Live: AFC Challenge League™ 2024/25 Group Stage Draw

for e you there only one person that could bring the feed onto you and that it's you you could be Your Own Worst Enemy and that's the truth you don't want to be like that honestly you just want to be that type of Dude to really Ru it out and really make the M you walking in when you make the M you don't want to listen to the you just want to get attraction you just got to be the person that about to give it all about theit you don't want to be I don't want to be a just [Music] [Music] [Music] no way no way no way [Music] ladies and gentlemen very good afternoon and welcome to the AFC house home of the Asian football Confederation in kalal lumpo Malaysia I'm Samuel tan I'm here today to guide you through the official draw ceremony for the group stage of the AFC Challenge League 2024 25 season which will be the first season of the new third tier men's club competition for Asia there'll be a total of 18 clubs involved in today's draw and you have already witnessed some of them in action earlier during the opening video of course you will see them again very soon when the AFC Challenge League kicks off in October with the exciting group stage matchups that will soon be known later now let us find out more about the format of the tournament as we turn our attention to the screen [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and that is the new branding and anthem for the AFC Challenge League a truly exciting competition that will showcase the very best aspiring clubs in Asia U following on from that it is now time for us to show everyone the brand new trophy that awaits the champions of the AFC Challenge League to do the honest it is my pleasure to invite on stage the AFC General Secretary Dr Siri wi John okay Dr before we unveil the trophy I'm just going to count you down real quick in three two one and go [Music] [Music] [Applause] thank you D Su Wier that is a beautiful piece of silverware and certainly a coveted one for all our participating clubs is almost time for the teams to find out their Fates but first let us familiarize ourselves with the draw mechanism AFC Challenge League 2024 2025 groups stage draw mechanism based on the updated confirmation of slot allocations and entries on July 22nd 20124 the following 18 clubs will participate in the AFC Challenge League 2024 2025 group stage to represent their member associations 18 participating clubs will be divided into five groups three groups for the west region and two groups for the east region with each group to be played in a centralized League format depending on the number of clubs in each group The Following match sequence shall apply participating clubs of each region are seated into four pots for the west region and three pots in the east region at the beginning of the draw the host clubs from the west region will separately be allocated to an additional host pot to ensure that they are drawn into different groups there will be no separate host pot for the east region as both sha United and SP Falcons will be drawn into different groups 12 participating clubs are divided into four pots as per the seating and pot allocation principle with one additional host pot to be utilized for the draw at the beginning of the draw the host clubs from pots 1 3 and four will be placed into the host pot to ensure that they are drawn into different groups the host clubs will be identified by different colored balls from the other balls within each pot the will commence with the host pot followed by the order of pot one pot two pot 3 and pot four each pot will be completely emptied before moving on to the next pot participating clubs from the host pot will be drawn into the respective positions of each group in alphabetical order and in accordance with their seating subsequently participating clubs from pot one will be drawn into position one of the first possible group in alphabetical order the same procedure shall apply for all remaining participating clubs in the order of pot 2 pot 3 and pot 4 six participating clubs are divided into three pots as per the seating and pot allocation principle the draw will commence with pot one followed by the order of pot two and pot three each pot will be completely emptied before moving on to the next pot participating clubs from pot one will be drawn into position one of each group in alphabetical order subsequently participating clubs from pot two will be drawn into position two of each group in alphabetical order participating clubs from pot 3 will be drawn into position three of the first possible group in alphabetical order for the avoidance of Doubt SP Falcon shall be drawn into a different group from Sha United FC to ensure that host clubs are split into different groups this shall conclude the draw for the AFC Challenge League 2024 2025 group stage [Music] and that is exactly how the group stage draw will be conducted now that we know how it works let us welcome to the stage our draw conductor for this afternoon Mr aasb bikov the AFC deputy director of competition and football events division thank you Samuel good afternoon everyone and welcome to this group stage draw for the first edition of the AFC Challenge League we are really excited today to have all participants witnessing the historical moment where we do draw for the third tier Club competition after successful draw last week for the AFC champions league Elite and AFC Champions League 2 already conducted and I would like to congratulate all 18 clubs that have made it here and we are really very excited to seeing all of