Afc Cup

The competition is played primarily among clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying slots to the top-tier AFC Champions League, based on the AFC Club Competitions Ranking.

AFC Cup

Organising body	AFC
Founded	2004; 20 years ago (2004)
Abolished	2024
Region	Asia
Number of teams	36–48 (group stage) 59 (total)
Related competitions	AFC Champions League (1st tier)
Last champions	Al-Seeb (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Al-Kuwait (3 titles each)
Website	the-afc.com/cup
2023–24 AFC Cup

Al-Kuwait SC and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya are the most successful clubs in the competition's history, having won three titles each. Clubs from Kuwait have won four titles, making them the most successful nation in the competition. The tournament has been dominated by clubs from West Asia, with the only winners from outside that region being Uzbek side FC Nasaf in 2011 and Malaysian side Johor Darul Ta'zim in 2015.

Al-Seeb are the current champions after defeating Kuala Lumpur City in the 2022 final. Since the 2021 season, the team winning the AFC Cup is granted qualification to the following season's AFC Champions League qualifying playoffs should they not qualify through their domestic performance.

The AFC Cup is set to be discontinued at the end of the 2023–24 season, with the AFC Champions League 2 and AFC Challenge League being introduced as Asia's new second and third-tier competitions.

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 first competition 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 runners-up would then head to the knock-out stage where it was a random draw in who was going to play. Al-Jaish took the first AFC Cup after they defeated fellow Syrian opponents Al-Wahda on away goals.

In 2005, 18 teams competed from nine nations with the nations still being allowed to choose from one or two teams entering. After Syrian teams left the AFC Cup to try at the AFC Champions League for four years, Al-Faisaly defeated Nejmeh in the final. With it, Jordanian teams would win the next 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 trend 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.

On 23 December 2022, it was announced that the AFC competition structure would change from the established formats from the 2024–25 season. Under the new plans, the AFC Cup will be discontinued, and a new second-tier tournament called the AFC Champions League 2 will be introduced. Meanwhile, a new third-tier competition will also be launched under the name AFC Challenge League.

 

Some changes were applied in terms of teams and format for the 2017 AFC Cup. A total of 36 teams participate in the group stage (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.

Allocation

Teams from 34 AFC countries have reached the group stage of the AFC Cup. The allocation of those teams by member country is listed below; asterisks represent occasions where at least one team was eliminated in qualification for the group stage. 41 AFC countries have had teams participate in qualification (including Brunei and Timor-Leste who made their debuts in 2020), those who have not reached the group stage 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	2022	2023-24
East
China	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chinese Taipei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	1	1*	1	1	2*
Guam	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hong Kong	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	2	1	2	2	0
Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Macau	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	1	0	1	0	0	1*
Mongolia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	0*	0*	0*	1	0*	1
North Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1*	0	0	0	0
South Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	4	4	4	4	3	4
ASEAN
Australia	Part of OFC			0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Brunei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0*	0	0*
Cambodia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1*	1	1	1	2	2	1*
Indonesia	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	2	1	2	2	2	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2*
Laos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0*	0*	1	1*	0*	1	0*
Malaysia	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	0	0	2	2	2
Myanmar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	1*
Philippines	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1*	2	2	2	2	2	0	1	2
Singapore	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*
Thailand	0	0	0±	1	0	2	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Timor-Leste	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	0	0
Vietnam	0	0	0	1	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	1	1
Total	4	4	4	6	4	8	8	7	10	10	10	10	9	11	12	12	12	11	11	12
South
Bangladesh	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	1*	1*	1	1*	1*	1*	1*
Bhutan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*
India	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2	2	2*
Maldives	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2	2	2	2	1*	1*	0	2	1*	1*	1*
Nepal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0*	0	1	0	0*	0*	0*
Pakistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sri Lanka	0	0	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	4	4
Central
Afghanistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0
Iran	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kyrgyzstan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0*	0*	2	1*	1*	2	2	2	1*
Tajikistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	1*	1*	1*	1*	2	2	2	2	1*
Turkmenistan	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1*	1*	1*	2	1*	2	2	2	2*
Uzbekistan	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0
Total	2	2	2	2	0	1	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	7	7	7	4
West
Bahrain	0	0	1	1	2	2	1	0	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*
Iraq	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	2
Jordan	0	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	1
Kuwait	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	3	3	2	2	2	0	0	0	2	2	1	2	2
Lebanon	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Oman	1	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2	2	2	1*	1*	0	2	1*
Palestine	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1*	2	0*	0*	1	1	2	2	1*
Qatar	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Saudi Arabia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Syria	2	0	0	0	0	2	3	3	2	1*	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2*
United Arab Emirates	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Yemen	1	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0*	0*	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	12	12
Total
Finals	18	18	20	24	20	32	31	32	32	32	32	32	32	34	36	36	39	37	37	36
Qualifying	18	18	20	24	20	32	31	32	33	33	34	41	40	50	44	43	48	43	43	49

