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.
2024–25 AFC Challenge League
Tournament details
Dates
Qualifying: 13 August 2024 Competition proper: 26 October 2024 – 10 May 2025
The associations are allocated slots according to their club competitions ranking,[3] which was published after the 2022 competitions were completed.[4]
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]
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.
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.
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.
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.
Paro
Attack Energy
Brown: Group A; 
Cyan: Group B; 
Orange: Group C; 
Yellow: Group D; 
Red: Group E
East Bengal
Nejmeh
Bashundhara Kings
Al-Arabi (H)
Arkadag
Maziya
Al-Ahli Club
Al-Fotuwa
Al-Seeb (H)
Hilal Al-Quds
Shan United (H)
Taiwan Steel
Young Elephants
Madura United
Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng
SP Falcons (H)