AFC President's Cup

AFC President's Cup
Founded 2005
Abolished 2014
Region Asia (AFC)
Number of teams 12
Last champions Turkmenistan FC HTTU
(1st title)
Most successful club(s) Tajikistan Regar TadAZ
(3 times)

The AFC President's Cup was an annual international association football competition between domestic clubs sides run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held between 2005 and 2014.

The competition targeted emerging football nations, and was set a below the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup competitions.

Competition format

The AFC President's Cup trophy.

Between 8 and 12 teams participated in each edition of the competition.

From 2005 to 2007, 8 clubs were placed into two groups of 4 teams. 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 the 11 clubs were split into three groups of 3 or 4 clubs. Each group was played in a different country. The three group winners and the best ranked runner up qualified for the finals stage, hosted in another country.

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 qualify for the final stage. These 6 clubs are broken into two groups of 3. The top teams of each group qualified directly for the final.[1]

In November 2013 the AFC announced that the 2014 AFC President's Cup would be the last edition of the tournament.[2] Starting from 2015, league champions of "emerging countries" are eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-off.[3] The qualifying round for the 2016 AFC Cup, with a similar format to the AFC President's Cup (but without a final stage), was held in August 2015, which qualified two teams to the AFC Cup play-offs.[4]

Qualification and participating nations

Qualification to the competition was to clubs from AFC-affiliated countries which fall into the AFC's 'emerging nations' category as laid out in their 'Vision Asia' document. Countries which were 'mature' and 'developing' nations were entered into the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup, respectively. For an 'emerging nation' to have a team representing it in the competition, however, the country must have an acceptable football league. The team that represents a country in one season of the competition is the defending champion of the top-level leagues of participating countries.

Clubs from Nepal Nepal, Taiwan Taiwan, Bhutan Bhutan, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, Pakistan Pakistan and Cambodia Cambodia were invited every year.

Clubs from Bangladesh Bangladesh, Turkmenistan Turkmenistan, Mongolia Mongolia, Philippines Philippines and North Korea North Korea were also invited in some of the years of the competition.

Some participating countries – State of Palestine Palestine, Myanmar Myanmar, Tajikistan Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan – applied for an upgrade to the AFC Cup, so their club teams subsequently played in that competition.

Other nations that could enter a team, but never did so are: Brunei Brunei, East Timor Timor-Leste, Guam Guam, Laos Laos, Macau Macau and Afghanistan Afghanistan.

In March 2012 the AFC announced that the Northern Mariana Islands Northern Mariana Islands were approved to participate in the AFC Challenge Cup and AFC President’s Cup if they fulfilled the criteria.[5] However, they never entered a team.

Results

Year Host Final Losing Semifinalists
(No third place match)
Winner Score Runner-up
2005
Details
Nepal
Nepal
Tajikistan
Regar TadAZ
3–0 Kyrgyzstan
Dordoi-Dynamo
Sri Lanka Blue Star SC
Nepal Three Star Club
2006
Details
Malaysia
Malaysia
Kyrgyzstan
Dordoi-Dynamo
2–1
(aet)
Tajikistan
Vakhsh
Cambodia Khemara
Chinese Taipei Tatung
2007
Details
Pakistan
Pakistan
Kyrgyzstan
Dordoi-Dynamo
2–1 Nepal
Mahendra Police Club
Sri Lanka Ratnam Sports Club
Tajikistan Regar TadAZ
2008
Details
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Regar TadAZ
1–1
(aet, 4–3 pens)
Kyrgyzstan
Dordoi-Dynamo
Turkmenistan FC Aşgabat
Nepal Mahendra Police Club
2009
Details
Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Regar TadAZ
2–0 Kyrgyzstan
Dordoi-Dynamo
Turkmenistan FC Aşgabat
Pakistan WAPDA
2010
Details
Myanmar
Myanmar
Myanmar
Yadanarbon
1–0
(aet)
Kyrgyzstan
Dordoi Bishkek
Turkmenistan HTTU Aşgabat
Tajikistan Vakhsh Qurghonteppa
2011
Details
Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan
Taipower FC
3–2 Cambodia
Phnom Penh Crown
Turkmenistan Balkan
Kyrgyzstan Neftchi Kochkor-Ata
(Final stage group runners-up)
2012
Details
Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Istiqlol
2–1 State of Palestine
Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari
Kyrgyzstan Dordoi Bishkek
Chinese Taipei Taiwan Power Company
(Final stage group runners-up)
2013
Details
Malaysia
Malaysia
Turkmenistan
Balkan
1–0 Pakistan
KRL
Mongolia Erchim
State of Palestine Hilal Al-Quds
(Final stage group runners-up)
2014
Details
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Turkmenistan
HTTU Asgabat
2–1 North Korea
Rimyongsu
Nepal Manang Marshyangdi Club
Bangladesh Sheikh Russel
(Final stage group runners-up)

Performance by nation

# Nation Winners Runners-up
1 Tajikistan41
2 Kyrgyzstan24
3 Turkmenistan20
4 Myanmar10
Taiwan Taiwan10
6 Cambodia01
   Nepal01
 Pakistan01
 Palestine01
 North Korea01

Performance by club

Team Winners Runners-Up Years Won Years Lost
Tajikistan Regar TadAZ302005, 2008, 2009
Kyrgyzstan Dordoi-Dynamo242006, 20072005, 2008, 2009, 2010
Myanmar Yadanarbon FC102010
Chinese Taipei Taiwan Power Company102011
Tajikistan FK Istiqlol102012
Turkmenistan FK Balkan102013
Turkmenistan HTTU Asgabat102014
Tajikistan Vakhsh012006
Nepal Mahendra Police Club012007
Cambodia Phnom Penh Crown012011
State of Palestine Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari012012
Pakistan KRL FC012013
North Korea Rimyongsu012014

See also

References

  1. AFC Competitions Committee meeting
  2. "ACL: East vs West final proposed". The-afc.com. 2013-11-25. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  3. "AFC President’s Cup: The end of a glorious journey". AFC. 26 July 2014.
  4. "Stage set for 2016 AFC Cup play-off qualifiers". AFC. 29 June 2015.
  5. "Competitions Committee takes key decisions". The-afc.com. 2012-03-22. Archived from the original on 2012-08-02. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
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