The prize money for the 2023–24 AFC Cup:

Sponsorship

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

The tournament's current main sponsors are:

• Allianz
• beIN Sports
• China Resources Beverage
• Emirates
• Kärcher
• Nike, Inc.
• Nikon
• QNB Group
• Toyota
• Tsingtao Brewery
• Seiko

• Media Prima Berhad

Finals

List of AFC Cup finals

Year	Nation	Home team	Score	Away team	Nation	Venue	Attendance
2004	Syria	Al-Wahda	2–3	Al-Jaish	Syria	Abbasiyyin Stadium, Damascus
	Syria	Al-Jaish	0–1	Al-Wahda	Syria	Abbasiyyin Stadium, Damascus
	Aggregate 3–3, Al-Jaish won on away goals
2005	Jordan	Al-Faisaly	1–0	Nejmeh	Lebanon	Amman International Stadium, Amman
	Lebanon	Nejmeh	2–3	Al-Faisaly	Jordan	Rafic El-Hariri Stadium, Beirut
	Al-Faisaly won 4–2 on aggregate
2006	Jordan	Al-Faisaly	3–0	Al-Muharraq	Bahrain	Amman International Stadium, Amman	7,000
	Bahrain	Al-Muharraq	4–2	Al-Faisaly	Jordan	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa	3,000
	Al-Faisaly won 5–4 on aggregate
2007	Jordan	Al-Faisaly	0–1	Shabab Al-Ordon	Jordan	Amman International Stadium, Amman	5,500
	Jordan	Shabab Al-Ordon	1–1	Al-Faisaly	Jordan	Amman International Stadium, Amman	7,500
	Shabab Al-Ordon won 2–1 on aggregate
2008	Bahrain	Al-Muharraq	5–1	Safa	Lebanon	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa	6,000
	Lebanon	Safa	4–5	Al-Muharraq	Bahrain	Sports City Stadium, Beirut	2,000
	Al-Muharraq won 10–5 on aggregate
2009	Kuwait	Al-Kuwait	2–1	Al-Karamah	Syria	Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City	17,400
2010	Syria	Al-Ittihad	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Al-Qadsia	Kuwait	Jaber International Stadium, Kuwait City	58,604
2011	Uzbekistan	FC Nasaf	2–1	Al-Kuwait	Kuwait	Markaziy Stadium, Qarshi	15,753
2012	Kuwait	Al-Kuwait	4–0	Erbil	Iraq	Franso Hariri Stadium, Erbil	30,000
2013	Kuwait	Al-Kuwait	2–0	Al-Qadsia	Kuwait	Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium, Kuwait City	10,000
2014	Kuwait	Al-Qadsia	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Erbil	Iraq	Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai	5,240
2015	Malaysia	Johor Darul Ta'zim	1–0	Istiklol	Tajikistan	Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe	18,000
2016	Iraq	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1–0	Bengaluru	India	Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha	5,806
2017	Iraq	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1–0	Istiklol	Tajikistan	Hisor Central Stadium, Hisor	20,000
2018	Iraq	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2–0	Altyn Asyr	Turkmenistan	Basra International Stadium, Basra	24,665
2019	Lebanon	Al-Ahed	1–0	April 25	North Korea	Kuala Lumpur Stadium, Kuala Lumpur	500
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.
2021	Bahrain	Al-Muharraq	3–0	FC Nasaf	Uzbekistan	Al-Muharraq Stadium, Arad	9,060
2022	Oman	Al-Seeb	3–0	Kuala Lumpur City	Malaysia	Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur	27,722
2023–24

Performance by clubs

v t e Club	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years runners-up
Al-Kuwait	3	1	2009, 2012, 2013	2011
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	3	0	2016, 2017, 2018
Al-Faisaly	2	1	2005, 2006	2007
Al-Muharraq	2	1	2008, 2021	2006
Al-Qadsia	1	2	2014	2010, 2013
Nasaf Qarshi	1	1	2011	2021
Al-Jaish	1	0	2004
Shabab Al-Ordon	1	0	2007
Al-Ittihad	1	0	2010
Johor Darul Ta'zim	1	0	2015
Al-Ahed	1	0	2019
Al-Seeb	1	0	2022
Erbil	0	2		2012, 2014
Istiklol	0	2		2015, 2017
Al-Wahda	0	1		2004
Nejmeh	0	1		2005
Safa	0	1		2008
Al-Karamah	0	1		2009
Bengaluru	0	1		2016
Altyn Asyr	0	1		2018
April 25	0	1		2019
Kuala Lumpur City	0	1		2022

