The AFC Challenge League (previously known as the AFC President's Cup, abbreviated as ACGL) 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. 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 haven't already qualified through domestic performance.
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-off.[3]
The last edition in 2014 saw HTTU Aşgabat defeat Rimyongsu of North Korea 2–1, and became 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.[4][5][6]
On 24 May 2024 AFC announced that the records and statistics will be recognised and integrated within the revamped club competitions, with the data from the AFC President's Cup transferring to the AFC Challenge League.[7]
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.[8]
In November 2013 the AFC announced that the 2014 AFC President's Cup would be the last edition of the tournament.[9] Starting from 2015, league champions of "emerging countries" are eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-off.[10] 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.[11]
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.[12][13]
Prize money
Starting with the 2024–25 season, the distribution of the prize money is as follows:[14]
