2008 AFC Challenge Cup

2008 AFC Challenge Cup

Tournament details
Host country	India
Dates	30 July – 13 August
Venue(s)	3 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	India (1st title)
Runners-up	Tajikistan
Third place	North Korea
Fourth place	Myanmar
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	41 (2.56 per match)
Attendance	15,900 (994 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Pak Song-Chol (6 goals)
Best player	Baichung Bhutia
← 2006 2010 →

The 2008 AFC Challenge Cup football tournament was hosted by India and played from July 30 to August 13, 2008. India won the final against Tajikistan.^[1] India was also the winner of the fair play award and the India captain Baichung Bhutia won the most valuable player award.

Chinese Taipei was originally designated the host, but could not guarantee it would meet the AFC's standards for hosting the tournament.^[2] Thailand was first chosen as host but withdrew due to lack of time to prepare.^[3] The winners of the 2008 and 2010 competitions will qualify directly for the 2011 Asian Cup. This competition is exclusive to members of the emerging nations class of the AFC. However, in the previous edition, Bangladesh and India were invited from the developing nations class - Bangladesh actually hosting the tournament, and India sending their under-20 team. India and Bangladesh have again been invited for the 2008 edition of the tournament, along with North Korea, Myanmar and Turkmenistan who are also a part of the developing nations class.

Laos withdrew from the competition on 2 May 2008.^[4] Palestine withdrew from the competition on 14 May 2008.^[5]

Due to the poor conditions of the pitch at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, the AFC moved the majority of the matches to another venue. It was decided that ten matches would played at the Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, and two at the LBS Stadium.^[6] Due to incessant rains in Hyderabad in the days leading up to the final, the AFC changed the venue of the final and the third place play-off to the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi.^[7][8]

Tournament

Qualification saw the top team from each of the four qualification groups qualify for the tournament proper, bringing the total number of participating teams in the centralized finals to eight. In addition, India (tournament hosts), Korea DPR, Turkmenistan and Myanmar qualified automatically.

Mongolia and Timor-Leste decided not to take part.^[9]

Seeding

Bold Type - qualified teams, Italics - withdrawn teams

Qualification

The following teams qualified for the final tournament:

•  India (Host)
•  North Korea (Automatic Qualifier)
•  Turkmenistan (Automatic Qualifier)
•  Myanmar (Automatic Qualifier)
•  Sri Lanka (Winner Qualification Group A)
•  Tajikistan (Winner Qualification Group B)
•  Afghanistan (Winner Qualification Group C)
•  Nepal (Winner Qualification Group D)

Squads

Final tournament

All times are Indian Standard Time (IST) - UTC+5:30

Group Stage

Tie-breaking criteria

Where two or more teams end the group stage with the same number of points, their ranking is determined by the following criteria:

1. points earned in the matches between the teams concerned;
2. goal difference in the matches between the teams concerned;
3. number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
4. goal difference in all group matches;
5. number of goals scored in all group matches;
6. kicks from the penalty mark (if only two teams are level and they are both on the field of play);
7. fewer yellow and red cards received in the group matches;
8. drawing of lots by the organising committee.

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
India	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7
Tajikistan	3	1	2	0	5	1	+4	5
Turkmenistan	3	1	1	1	6	2	+4	4
Afghanistan	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

30 July 2008 16:00	Turkmenistan	0 – 0	Tajikistan	Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 150 Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)
		Report

30 July 2008 18:30	India	1 – 0	Afghanistan	Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 300 Referee: Masaaki Toma (Japan)
	Lawrence  90+2'	Report

1 August 2008 16:00	Tajikistan	1 – 1	India	Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 350 Referee: Tayeb Hasan Shamsuzzaman (Bangladesh)
	Rabiev  11'	Report	Tuychiev  61' (o.g.)

1 August 2008 18:30	Afghanistan	0 – 5	Turkmenistan	Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 100 Referee: Ali Saleem (Maldives)
		Report	Öwekow  1', 41', 77', 80' Krendelev  23'

3 August 2008 18:30	Turkmenistan	1 – 2	India	Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Khalid Al-Senan (UAE)
	Orazmämmedow  84'	Report	Bhutia  54', 80'

3 August 2008 18:30	Afghanistan	0 – 4	Tajikistan	Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 150 Referee: Vo Minh Tri (Vientam)
		Report	Rabiev  14', 44', 56' Tukhtasunov  39'

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
North Korea	3	3	0	0	5	0	+5	9
Myanmar	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6
Nepal	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
Sri Lanka	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0

31 July 2008 16:00	North Korea	3 – 0	Sri Lanka	Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 100 Referee: Vo Minh Tri (Vietnam)
	Peiris  5' (o.g.) Pak Song-Chol  9', 27'	Report

31 July 2008 18:30	Myanmar	3 – 0	Nepal	Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 150 Referee: Khalid Al-Senan (UAE)
	Yazar Win Thein  66' Myo Min Tun  76' Soe Myat Min  86'	Report

2 August 2008 16:00	Sri Lanka	1 – 3	Myanmar	Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 100 Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)
	Jayasuriya  51'	Report	Soe Myat Min  47' Yan Paing  70' Si Thu Win  85'

2 August 2008 18:30	Nepal	0 – 1	North Korea	Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 100 Referee: Masaaki Toma (Japan)
		Report	Pak Song-Chol  39'

4 August 2008 18:30	North Korea	1 – 0	Myanmar	Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 100 Referee: Tayeb Hasan Shamsuzzaman (Bangladesh)
	Ro Hak-Su  15'	Report

4 August 2008 18:30	Nepal	3 – 0	Sri Lanka	Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 200 Referee: Ali Saleem (Maldives)
	Shahukhala  14' J.M. Rai  55' Anjan  68'	Report

Knockout stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	07 August - Hyderabad
	India	1
	Myanmar	0
					13 August - New Delhi
					India	4
					Tajikistan	1
					Third place
	07 August - Hyderabad			13 August - New Delhi
	North Korea	0		North Korea	4
	Tajikistan	1			Myanmar	0

Semi-finals

7 August 2008 16:00	India	1 – 0	Myanmar	Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Tayeb Hasan Shamsuzzaman (Bangladesh)
	Chhetri  82'	Report

7 August 2008 19:30	North Korea	0 – 1	Tajikistan	Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad Attendance: 600 Referee: Masaaki Toma (Japan)
		Report	Mukhidinov  39'

Third place play-off

13 August 2008 16:00	Myanmar	0 – 4	North Korea	Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Khalid Al-Senan (UAE)
		Report	Pak Song-Chol  10', 12', 44' (pen.) Ro Hak-Su  53'

Final

13 August 2008 19:00	India	4 – 1	Tajikistan	Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)
	Chhetri  9', 23', 75' Bhutia  18'	Report	Fatkhuloev  44'

Winner

2008 AFC Challenge Cup Champions
India First title

Awards

Fair Play Award			Golden Shoe			Most Valuable Player
India			Pak Song-Chol			Baichung Bhutia

Goalscorers

References

External links

• Official Site
• Stats at a glance