| Tourney Name: | AFC Challenge League |
| Year: | 2024–25 |
| Dates: | Qualifying: 13 August 2024 Competition proper: |
| Num Teams: | Competition proper: 18 Total: 20 |
| Associations: | 20 |
| Matches: | 24 |
| Goals: | 64 |
| Top Scorer: | Dimitrios Diamantakos (East Bengal) 4 goals |
| Prevseason: | 2014 (AFC President's Cup) |
| Nextseason: | 2025–26 |
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.
The associations are allocated slots according to their club competitions ranking,[3] which was published after the 2022 competitions were completed.[4]
| bgcolor=#f7f8ff colspan=2 | Participation for 2024–25 AFC Challenge League | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=#90ee77 width=20 | Participating | ||
| bgcolor=#ffcccc width=20 | Not participating |
| +West Region (3 groups) | |||||
| Rank | Member association | Points[5] | Slots[6] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group stage | Play-off | ||||
| --> | |||||
| — | — | 2024–25 AFC Champions League Two qualifying round losers | — | 2 | 0 |
| 11 | 19 | 20.069 | 1 | 0 | |
| 12 | 20 | 19.464 | 1 | 0 | |
| 13 | 22 | 17.761 | 1 | 0 | |
| 14 | 23 | 17.613 | 1 | 0 | |
| 15 | 27 | 14.121 | 1 | 0 | |
| 16 | 28 | 12.453 | 1 | 0 | |
| 17 | 29 | 9.467 | 1 | 0 | |
| 18 | 31 | 5.760 | 1 | 0 | |
| 19 | 33 | 4.308 | 0 | 1 | |
| 20 | 37 | 0.813 | 0 | 1 | |
| 21 | 38 | 0.630 | 0 | 0 | |
| 22 | 39 | 0.465 | 0 | 1 | |
| 23 | 41 | 0.090 | 0 | 1 | |
| 24 | 42 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | |
| 24 | 42 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | Participating associations: 12 | 10 | 4 | ||
| 5--> | |||||
| 14 | |||||
| +East Region (2 groups) | |||||
| Rank | Member association | Points | Slots | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group stage | Play-off | ||||
| --> | |||||
| 11 | 25 | 16.117 | 0 | 0 | |
| 12 | 26 | 15.083 | 1 | 0 | |
| 13 | 30 | 8.287 | 1 | 0 | |
| 14 | 32 | 5.455 | 1 | 0 | |
| 15 | 34 | 2.800 | 0 | 0 | |
| 16 | 35 | 2.067 | 1 | 0 | |
| 17 | 36 | 1.362 | 1 | 0 | |
| 18 | 40 | 0.250 | 1 | 0 | |
| 19 | 42 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | |
| 19 | 42 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | |
| 19 | 42 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | |
| 19 | 42 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | Participating associations: 6 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 6 | |||||
The number of appearances and last appearance include the AFC President's Cup as the predecessor of the AFC Challenge League.
| width=25% | Team | width=60% | Qualifying method | width=15% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Bengal | 2024–25 AFC Champions League Two qualifying round losers | 1st | |||
| Al-Ahli Club | 1st | ||||
| Al-Arabi | 2023–24 Kuwaiti Premier League runners-up | 1st | |||
| Arkadag | 2023 Ýokary Liga champions 2023 Turkmenistan Cup champions | 1st | |||
| Nejmeh | 2023–24 Lebanese Premier League champions | 1st | |||
| Al-Fotuwa | 2023–24 Syrian Premier League champions | 1st | |||
| Bashundhara Kings | 2023–24 Bangladesh Premier League champions | 1st | |||
| Al-Seeb | 2023–24 Oman Professional League champions | 1st | |||
| Maziya | 2023 Dhivehi Premier League champions | 1st | |||
| Hilal Al-Quds | 2022–23 West Bank Premier League runners-up | 2nd |
| width=25% | Team | width=60% | Qualifying method | width=15% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abdysh-Ata Kant | 2023 Kyrgyz Premier League champions | 1st | |||
| Church Boys United | 2023 Martyr's Memorial A-Division League champions | 1st | |||
| Paro | 2023 Bhutan Premier League champions | 1st | |||
| Attack Energy | 2024 Afghanistan Champions League champions | 1st |
| width=25% | Team | width=60% | Qualifying method | width=15% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madura United | 2023–24 Liga 1 runners-up | 1st | |||
| Shan United | 2023 Myanmar National League champions | 3rd | |||
| Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng | 2023–24 Cambodian Premier League champions | 2nd | |||
| Tainan City | 2023 Taiwan Football Premier League champions | 1st | |||
| Young Elephants | 2023 Lao League 1 champions | 1st | |||
| SP Falcons | 2023–24 Mongolian National Premier League champions | 1st |
The schedule of the competition is as follows.[7]
| Stage | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary stage | Preliminary stage | No draw | 13 August 2024 | |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 22 August 2024 | 26 October 2024 (West), 27 October 2024 (East) | |
| Matchday 2 | 29 October 2024 (West), 30 October 2024 (East) | |||
| Matchday 3 | 1 November 2024 (West), 2 November 2024 (East) | |||
| Knockout stage | Quarter-finals | No draw | 5 March 2025 (West), 6 March 2025 (East) | 12 March 2025 (West), 13 March 2025 (East) |
| Semi-finals | 9 April 2025 (West), 10 April 2025 (East) | 16 April 2025 (West), 17 April 2025 (East) | ||
| Final | 10 May 2025 | |||
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.
----
See main article: 2024–25 AFC Challenge League group stage. Teams of every group will play at a neutral venue of a single-legged tie against every opponent.
See main article: 2024–25 AFC Challenge League knockout stage.
| Rank | Player | Team | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dimitrios Diamantakos | East Bengal | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |||||
| 2 | Ye Yint Aung | Shan United | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||
 Al-Aghbari | Al Seeb | 2 | 1 | ||||||||
| 3 | Al-Muqbali | Al Seeb | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Khalaf | Al Arabi | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Brylian | Young Elephants | 2 | |||||||||