AFC Solidarity Cup explained

The AFC Solidarity Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries who were out of the continental qualifiers at early stage. The tournament was created following the termination of the AFC Challenge Cup.^[1]

Format

The competition featured 10 national teams, where each team was guaranteed a minimum of 4 matches.^[2] The first edition took place in November 2016. The second edition, scheduled for November and December 2020, was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in Asia and later abolished.^[3]

The tournament was abolished by the AFC on 27 November 2023, because the revamped qualification format for the FIFA World Cup and the AFC Asian Cup dovetailed with the initial objectives of the AFC Solidarity Cup, as there was now more exposure for lower-ranked teams to compete over a longer period of time.^[3]

Results

Year	Host	Final	Third place match	Number of teams
width=15% style="background:gold;"	Champions	width=10% style="background:#ffffff;"	Score	width=15% style="background:silver;"	Runners-up	width=15% style="background:#cc9966;"	Third place	width=10% style="background:#ffffff;"	Score	width=15% style="background:#9acdff;"	Fourth place
2016	Malaysia		1–0			3–2		7
2020	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

Successful national teams

Team	Champion	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place
	1 (2016)
		1 (2016)
			1 (2016)
				1 (2016)

Champions by region

Federation (Region)	Champion(s)	Number
EAFF (East Asia)
WAFF (West Asia)
CAFA (Central Asia)
AFF (Southeast Asia)
SAFF (South Asia)		1 title

Participating nations

Legend

The number of teams in each of the final tournaments is shown.

Teams	2016 (7)	2020
	×	×	0
	‡	×	0
	4th	×	1
	3rd	×	1
	2nd	×	1
	GS	×	1
	1st	×	1
	×	×	0
	GS	×	1
	GS	×	1

Summary

Rank	width=200	Team	Part	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
1		1	5	3	1	1	11	9	+2	10
2		1	4	2	2	0	6	2	+4	8
3		1	5	2	2	1	8	5	+3	8
4		1	4	1	1	2	7	7	0	4
5		1	3	1	0	2	3	5	-2	3
6		1	3	0	1	2	2	5	-3	1
7		1	2	0	1	1	0	4	-4	1

• The Northern Mariana Islands made their AFC Solidarity Cup debut after having been approved by the AFC to participate (the Northern Mariana Islands is an associate member of the AFC).

Winning coaches

See also

• FIFA Series

External links

• AFC Solidarity Cup

Notes and References

1. Web site: AFC Confirms The Name Of The Championship – AFC Solidarity Cup For Six Nations. Goal Nepal. 27 May 2016. 28 May 2016. 30 July 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170730150044/http://www.goalnepal.com/news.php?id=27337. dead.
2. Web site: AFC Competitions Committee decisions . the-afc.com . 12 April 2016 . 12 April 2016 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20090228175228/http://www.the-afc.com/competitions-division/afc-competitions-committee-decisions . 28 February 2009 .
3. Web site: AFC Competitions Committee takes key decisions in second meeting. 27 November 2023. the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation.