2014 AFC President's Cup

2014 AFC President's Cup
Tournament details
Host country	Sri Lanka (final stage); Mongolia, Philippines, Sri Lanka (group stage)
Dates	1–11 May 2014 (group stage); 20–26 September 2014 (final stage)
Teams	6 (final stage); 11 (total) (from 11 associations)
Final positions
Champions	HTTU Asgabat (1st title)
Runners-up	Rimyongsu
Tournament statistics
Matches played	22
Goals scored	70 (3.18 per match)
Attendance	35,387 (1,609 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Süleýman Muhadow; (11 goals)
Best player(s)	Süleýman Muhadow
	← 2013 2024–25 (ACGL) →

The 2014 AFC President's Cup was the tenth edition of the AFC President's Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "emerging countries" in Asia, and the final edition under the AFC President's Cup title, as the competition was relaunched under the name AFC Challenge League starting in 2024–25.^[1] Balkan were the defending champions, but failed to qualify for the tournament.

On 25 November 2013, the AFC Competitions Committee proposed the year of 2014 to be the last edition of the competition.^[2] Starting from 2015, league champions of emerging countries were eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-off.^[3]

In the final, HTTU Aşgabat of Turkmenistan defeated Rimyongsu of North Korea 2–1, and became the second consecutive team from Turkmenistan to win the AFC President's Cup.^[4]

Venues

Colombo	Bacolod	Ulaanbaatar
Sugathadasa Stadium	Panaad Stadium	MFF Football Centre
Capacity: 25,000	Capacity: 9,825	Capacity: 5,000

Teams

Manang
Marshyangdi
Club

Location of teams of the 2014 AFC President's Cup.

Group A (played in Sri Lanka)

Group B (played in the Philippines)

Group C (played in Mongolia)

The AFC laid out the procedure for deciding the participating associations, with the final decision to be made by the AFC on 26 November 2013.^[5] The following changes to the list of participating associations may be made from the 2013 AFC President's Cup if the AFC approves the following applications made by any association:

An association originally participating in the AFC President's Cup may apply to participate in the 2014 AFC Cup.
An association originally not participating in any AFC club competitions may apply to participate in the 2014 AFC President's Cup.

The following changes in the participating associations were made compared to the previous year:

Kyrgyzstan and Palestine clubs' participation were upgraded from the AFC President's Cup to the AFC Cup starting from 2014 by the AFC.^[6]
Clubs from North Korea were approved to participate in the AFC President's Cup for the first time in 2014.^[2]

Each participating association was given one entry. The following teams entered the competition.

Association	Team	Qualifying method	App	Last App
Bangladesh	Sheikh Russel	2012–13 Bangladesh Football Premier League champions	1st	none
Bhutan	Ugyen Academy	2013 Bhutan National League champions	1st	none
Cambodia	Svay Rieng	2013 Cambodian League champions	1st	none
Chinese Taipei	Tatung	2013 Intercity Football League champions	3rd	2007
Mongolia	Erchim	2013 Mongolia Premier League champions	3rd	2013
Nepal	Manang Marshyangdi Club	2013–14 Martyr's Memorial A-Division League champions	2nd	2006
North Korea	Rimyongsu	2013 Mangyongdae Prize Sports Games winners	1st	none
Pakistan	KRL	2013–14 Pakistan Premier League champions	4th	2013
Philippines	Ceres	2013–14 PFF–Smart National Club Championship winners^{[Note PHI]}	1st	none
Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka Air Force	2013 Sri Lanka Football Premier League champions	1st	none
Turkmenistan	HTTU Aşgabat	2013 Ýokary Liga champions	2nd	2010

Notes

^
Philippines (PHI): The PFF–Smart National Club Championship served as the qualifiers for the Philippines' club representative to the 2014 AFC President Cup, instead of the United Football League, which served this purpose for the 2013 AFC President's Cup. This means that Ceres, the 2013 PFF–Smart National Club Championship champions, instead of Stallion, the 2013 United Football League champions, were chosen to represent the Philippines in the 2014 AFC President Cup.^[7]

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.^[8]

Group stage: 1–11 May 2014
Final stage: 20–26 September 2014

Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 28 March 2014, 16:00 UTC 8, at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.^[9] The eleven teams were drawn into two groups of four and one group of three. Each group was played on a single round-robin basis at a centralized venue. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the final stage.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:^[1]

Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned
Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned
Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned
Goal difference in all the group matches
Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play
Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card)
Drawing of lots

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Sheikh Russel	3	2	1	0	9	0	9	7
Sri Lanka Air Force	3	2	0	1	4	5	−1	6
KRL	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
Ugyen Academy	3	0	0	3	0	8	−8	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Matches were played in Sri Lanka (all times UTC 5:30).

7 May 2014

16:00

Sri Lanka Air Force	1–0	Ugyen Academy
Bandara 58'	Report

Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo

Attendance: 600

Referee: Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan)

7 May 2014