2024–25 AFC Challenge League

2024–25 AFC Challenge League
Tournament details
DatesQualifying:
13 August 2024
Competition proper:
26 October 2024 – 10 May 2025
TeamsCompetition proper: 18 (from 18 associations)
← 2014 (AFC President's Cup)
2025–26 →

The 2024–25 AFC Challenge League is the eleventh edition of the Asia's third-tier continental club football competition, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the first season since it was rebranded from the AFC President's Cup to the AFC Challenge League. It is the first edition since 2014, with the tournament being re-introduced in 2024 with a revamped format.[1][2] The winner will be given a direct slot for the 2025-26 AFC Champions League Two group stage, if they haven't already qualified through their domestic performance.

Association team allocation

[edit]

The associations are allocated slots according to their club competitions ranking,[3] which was published after the 2022 competitions were completed.[4]

Participation for 2024–25 AFC Challenge League
Participating
Not participating
Notes
  1. ^
    AFC Licensing (AFC): Association did not have a licensed club.[5]

Teams

[edit]

The number of appearances and last appearance include the AFC President's Cup as the predecessor of the AFC Challenge League.

Notes
  1. ^
    Palestine (PLE): Due to the Israel–Hamas war, the 2023–24 West Bank Premier League was not organized by the Palestinian Football Association. The teams from Palestine are determined by the results of the 2022–23 West Bank Premier League. Jabal Al-Mukaber, the 2022–23 West Bank Premier League champions, failed to obtain an AFC license. Instead, the runners-up Hilal Al-Quds participate in the AFC Challenge League group stage.[5]
  2. ^
    Turkmenistan (TKM): Arkadag, the 2023 Turkmenistan Cup winners, also won the league title and qualified for the AFC Challenge League group stage as they lacked an AFC Champions League Two license. They were replaced by Altyn Asyr, the 2023 Ýokary Liga runners-up in AFC Champions League Two qualifying play-offs.[5]

Schedule

[edit]

The schedule of the competition is as follows.[6]

Stage Round Draw date First leg Second leg
Preliminary stage Preliminary stage No draw[a] 13 August 2024
Group stage Matchday 1 22 August 2024 26 October 2024 (West), 27 October 2024 (East)
Matchday 2 29 October 2024 (West), 30 October 2024 (East)
Matchday 3 1 November 2024 (West), 2 November 2024 (East)
Knockout stage Quarter-finals No draw[a] 5 March 2025 (West), 6 March 2025 (East) 12 March 2025 (West), 13 March 2025 (East)
Semi-finals 9 April 2025 (West), 10 April 2025 (East) 16 April 2025 (West), 17 April 2025 (East)
Final 10 May 2025

Preliminary stage

[edit]

The bracket of the preliminary stage was determined based on each team's association ranking and their seeding within their association, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the match. The two winners of the preliminary stage advanced to the group stage and joined the 16 direct entrants.

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
Church Boys United Nepal1–2Bhutan Paro
Abdysh-Ata Kant Kyrgyzstan2–0Afghanistan Attack Energy
Church Boys United Nepal1–2Bhutan Paro
  • Limbu 38'
 Report
Attendance: 9,873
Referee: Wiwat Jumpaoon (Thailand)
Abdysh-Ata Kant Kyrgyzstan2–0Afghanistan Attack Energy
 Report
Kurmanbek Stadium, Jalal-Abad[note 2]
Attendance: 955

Group stage

[edit]
Main article: 2024–25 AFC Challenge League group stage

The draw for the group stage took place on August 22 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 18 teams were drawn into five groups: three comprising four teams from the West each (Groups A–C) and two involving three teams from the East each (Groups D–E).[7] Teams were seeded into pots: four pots for West region and three pots for East region, and drawn into the relevant positions within each group, based on their association ranking. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.

class=notpageimage|
Location of the 2024–25 AFC Challenge League group stage teams
Brown: Group A; Cyan: Group B; Orange: Group C; Yellow: Group D; Red: Group E

West Region

[edit]

Group A

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification EAB NJM BSK PAR
1 India East Bengal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to Quarter-finals — 1 Nov — 26 Oct
2 Lebanon Nejmeh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible advance to Quarter-finals — — 26 Oct —
3 Bangladesh Bashundhara Kings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 29 Oct — — 1 Nov
4 Bhutan Paro (H) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 29 Oct — —
First match(es) will be played: 26 October 2024. Source: AFC
(H) Hosts

