AFC Challenge Cup

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For the AFC Challenge Cup's replacement tournament, see AFC Solidarity Cup.

AFC Challenge Cup
AFC Challenge Cup.svg
Founded2006
Abolished2014
RegionAsia (AFC)
Number of teams8 (at the finals)
Last champions Palestine
(1st title)
Most successful team(s) North Korea
(2 titles)
WebsiteOfficial website

The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries that was categorized as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" programme.[1] "Vision Asia", created by former AFC president, Mohammed Bin Hammam, is the AFC's plan for a continent wide programme to raise the standards of Asian football at all levels.[2] The AFC Challenge Cup, which reflected the philosophy of Vision Asia, was created for teams to experience playing in a continental competition with the possibility to win an AFC trophy and to potentially discover new talent.[3]

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.[4]

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.[5][6] 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.[7]

Selection of teams[]

The AFC initially divided their 46 member nations into three groups in 2006. Although the tournament is 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, when Palestine won in 2014. In late March 2012, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association, although only an associate member of the AFC, was approved by the AFC to enter their national team in the competition.[8] In November 2012, the AFC announced North Korea's exclusion from future AFC Challenge Cups.[9]

The top 15 are classed as developed associations:

The next 14 are classed as developing associations:

  Eligible in the AFC Challenge Cup
  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[]

Year Host Final Losing semi-finalists Number of teams
Winner Score Runner-up
2006
Details 		Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Tajikistan 		4–0
Sri Lanka 		 Kyrgyzstan and    Nepal 16
Year Host Final Third place match Number of teams
Winner Score Runner-up Third place Score Fourth place
2008
Details 		India
India
India 		4–1
Tajikistan
North Korea 		4–0
Myanmar 		8
2010
Details 		Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
North Korea 		1–1 (a.e.t.)
(5–4 pens.)
Turkmenistan
Tajikistan 		1–0
Myanmar 		8
2012
Details 		Nepal
Nepal
North Korea 		2–1
Turkmenistan
Philippines 		4–3
Palestine 		8
2014
Details 		Maldives
Maldives
Palestine 		1–0
Philippines
Maldives 		1–1 (a.e.t.)
(8–7 pens.)
Afghanistan 		8

Successful national teams[]

Team Champion Runners-up Third place Fourth place
 North Korea 2 (2010, 2012) 1 (2008)
 Tajikistan 1 (2006) 1 (2008) 1 (2010)
 Palestine 1 (2014) 1 (2012)
 India 1 (2008)
 Turkmenistan 2 (2010, 2012)
 Philippines 1 (2014) 1 (2012)
 Sri Lanka 1 (2006)
 Kyrgyzstan 1 (2006^)
   Nepal 1 (2006^)
 Maldives 1 (2014)
 Myanmar 2 (2008, 2010)
 Afghanistan 1 (2014)

Participating nations[]

The participating countries of the AFC Challenge Cup and their number of appearances in the tournament.
  4 appearances
  3 appearances
  2 appearances
  1 appearance
  Never qualified
  Ineligible
  Not an associate member of AFC
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
 Afghanistan GS GS × • 4th 3
 Bangladesh QF • GS • • 2
 Bhutan GS • • • • 1
 Brunei GS • • × × 1
 Cambodia GS • • • • 1
 Chinese Taipei QF • • • • 1
 Guam GS • • • • 1
 India QF 1st GS GS • 4
 Kyrgyzstan SF • GS • GS 3
 Laos • × • • GS 1
 Macau GS • • • • 1
 Maldives ‡ ‡ • GS 3rd 2
 Mongolia • × • • • 0
 Myanmar ‡ 4th 4th • GS 3
   Nepal SF GS • GS • 3
 North Korea ‡ 3rd 1st 1st ‡ 3
 Northern Mariana Islands ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ • 0
 Pakistan GS • • • • 1
 Palestine QF × • 4th 1st 3
 Philippines GS • • 3rd 2nd 3
 Sri Lanka 2nd GS GS • • 3
 Tajikistan 1st 2nd 3rd GS • 4
 Timor-Leste × × × × × 0
 Turkmenistan ‡ GS 2nd 2nd GS 4

Champions by region[]

Federations (Region) Champions Titles Years
EAFF (East Asia)  North Korea 2 2010, 2012
WAFF (West Asia)  Palestine 1 2014
CAFA (Central Asia)  Tajikistan 1 2006
SAFF (South Asia)  India 1 2008
AFF (South East Asia) N/A 0 N/A

General Statistics[]

Rank Team Part Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts.
1  North Korea 3 15 12 2 1 35 4 +31 38
2  Tajikistan 4 19 11 2 6 36 16 +20 34
3  Turkmenistan 4 16 8 4 4 27 14 +13 28
4  Palestine 3 14 8 3 3 29 8 +21 27
5  Philippines 3 13 6 3 4 18 14 +4 21
6  India 4 15 5 3 7 13 21 -8 18
7  Kyrgyzstan 3 11 5 0 6 7 12 -5 15
8  Myanmar 3 13 5 0 8 15 22 -7 15
9  Sri Lanka 3 12 4 2 6 12 22 -10 14
10    Nepal 3 11 3 2 6 11 14 -3 11
11  Bangladesh 2 7 3 1 3 10 13 -3 10
12  Maldives 2 8 2 2 4 9 12 -3 8
13  Afghanistan 3 11 1 5 5 7 19 -12 8
14  Chinese Taipei 1 4 1 2 1 3 5 -2 5
15  Brunei 1 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 4
16  Pakistan 1 3 1 1 1 3 4 -1 4
17  Cambodia 1 3 1 0 2 4 6 -2 3
18  Bhutan 1 3 0 1 2 0 3 -3 1
19  Macau 1 3 0 1 2 2 8 -6 1
20  Laos 1 3 0 1 2 1 7 -6 1
21  Guam 1 3 0 0 3 0 17 -17 0

General statistics (qualification)[]

Rank Team Part Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts.
1  Philippines 4 13 7 3 3 23 11 +12 24
2  Afghanistan 3 10 6 2 2 10 4 +6 20
3  Turkmenistan 3 8 6 1 1 28 3 +25 19
4  Tajikistan 3 9 6 1 2 15 2 +13 19
5  Sri Lanka 4 12 5 3 4 28 18 +10 18
6  Myanmar 3 9 5 2 2 16 8 +8 17
7  Pakistan 4 12 5 2 5 26 21 +5 17
8  Kyrgyzstan 4 10 5 2 3 12 10 +2 17
9  Palestine 3 8 4 4 0 16 2 +14 16
10    Nepal 4 10 4 4 2 12 6 +6 16
11  Bangladesh 4 11 5 1 5 14 10 +4 16
12  Maldives 2 6 4 1 1 15 6 +9 13
13  India 2 6 4 1 1 13 4 +7 13
14  Chinese Taipei 4 14 3 4 7 22 24 -2 13
15  North Korea 1 3 3 0 0 7 0 +7 9
16  Cambodia 4 12 3 0 9 13 35 -22 9
17  Mongolia 3 7 2 1 4 6 11 -5 7
18  Laos 2 5 1 3 1 9 10 -1 6
19  Macau 4 12 2 0 10 11 29 -18 6
20  Guam 2 6 1 0 5 7 27 -20 3
21  Brunei 2 6 0 1 5 2 22 -20 1
22  Bhutan 3 8 0 1 7 1 24 -23 1
23  Timor-Leste 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
24  Northern Mariana Islands 1 3 0 0 3 0 19 -19 0

Awards[]

Most Valuable Players[]

Year Player
2006 Tajikistan Ibrahim Rabimov
2008 India Bhaichung Bhutia
2010 North Korea Ryang Yong-Gi
2012 North Korea Pak Nam-Chol
2014 State of Palestine Murad Ismail

Top scorers[]

Year Player Goals
2006 State of Palestine Fahed Attal 8
2008 North Korea Pak Song-Chol 6
2010 North Korea Ryang Yong-Gi 4
2012 Philippines Phil Younghusband 6
2014 State of Palestine Ashraf Nu'man 4

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Regulations - AFC Challenge Cup" (PDF) (PDF). Asian Football Confederation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  2. ^ "Visiona Asian Philosophy". Asian Football Confederation. 31 August 2007. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  3. ^ "AFC Challenge Cup in 2006 competition information". Asian Football Confederation. Archived from the original on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  4. ^ "AFC Competitions Update following meeting of the AFC Executive Committee". Asian Football Confederation. 21 July 2006. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  5. ^ "Revamp of AFC competitions". Asian Football Confederation. 25 January 2014. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014.
  6. ^ "ExCo approves expanded AFC Asian Cup finals". Asian Football Confederation. 16 April 2014. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014.
  7. ^ "AFC Competitions Committee decisions". www.the-afc.com. 12 April 2016. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  8. ^ "Competitions Committee takes key decisions". Asian Football Confederation. 22 March 2012. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  9. ^ "Maldives to host 2014 AFC Challenge Cup". Asian Football Confederation. 28 November 2012. Archived from the original on 1 December 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.

External links[]

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