them in action our job today will be to identify groups for the competition which will kick off very soon when the AFC implemented the reforms of our club competitions we were Keen to provide a platform of Spotlight for more clubs across our West continent and the AFC Challenge League will serve just that purpose to widen our football geography all our participating clubs come from Asia's emerging leagues and we are confident that this tournament will allow them to show off their promising talents and capabilities in a very competitive environment to help them develop even further and leave this very beautiful trophy in front of us and definitely they can benefit from the significant increases of financial distribution with all group stage teams all 18 of them receiving a minimum of 100,000 USD at least and the winner of this competition the champion taking 1.3 million USD as a winning prize the AFC Challenge League will be a milestone for our clubs so before we move on let's get to know the teams better starting with the west region please pay attention to the screen [Music] [Music] he [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] that's truly a strong lineup we have 12 clubs in front of us from 12 member ass sessions three AFC zones and west region and we will divide them into respective groups during the draw but first thing before I need to do the draw if you can see in front of me we have allocated clubs into their pots based on the ranking but we have one empty pot which is allocated for the hosts and I would I need to take out the hosts from each respective pot to draw them into different groups in pot one we have one Club in Port three and Port four also we have one Club each so these clubs will be divided into three groups and they will eventually the be the hosts of each respective group a b B and C so we do draw for a b and c groups from this allocated pots which will be west region groups during the competition so allow me to start the draw and we go in alphabetical order putting three clubs Al Arabi Sports Club Al club and Par football club into groups a b and c [Music] Paro FC Bhutan bhan Premier League champions in 2023 this is fourth title for this club and they will make debut in the AFC Club competitions they have already won their first match in the preliminary stage and they will take position four in group a [Music] [Music] alarabi sports club from Kuwait they also qu qu Premier League Runners up 2023 and 24 season they 17 time League champions and this will be position one for in group b for Al Arabi Sports Club Kuwait the final ball should be Al [Music] Al Club Oman this is a confirmation that we allocated all hosts into their groups they will take position in group C 2023 24 Oman professional League champions third title and second in a row they won AFC cup competition in their debut in 2022 so quite strong lineup of the teams at the beginning of the draw Now we move on and allocate remaining clubs into groups a b and c and we will start from Port two Port one where we have two clubs remaining East Bengal football club and Al [Music] a East Bengal football club from India they will be going to group a position one and travel to Bhutan to play against host Paro FC so East Bengal FC position one in group [Music] a Al from bahin 2023 and 24 Bahrain King Cup winners this is their nine title and they were five-time League champions strong opponent against hosts Al Club Oman and they will go to position one in group C because group B1 B team already has been drawn from this spot now we continue and we have three teams to be allocated into groups a b and c into positions two in alphabetical order [Music] n sports club from Lebanon Lebanese Premier League champions this is their ninth title and first title since back in 2013 and they were onetime AFC cup finalists back in 2005 n which means star they will travel to Bhutan in group a n SC A2 [Music] FC arak from [Music] turkistan turkistan League champions won their title in the debut season and interestingly they won all 24 matches in the league during the season and we wish this strike to continue during AFC competitions as well FC Arad position two in group b traveling to to [Music] Kuwait aluta sports club from Syria Syrian Premier League champions fourth title and second in a row they also won Syrian cup for the fifth fifth time the same season they made their AFC Club competition debut in AFC Cup last year and now aluto will play in AFC Challenge League Group C starting from position two to be played in Oman Alo C C2 we are halfway through with west region draw and now we have two pots two balls in each pot to be drawn into empty positions pot three will be drawn into groups A and B and pot four will be drawn into POS into groups B and C into empty positions of respective [Music] number bashara Kings from [Music] Bangladesh they will go to position three in group a and complete group a Bangladesh Premier League champions fifth title and first team to win it in five times in a row this is third a three time AFC cup appearance in their history bash shundar Kings from Bangladesh group a position three the final ball from this sport should be Maia Sport and Recreation mazia sports and recreation from mives 2023 mives League champions record fifth title and fourth in a row they have nine times AFC Cup appearances and hopefully they will have success in this competition and they will start their Journey from Group B position three this concludes spot three and finally we have two clubs remaining uh from Palestine and from kirgis Republic and they will be