AFC Challenge Cup 2014: Maldives to Host AFC Challenge Cup 2014

      The AFC Competitions Committee on Wednesday decided to give the hosting rights of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup to Maldives. The committee, under the chairmanship of AFC Vice-President the UAE’s Yousuf Al Serkal, ratified the decision of the Organising Committee for AFC President’s Cup & AFC Challenge Cup to appoint Maldives as a host of the next edition of this eight-team Finals. 

     With this decision India’s and Philippines’s Hope to organize the Prestigious tournament went on Vain. Nepal was the organizer of the previous tournament that was held in Nepal and winner was North Korea.
The proposals from the AFC Asian Cup Task Force were presented and approved for the 2019 edition onwards. The members agreed to maintain 16-team Finals for 2019 and the winners of the AFC Challenge Cup 2016 and 2018 will no more get direct slots in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup but will have to play the play-offs with the two best remaining teams from the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers who failed to qualify for the Finals.

The committee also approved DPR Korea’s exclusion from future AFC Challenge Cups and maintain automatic qualification for top three teams from the 2015 edition in the next edition.