annual second tier asian club football competition
not to be confused with AFC Asian Cup Football tournament
The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the AFC. Under its current rules, the competition is played chiefly between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying slots in the top-tier AFC Champions League, based on the AFC Club Competitions Ranking.

Reading: Wikipedia

Al-Kuwait SC and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya are the most successful club in the rival ‘s history, having won three titles each. Clubs from Kuwait have won four titles, making them the most successful nation in the rival. ever since the inauguration of the competition in 2004, the finalists of each edition have been dominated by clubs from West Asia except for 2011 and 2015 when Uzbekistani team FC Nasaf from Central Asia and Malaysian team Johor Darul Ta’zim from Southeast Asia became champions that respective year. Al-Ahed are the current champions after defeating April 25 Sports Club in the 2019 final examination. Since 2021 season the team who become AFC Cup champions are granted to participate in the AFC Champions League qualifying playoffs should they not qualify through domestic performance .

history [edit ]

The AFC Cup began in 2004 as a second-tier competition to relate back to the AFC Champions League as 14 countries that had developing status competed in the beginning contest with 18 teams being nominated. Group A, B, C had West and Central Asian teams while the other two groups had east and South East Asia. The winners and three runner-up would then head to the knock-out phase where it was a random trace in who was going to play. Al-Jaish took the first base AFC Cup after they defeated fellow syrian opponents Al-Wahda on away goals. In 2005, 18 teams competed from nine nations with the nations hush being allowed to choose from one or two teams entering. After syrian teams left the AFC Cup to try at the Champions League for four years, Al-Faisaly defeated Nejmeh in the final. With it, jordanian teams would win the following two AFC Cup seasons with Bahrain joining the league while Bangladesh was relegated to the AFC President ‘s Cup until the tournament ‘s abolition in 2014. Al-Muharraq would break the swerve in 2008 as they competed in the last two-legged final before it headed back into a one-leg system which still runs to this day .

format [edit ]

Some changes were applied in terms of teams and format for the 2017 AFC Cup. A entire of 36 teams participate in the group degree ( 12 each from West Asia and ASEAN, and 4 each from East Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia ). The final will be played as a one-off match .

allotment [edit ]

Teams from 27 AFC countries have reached the group stage of the AFC Cup. The allotment of those teams by member nation is listed below ; asterisks represent occasions where at least one team was eliminated in qualification for the group phase. 34 AFC countries have had teams participate in qualification ( including Brunei and Timor-Leste who will make their debuts in 2020 ), those who have not reached the group degree but have only played in qualification are not bolded .

Associations

Spots

2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021

East

Chinese TaipeiChinese Taipei

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

1

1

1*

1

GuamGuam

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

0

0

0

0

Hong KongHong Kong

1

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

0

0

2

1

2

MacauMacau

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

0

1

0

1

0

MongoliaMongolia

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

1

0*

0*

0*

1

North KoreaNorth Korea

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

2

1*

0

0

Total
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
4
4
4
4

ASEAN

BruneiBrunei

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

0*

CambodiaCambodia

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1*

1

1

1

1

IndonesiaIndonesia

0

0

0

0

0

1

2

2

1

2

2

2

0

0

2

2

2

2

LaosLaos

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

0*

0*

1

1*

1*

MalaysiaMalaysia

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

0

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

0

0

0

MyanmarMyanmar

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

PhilippinesPhilippines

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1*

2

2

2

2

2

2

SingaporeSingapore

2

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

ThailandThailand

0

0

1

0

2

2

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

East TimorTimor-Leste

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

0*

VietnamVietnam

0

0

0

1

0

2

2

2

2

2

2

0

0

2

2

2

2

2

Total
4
4
4
6
4
8
8
7
10
10
10
10
9
11
12
12
12
12

South

BangladeshBangladesh

1

2

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

1

1*

1*

1

1*

1*

BhutanBhutan

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

0*

0*

0*

0*

0*

IndiaIndia

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

1*

1*

MaldivesMaldives

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

1*

2

2

2

2

1*

1*

0

2

2*

NepalNepal

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

0

0*

0

1

0

0

PakistanPakistan

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

0

0

0

0

0

Sri LankaSri Lanka

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

0

0*

0*

0*

Total
5
6
6
4
4
4
4
4
3
4
4
4
5
4
4
4
4
4

Central

AfghanistanAfghanistan

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

0

0

0

0

KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0*

0*

2

1*

1*

1*

2

TajikistanTajikistan

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

1

1*

1*

1*

1*

2

2

2

TurkmenistanTurkmenistan

2

2

2

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1*

1*

1*

2

1*

1

2

UzbekistanUzbekistan

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

Total
2
2
2
2
0
1
1
2
1
2
2
2
2
4
4
4
4
7

West

BahrainBahrain

0

0

1

1

2

2

1

0

0

1

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

IraqIraq

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

3

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

0

0

0

JordanJordan

0

2

2

3

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

KuwaitKuwait

0

0

0

0

0

2

3

3

3

2

2

2

0

0

0

2

2

1

LebanonLebanon

2

2

2

2

2

3

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

OmanOman

1

0

1

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

1*

2

2

2

1*

1*

0

State of PalestinePalestine

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0*

1*

2

0*

0*

1

1

2

QatarQatar

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

SyriaSyria

2

0

0

0

0

2

3

3

2

1*

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

YemenYemen

1

0

0

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

0*

0*

0

0

0

0

0

0

Total
6
4
6
10
10
17
16
17
16
14
14
14
14
12
12
12
12
11

Total

Finals

18
18
20
24
20
32
31
32
32
32
32
32
32
34
36
36
36
37/38

Qualifying

18

18

20

24

20

32

31

32

33

33

34

41

40

50

44

43

48

43

Prize money [edit ]

The prize money for the 2021 AFC Cup : [ 1 ]

Phase

Purse (USD)

Travel subsidy
(per match)

Preliminary stage

N/A

$30,000

Play-offs

N/A

$30,000

Group stage

N/A

$30,000

Knockout stage

Zonal champions: $100,000

$40,000

Final

Champions: $1.5 million
Runners-up: $750,000

$40,000

market [edit ]

Like the AFC Champions League, the AFC Cup is sponsored by a group of multinational corporations, in line to the single main sponsor typically found in national top-flight leagues.

Read more: Lille OSC

The tournament ‘s current main sponsors are :

Results and statistics [edit ]

Finals [edit ]

operation by clubs [edit ]

operation by nations [edit ]

Performances by nation

Nation

Titles

Runners-up

Total

 Kuwait

4

3

7

 Iraq

3

2

5

 Jordan

3

1

4

 Syria

2

2

4

 Bahrain

2

1

3

 Lebanon

1

2

3

 Uzbekistan

1

1

2

 Malaysia

1

0

1

 Tajikistan

0

2

2

 India

0

1

1

 Turkmenistan

0

1

1

 North Korea

0

1

1

all-time clear goalscorers [edit ]

As of 11 March 2020

See besides [edit ]

References [edit ]

Read more: Sevilla FC