East Bengal in AFC Challenge League: All You Need To Know About Format, Schedule, and Other Details of Revamped Tournament

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East Bengal have lost their chance to play in the AFC Champions League Two after they lost fighting 2-3 against Altyn Asyr in their preliminary match. However, they still have a chance to represent India in another AFC competition - AFC Challenge League.

What is the AFC Challenge League?

The AFC Challenge League is the third-tier AFC tournament created to provide smaller and developing football nations in Asia with the opportunity to compete at an international level.

Launched in 2005, the tournament's name was changed to the AFC President's Cup in later years. It was held four times before being discontinued in 2014, with the final edition serving as a qualification path to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

From this year, it has been reintroduced as the AFC Challenge League with a new format. As per the AFC club competition rankings, the competition involves clubs from countries that were not granted automatic qualification spots for either the top-tier AFC Champions League Elite or the second-tier AFC Champions League Two.

AFC Challenge League: Teams and Tournament Format

This year's edition will feature 18 teams from 18 nations. 10 teams from the west region and six teams from the east region have already qualified for the group stage of the competition including India's representative East Bengal. Two more teams have played two qualifying play-off matches to qualify for the group stage.

Teams that have qualified for the group stage from the west region -

1. East Bengal (India - qualified after losing AFC Champions League 2 qualifying play-off)
2. Al-Ahli (Bahrain - qualified after losing AFC Champions League 2 qualifying play-off)
3. Al-Arabi (Kuwait)
4. Arkadag (Turkmenistan)
5. Nejmeh (Lebanon)
6. Al-Fotuwa (Syria)
7. Basundhara Kings (Bangladesh)
8. Al-Seeb (Oman)
9. Maziya (Maldives)
10. Hilal Al-Quds (Palestine)

Teams that have qualified for the group stage from the east region -

1. Madurai United (Indonesia)
2. Shan United (Myanmar)
3. Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng (Cambodia)
4. Taiwan Steel (Taiwan)
5. Young Elephants (Laos)
6. SP Falcons (Mongolia)

Teams that have qualified from the qualifying play-offs -

1. Abdysh Ata-Kant (Kyrgyzstan)
2. Paro (Bhutan)

The 18 teams will be divided into five groups - four teams each in three groups from the west region and three teams each in two groups from the east region. Once the groups are set, the teams will play each other in a round-robin one-leg format.

AFC Challenge League: Schedule and Venues

The draw for the group stage will be held on August 22, Thursday. There will be three matchdays with two dates for two regions for each matchday and teams from each group will play their matches on these days -

Matchday One - October 26 for west region and October 27 for east region
Matchday Two - October 29 for west region and October 30 for east region
Matchday Three - November 1 for west region and November 2 for east region

With the group sets still undecided, the venues for the matches are yet to be decided.