2025–26 AFC Challenge League knockout stage

The 2025–26 AFC Challenge League knockout stage will begin on 5 March with the quarter-finals and will end on 9 May 2026 with the final being hosted by the West region finalist.[1][2] A total of eight teams will compete in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2025–26 AFC Challenge League.[3]

Qualified teams

The following teams advanced from the group stage:

  • The winners of the groups and the best runner-up in the West Region (Groups A–C).
  • The winners and runner-ups of each group in the East Region (Groups D–E).
Region Group Winners Runners-up
West Region A Al-Shabab N/a
B Al-Kuwait Al-Ansar
C Muras United N/a
East Region D PKR Svay Rieng Manila Digger
E Dewa United Banten Phnom Penh Crown

Format

In the knockout stage, the eight teams will play a single-elimination tournament. Each tie will be played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, except the final which is played as a single match. Extra time and penalty shoot-out will be used to decide the winners if necessary. (Regulations Article 10).

Round Matchups
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals (First team listed host first leg, second team listed host second leg)
Final (Winners of West Region semi-finals host match)
  • Winners of SF1 vs. Winners of SF2

Schedule

The quarter-finals for the West region have been postponed due to the impacts from the 2026 Iran War.[4]

The schedule of each round is as follows.[5]

Stage Round First leg Second leg
Knockout stage Quarter-finals 5 March 2026 –TBD 12 March 2026 –TBD
Semi-finals 8–9 April 2026 15–16 April 2026
Final 9 May 2026

Bracket

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
          
Al-Ansar
Muras United
Winner QF1
West Region
Winner QF2
Al-Shabab
Al-Kuwait
Winner SF1
Winner SF2
Phnom Penh Crown 1 1 2
PKR Svay Rieng 4 2 6
PKR Svay Rieng
East Region
Manila Digger
Manila Digger 1 2 3
Dewa United Banten 0 2 2

Quarter-finals

Summary

The West regions quarter-finals fixtures were postponed indefinitely by the AFC due to the impacts from the 2026 Iran conflict.[4][6] The first legs were originally scheduled to be played on 4–5 March, with the second legs on 11–12 March.

Team 1Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
West Region
Al Ansar QF1 Muras UnitedTBDTBD
Al-Shabab QF2 Al-KuwaitTBDTBD
East Region
Phnom Penh Crown 2–6 PKR Svay Rieng1–41–2
Manila Digger 3–2 Dewa United Banten1–02–2

West Region

Muras United v Al Ansar

East Region

Phnom Penh Crown 1–4 PKR Svay Rieng
  • Dyer 3'
 Report
Attendance: 20,249
Referee: Venkatesh Ramachandran (India)
PKR Svay Rieng 2–1 Phnom Penh Crown
 Report
Attendance: 12,173
Referee: Tuan Yaasin (Malaysia)

Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng won 6–2 on aggregate.

Manila Digger 1–0 Dewa United Banten
 Report
Attendance: 1,471
Referee: Du Jianxin (China)
Dewa United Banten 2–2 Manila Digger
 Report
Attendance: 1,231
Referee: Daniel Elder (Australia)

Manila Digger won 3–2 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

Summary

The first legs were originally scheduled to be played on 8–9 April, with the second legs on 15–16 April 2026.

Team 1Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
West Region
Winner QF1SF1Winner QF28 Apr15 Apr
East Region
PKR Svay Rieng SF2 Manila Digger9 Apr16 Apr

West Region

Winner QF1 v Winner QF2
Winner QF2 v Winner QF1

East Region

Manila Digger v PKR Svay Rieng

Final

Main article: 2026 AFC Challenge League final

The final is scheduled to take place on 9 May 2025, with the team from the West Region hosting the final. The winners will also qualify for the 2026–27 AFC Champions League Two group stage, unless they have already qualified for the Champions League Two through their league performance.

Winner SF1 v Winner SF2

Notes

  1. ^ a b The match was originally scheduled to be played on 4 March 2026, but was postponed due to the impacts from the 2026 Iran War.[4]
  2. ^ Al Ansar are required to play their home matches at a neutral venue due to the ongoing Israeli invasion of Lebanon.[7][8]
  3. ^ a b The match was originally scheduled to be played on 11 March 2026, but was postponed due to the impacts from the 2026 Iran War.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Asian Champions League to relaunch with fewer teams and more prize money in 2024–25 season". Associated Press. 14 August 2023.
  2. ^ "AFC Executive Committee approves biggest prize purse in Asian club football history from 2024/25; announces AFC Women's Champions League". the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation.
  3. ^ "AFC Challenge League 2025/26 Competition Regulations" (PDF). Asian Football Confederation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 April 2025. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d "Statement on AFC Club Competitions". the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 1 March 2026. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
  5. ^ "AFC Competitions Committee approves key decisions on reformatted competitions". the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 1 July 2023.
  6. ^ "Second-leg knockout ties of AFC Club Competitions postponed". Asian Football Confederation. Asian Football Confederation. 3 March 2026. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  7. ^ Church, Michael (13 November 2023). "War forces Palestine, Lebanon teams to begin World Cup quest away from home". Reuters. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  8. ^ @BBC_Mani (23 October 2023). "Lebanon have chosen the Khalid Bin Mohamed Stadium in Sharja" (Tweet). Retrieved 23 October 2023 – via X (formerly Twitter).
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