AFC Challenge Cup

The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries that were categorised as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" programme. It was created by former AFC president Mohammed bin Hammam as the AFC's plan for a continent-wide programme to raise the standards of Asian football. The AFC Challenge Cup was created for teams to experience playing in a continental competition, with the possibility to win an AFC trophy and potentially discover new talents. The inaugural tournament was hosted by Bangladesh in 2006 and was 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. In the 2011 and 2015 AFC Asian Cup tournaments, two qualification spots have been allocated to the two most recent AFC Challenge Cup winners. The 2014 tournament was the last edition of this competition, due to the expansion of the Asian Cup to the 24-nation format from the 16-nations one after the 2015 edition. In April 2016, several associations requested a new competition as they were having problems arranging friendly matches, and the AFC created the Solidarity Cup.