allocated into groups B and C [Music] FC abish ATA from kirgis Republic kirgis Premier League champions in 2023 this is their second title and second in a row they reached inter Zone playoff final last year in AFC cup debut they almost reached the final and very strong participation and we will have Central Asian Derby in group b where FC arak from turkistan is also drawn so FC Abisha from K Republic Group B position [Music] 4 Halal Al from Palestine 2022 23 Palestine League Runners up four-time League champions and they have participated in the AFC President's Cup in 203 they will complete Group C and also they will complete our west region draw Al Palestine C4 this concludes the draw for three groups in the west region I can see exciting pairings and and some travel arrangements to be done we'll now do so likewise for the east region but before we go let us have a look at the teams from the east region that will participate in the competition [Music] a [Music] aahah [Music] also a strong lineup of six teams from the east region six member associations from two zones in east region and we will now commence with the draw for this region we have lesser number of teams due to number of entries in this competition and based on the ranking and they will be allocated into groups d and e and each group will have three clubs each and we also have two hosts and during the draw these two hosts should be split into two different groups which we will do during the draw naturally so we will start from pot one and we'll continue until pot three and we empty all pots during the draw starting from pot one first positions in group d and e we have two clubs Madura United FC and Shan United FC to be drawn into groups D and E [Music] Shan United FC from myamar 2023 myammar National League champions joined record fifth title and this is second in a row they were also unbeaten in the season so in this competition of AFC Challenge League we see quite unbeaten clubs participating hopefully it will be an interesting encounter between them as well Shan United is also hosting the group so later when we have another host from Mongolia they will not be drawn into the same group just for the [Music] records Madura United Football Club from Indonesia 2023 24 Indonesia League one Runners up three time League champions and they are returning to AFC Club competition since featuring in 1990 Asian Club Championship so welcome back Madura United and position one in group E now moving on to Port two we have two clubs from Cambodia and Chinese type and they will be split into groups d and e position [Music] two Tan City football club from Chinese ta 2023 League champions record fourth title and this is fourth in a row and they will make their debut in the AFC Challenge League this season traveling to Myanmar Group D position [Music] two reong FC from Cambodia Cambodian Premier League champions last season this is third title and first since 2019 and they also 2023 24 Cambodian Cup winners this is record fifth title for the club and they will go to group E position two we have two more clubs remaining in Port three as I mentioned we have uh SP Falcons from Mongolia and they should not be drawn into Group D with Shah United Shan United of Myanmar and we also have young elephants football club from [Music] Laos so draw did naturally distribute the clubs young elephants football club Laos they will go to group d uh La League one Champions second title and second in a row they will take position three in group D joining host Shan United and Tan City from Chinese type [Music] a SP Falcons from Mongolia 2023 Mongolian National Premier League champions this is their first title and they making debut in the AFC Club competitions and they will host group E during their debut we wish this young Mongolian Club all the best in the competition this concludes the draw for the five groups of the AFC Challenge League and I will now hand the floor back to our MC Samuel thank you thank you of us and there we go these are your five groups for the first ever AFC Challenge League 2024 25 season uh let's have a quick look at the results from the draw in group a we have uh East Bengal C from India they are alongside nare SC from Lebanon bashara Kings from Bangladesh and they'll be traveling to Bhutan uh where they will face uh parro FC in group b we have hosts alarabi SC from Kuwait they are grouped alongside FC arodak from Turkmenistan Maia sports and recreation from Maldives and FC abish ATA from kgis Republic rounding up the West in group C we have Al Ali from in aluta SC from Syria post alep Club from Oman and hilal aluts from Palestine we move on now to the east region in the East uh starting with Group D we have host Shan United FC from Myanmar you'll be hosting thaan City FC from Chinese taipe and young elephants FC from Lao and concluding the draw we have group E uh they will be grouped uh to get SP falcon sorry my apologies SP Falcons from Mongolia they will be hosting Madura United from Indonesia and pran re surang FC from Cambodia with that we have come to the end of the group stage draw for the AFC Challenge League 20242 season and before we go a quick reminder that the first round of matches will take place on October 26 which is just slightly more than two months away in the meantime do stay updated via the AFC digital channels and the AFC Live app where you can find all the latest news and content from the afc's club competitions We wish all our participating teams the very best very best of luck and once again thank you for tuning in goodbye and see you soon [Music] [Music] [Music]