Performance by nations

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	1	2
Oman	1	0	1
Tajikistan	0	2	2
India	0	1	1
Turkmenistan	0	1	1
North Korea	0	1	1

Top scorers Year Player Club Goals 2004   Indra Sahdan Daud   Home United 7   Egmar Goncalves   Home United 2005   Mo'ayyad Salim   Al-Faisaly 9 2006   Mahmoud Shelbaieh   Al-Wehdat 8 2007   Odai Al Saify   Shabab Al-Ordun 5   Mohammed Ghaddar   Nejmeh 2008   Rico   Al-Muharraq 19 2009   Robert Akaruye   Busaiteen 8   Mohamad Hamwi   Al-Karamah   Jehad Al Hussain   Al-Kuwait   Huỳnh Kesley Alves   Bình Dương 2010   Afonso Alves   Al-Rayyan 9 2011   Ivan Bošković   Nasaf Qarshi 10 2012   Amjad Radhi   Erbil 9   Raja Rafe   Al-Shorta 2013   Issam Jemâa   Al-Kuwait 16 2014   Juan Belencoso   Kitchee 11 2015   Daniel McBreen   South China 8   Riste Naumov   Ayeyawady United 2016   Hammadi Ahmed   Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 16 2017   Kim Yu-song   April 25 9 2018   An Il-bom   April 25 12 2019   Bienvenido Marañón   Ceres–Negros 10 2020   Bienvenido Marañón   Ceres–Negros 5 2021   Khusayin Norchaev   Nasaf Qarshi 7 2022   Jasur Hasanov   Sogdiana Jizzakh 5   Paulo Josué   Kuala Lumpur City   Pedro Paulo   Viettel Most Valuable Player Year Player Club 2011   Artur Gevorkyan   Nasaf Qarshi 2012   Rogerinho   Al-Kuwait 2013   Bader Al-Mutawa   Al-Qadsia 2014   Saif Al Hashan   Al-Qadsia 2015   Safiq Rahim   Johor Darul Ta'zim 2016   Hammadi Ahmed   Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 2017   Manuchekhr Dzhalilov   Istiklol 2018   Hammadi Ahmed   Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 2019   Mehdi Khalil   Al-Ahed 2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia 2021   Abdulwahab Al-Malood   Al-Muharraq 2022   Eid Al-Farsi   Al-Seeb Winning coaches Year Club Coach 2004   Al-Jaish   Costică Ștefănescu 2005   Al-Faisaly   Branko Smiljanić 2006   Al-Faisaly   Adnan Hamad 2007   Shabab Al-Ordon   Nizar Mahrous 2008   Al-Muharraq   Salman Sharida 2009   Al-Kuwait   Mohamad Abdulla 2010   Al-Ittihad   Valeriu Tița 2011   Nasaf Qarshi   Anatoliy Demyanenko 2012   Al-Kuwait   Marin Ion 2013   Al-Kuwait   Marin Ion 2014   Al-Qadsia   Antonio Puche 2015   Johor Darul Ta'zim   Mario Gomez 2016   Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya   Basim Qasim 2017   Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya   Hussam Al Sayed 2018   Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya   Basim Qasim 2019   Al-Ahed   Bassem Marmar 2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia 2021   Al-Muharraq   Isa Sadoon Al-Hamdani 2022   Al-Seeb   Rashid Jaber All-time top goalscorers As of 11 March 2020 Rank Player Club(s) Goals 1    Bienvenido Marañón   Ceres–Negros 35 2   Mahmoud Shelbaieh   Al-Wehdat 34 3   Aleksandar Đurić   Geylang United, Singapore Armed Forces, Tampines Rovers 32   Amjad Radhi   Erbil SC, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 32 5   Bader Al-Mutawa   Qadsia SC 30   Rico   Al-Muharraq, Al-Riffa, Al-Hidd 30 7   Ali Ashfaq   Club Valencia, New Radiant, VB Sports Club 29

• List of association football competitions
• Bangladeshi clubs in the AFC Cup
• Indian clubs in the AFC Cup
• Indonesian clubs in the AFC Cup
• Syrian clubs in the AFC Cup
• Thai clubs in the AFC Cup
• Hong Kong clubs in the AFC Cup
• Vietnamese clubs in the AFC Cup