The AFC Challenge Cup is an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries that are categorized as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" programme. "Vision Asia", created by former AFC president, Mohammed Bin Hammam, is the AFC's plan for a continent wide programme to raise the standards of Asian football at all levels. The AFC Challenge Cup, which reflects the philosophy of Vision Asia, was created for teams to experience playing in a continental competition with the possibility to win an AFC trophy and to potentially discover new talent.
The inaugural tournament was hosted by Bangladesh in 2006 and is held biennially. An amendment to men's national team competitions in July 2006, meant that starting with the 2008 and 2010 editions of the AFC Challenge Cup, the winners automatically qualify for the AFC Asian Cup.
Read more about AFC Challenge Cup: Selection of Teams, Results
Famous quotes containing the words challenge and/or cup:
“Our challenge as parents is to be patient enough to allow our children to take ten minutes to do something that would take us two seconds. We need to allow our children to develop what I call their “struggle muscle.” This is developed the same way any other muscle develops, through regular exercise.”
—Stephanie Martson (20th century)
“I believe that water is the only drink for a wise man: wine is not so noble a liquor; and think of dashing the hopes of a morning with a cup of warm coffee, or of an evening with a dish of tea! Ah, how low I fall when I am tempted by them! Even music may be intoxicating. Such apparently slight causes destroyed Greece and Rome, and will destroy England and America.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)