2024–25 AFC Challenge League

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2024–25 AFC Challenge League
Tournament details
TeamsCompetition proper: 20 (from 19 or 20 associations)
2014 (AFC President's Cup)
2025–26

The 2024–25 AFC Challenge League will be the eleventh edition of the Asia's third-tier continental club football competition, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It will be the first edition since 2014, with the tournament being re-introduced under a new name (AFC Challenge League) and revamped format.[1] It will feature 20 teams.[2]

Association team allocation

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

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

Notes
  1. ^
    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 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.
  2. ^
    Palestine (PLE): Due to the Israel–Hamas war, the 2023–24 West Bank Premier League was cancelled and not organized by the Palestinian Football Association. The teams from Palestine playing in the 2022 AFC Cup are determined only 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 will participate in the AFC Challenge League group stage.

Schedule

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

Stage Round Draw date First leg Second leg
Preliminary stage Preliminary stage 3 No draw[a] 13 August 2024
Group stage Matchday 1 22 August 2024 26–27 October 2024
Matchday 2 29–30 October 2024
Matchday 3 1–2 November 2024
Knockout stage Quarter-finals TBA 5–6 March 2025 12–13 March 2025
Semi-finals 9–10 April 2025 16–17 April 2025
Final 4 May 2025

See also

Notes

  1. ^ pre-determined format

References

  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. ^ "List of Licensed Clubs - AFC Club Competitions 2024/25" (PDF). 14 June 2024.
  6. ^ "AFC Competitions Committee approves key decisions on reformatted competitions". AFC. 1 July 2023.