Group B

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification AAK AKG MAZ ABD
1 Kuwait Al-Arabi (H) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to Quarter-finals — 1 Nov — 26 Oct
2 Turkmenistan Arkadag 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible advance to Quarter-finals — — 26 Oct —
3 Maldives Maziya 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 29 Oct — — 1 Nov
4 Kyrgyzstan Abdysh-Ata Kant 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 29 Oct — —
First match(es) will be played: 26 October 2024. Source: AFC
(H) Hosts

Group C

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification AAM AFT ASB HAQ
1 Bahrain Al-Ahli Club 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to Quarter-finals — 1 Nov — 26 Oct
2 Syria Al-Fotuwa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Possible advance to Quarter-finals — — 26 Oct —
3 Oman Al-Seeb (H) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 29 Oct — — 1 Nov
4 State of Palestine Hilal Al-Quds 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 29 Oct — —
First match(es) will be played: 26 October 2024. Source: AFC
(H) Hosts

East Region

[edit]

Group D

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification SNU TNC YEP
1 Myanmar Shan United (H) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to Quarter-finals — 2 Nov —
2 Chinese Taipei Taiwan Steel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — 30 Oct
3 Laos Young Elephants 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 Oct — —
First match(es) will be played: 27 October 2024. Source: AFC
(H) Hosts

Group E

[edit]
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification MDU PRR SPF
1 Indonesia Madura United 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to Quarter-finals — 2 Nov —
2 Cambodia Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — 30 Oct
3 Mongolia SP Falcons (H) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 Oct — —
First match(es) will be played: 27 October 2024. Source: AFC
(H) Hosts

Ranking of runner-up teams (West Region)

[edit]
Pos Grp Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 A Lebanon Nejmeh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Advance to Quarter-finals
2 B Turkmenistan Arkadag 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 C Syria Al-Fotuwa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played: 26 October 2024. Source: AFC

Knockout stage

[edit]
Main article: 2024–25 AFC Challenge League knockout stage

Bracket

[edit]
Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
             
2E  
1D  
 
East Region
 
2D  
1E  
 
 
 
 
 
West Region
 
 
 

Quarter-finals

[edit]

In the quarter-finals, the eight qualified teams play in two ties, with the matchups and order of legs determined by the group stage draw and the identity of the best runners-up.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
West Region
QF1 5 Mar 12 Mar
QF2 5 Mar 12 Mar
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
East Region
Group E runners-up QF3 Group D winners 6 Mar 13 Mar
Group D runners-up QF4 Group E winners 6 Mar 13 Mar

Semi-finals

[edit]

In the Semi-finals, the winners of quarter-finals from each region will face each other in two leg matches. The winners of each tie advance to the final.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
West Region
Winner QF1 SF1 Winner QF2 9 Apr 16 Apr
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
East Region
Winner QF3 SF2 Winner QF4 10 Apr 17 Apr

Final

[edit]
Main article: 2025 AFC Challenge League final


See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Church Boys United played their home matches at Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu, instead of their regular home stadium Chyasal Stadium, Lalitpur.
  2. ^ Abdysh-Ata Kant played their home matches at Kurmanbek Stadium, Jalal-Abad, instead of their regular home stadium Stadion Sportkompleks Abdysh-Ata, Kant.
  1. ^ a b Pre-determined format

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Asian Champions League to relaunch with fewer teams and more prize money in 2024–25 season". AP News. 14 August 2023.
  2. ^ "AFC Executive Committee approves biggest prize purse in Asian club football history from 2024/25; announces AFC Women's Champions League". the-AFC.
  3. ^ a b c "AFC Club Competitions 2024/25 Slot Allocation" (PDF). fas.org.sg. Football Association of Singapore. 10 May 2023. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "AFC Club Competitions Ranking". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 24 November 2021. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b c "List of Licensed Clubs - AFC Club Competitions 2024/25" (PDF). 14 June 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  6. ^ "AFC Competitions Committee approves key decisions on reformatted competitions". AFC. 1 July 2023.
  7. ^ "#ChallengeLeague draw to decide 2024/25 Group Stage battles". Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
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