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AFC Challenge League
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.
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.
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.
On 25 November 2013, the AFC Competitions Committee proposed the year of 2014 to be the last edition of the President's Cup. Starting from 2015, league champions of emerging countries were eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-offs.
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.
On 24 May 2024, AFC announced that the records and statistics from the defunct AFC President's Cup were recognised as predecessor competition and integrated with the data of the AFC Challenge League.
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.
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AFC Challenge League
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.
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.
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.
On 25 November 2013, the AFC Competitions Committee proposed the year of 2014 to be the last edition of the President's Cup. Starting from 2015, league champions of emerging countries were eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-offs.
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.
On 24 May 2024, AFC announced that the records and statistics from the defunct AFC President's Cup were recognised as predecessor competition and integrated with the data of the AFC Challenge League.
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.