

Performance by club

Performance in the AFC President's Cup and AFC Challenge League by club

Club	Title(s)	Runners-up	Years won	Years runner-up
Regar-TadAZ	3	0	2005, 2008, 2009	—
Dordoi Bishkek	2	4	2006, 2007	2005, 2008, 2009, 2010
Yadanarbon	1	0	2010	—
Taiwan Power Company	1	0	2011	—
Istiklol	1	0	2012	—
Nebitçi	1	0	2013	—
Ýedigen	1	0	2014	—
Arkadag	1	0	2024–25	—
Khatlon	0	1	—	2006
Nepal Police	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
Svay Rieng	0	1	—	2024–25

Performance by nation

Performance in finals by nation

Nation	Winners	Runners-up	Total
Tajikistan	4	1	5
Turkmenistan	3	0	3
Kyrgyzstan	2	4	6
Chinese Taipei	1	0	1
Myanmar	1	0	1
Cambodia	0	2	2
Nepal	0	1	1
North Korea	0	1	1
Pakistan	0	1	1
Palestine	0	1	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	2010
Nikola Kavazović	Istiklol	2012
Chen Kuei-jen	Taiwan Power Company	2011
Rahym Kurbanmämmedow	Balkan	2013
Begench Garayev	HTTU Aşgabat	2014
Akhmet Allaberdiyev	Arkadag	2024–25

Awards

Top scorers

Season	Player(s)	Club(s)	Goals
2005	Dudley Steinwall	Blue Star SC	4
	Hok Sochetra	Hello United
	Khurshed Mahmudov	Regar-TadAZ
	Dzhomikhon Mukhidinov	Regar-TadAZ
2006	Chuang Yao-tsung	Tatung	5
	Roman Kornilov	Dordoi-Dynamo
2007	Channa Ediri Bandanage	Ratnam Sports Club	6
2008	Thi Ha Kyaw	Kanbawza	6
2009	Soe Min Oo	Kanbawza	6
2010	Rustam Usmonov	Vakhsh Qurghonteppa	5
2011	Ho Ming-tsan	Taipower	6
2012	Mirlan Murzaev	Dordoi Bishkek	8
2013	Mirlan Murzaev	Dordoi Bishkek	9
2014	Suleyman Muhadow	HTTU Aşgabat	11
2024–25	Altymyrat Annadurdyýew	Arkadag	5

Best player

Season	Player	Club
2005	N/A	N/A
2006	N/A	N/A
2007	Valery Kashuba	Dordoi-Dynamo
2008	N/A	N/A
2009	Khurshed Mahmudov	Regar-TadAZ
2010	Mirlan Murzaev	Dordoi-Dynamo
2011	Chen Po-liang	Taipower
2012	Alisher Tuychiev	Istiklol
2013	Amir Gurbani	Balkan
2014	Suleyman Muhadow	HTTU Asgabat
2024–25	Şanazar Tirkişow	Arkadag

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

See also

• AFC President's Cup and AFC Challenge League records and statistics
• AFC Champions League Elite
• AFC Champions League Two

Notes

1. The score was 1–1 after 90 minutes and extra time. Regar TadAZ won the penalty shoot-out 4–3.