Wikipedia

2025–26 AFC Challenge League knockout stage

The 2025–26 AFC Challenge League knockout stage began on 5 March with the quarter-finals, and ended on 13 May 2026 with the final being hosted by the West region finalist.[1][2] A total of eight teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2025–26 AFC Challenge League.[3]

Qualified teams

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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 Oman Al-Shabab N/a
B Kuwait Al-Kuwait Lebanon Al-Ansar
C Kyrgyzstan Muras United N/a
East Region D Cambodia PKR Svay Rieng Philippines Manila Digger
E Indonesia Dewa United Banten Cambodia Phnom Penh Crown

Format

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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

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The quarter-finals for the West region was postponed due to the impacts from the 2026 Iran war.[4] On March 24, AFC announced that all West Region quarter-finals and semi-finals matches would be changed to single-leg ties at a centralized venue.[5]

The schedule of each round is as follows.[6]

Stage Round East Region West Region
Knockout stage Quarter-finals 5 March 2026 (First leg)
12 March 2026 (Second leg)		 19 April 2026
Semi-finals 9 April 2026 (First leg)
16 April 2026 (Second leg)		 22 April 2026
Final 13 May 2026

Bracket

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Quarter-finals

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Summary

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The West regions quarter-finals fixtures were postponed indefinitely by the AFC due to the impacts from the 2026 Iran war.[7] The first legs for the East Region were played on 5 March, with the second legs on 12 March. The fixtures in the West Region were shortened to a single leg to be played on 19 April.[8]

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
West Region
Al Ansar Lebanon0–3Kyrgyzstan Muras United
Al-Shabab Oman3–5Kuwait Al-Kuwait
Team 1Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
East Region
Phnom Penh Crown Cambodia2–6Cambodia PKR Svay Rieng1–41–2
Manila Digger Philippines3–2Indonesia Dewa United Banten1–02–2

West Region

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Al-Shabab Oman3–5Kuwait Al-Kuwait
 Report
Attendance: 214
Referee: Ahmad A'Qashah (Singapore)
Al Ansar Lebanon0–3Kyrgyzstan Muras United
Report
Attendance: 5,552

East Region

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Phnom Penh Crown Cambodia1–4Cambodia PKR Svay Rieng
 Report
Attendance: 20,249
Referee: Venkatesh Ramachandran (India)
PKR Svay Rieng Cambodia2–1Cambodia Phnom Penh Crown
 Report
Attendance: 12,173
Referee: Tuan Yaasin (Malaysia)

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

Manila Digger Philippines1–0Indonesia Dewa United Banten
 Report
Attendance: 1,471
Referee: Du Jianxin (China)
Dewa United Banten Indonesia2–2Philippines Manila Digger
 Report
Attendance: 1,231
Referee: Daniel Elder (Australia)

Manila Digger won 3–2 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

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Summary

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The first legs for the East Region were played on 9 April, with the second legs on 16 April 2026. The single-legged fixture for the West Region was played on 22 April.

Team 1ScoreTeam 2
West Region
Muras United Kyrgyzstan1–2Kuwait Al-Kuwait
Team 1Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
East Region
PKR Svay Rieng Cambodia4–1Philippines Manila Digger1–13–0

West Region

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Muras United Kyrgyzstan1–2Kuwait Al-Kuwait
 Report
Attendance: 12,453
Referee: Shen Yinhao (China)

East Region

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PKR Svay Rieng Cambodia1–1Philippines Manila Digger
 Report
Attendance: 16,602
Referee: Chae Sang-hyeop (South Korea)
Manila Digger Philippines0–3Cambodia PKR Svay Rieng
Report
Attendance: 2,065
Referee: Sadullo Gulmurodi (Tajikistan)

Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng won 4–1 on aggregate.

Final

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The final took place on 13 May 2026, with the team from the West Region hosting the final. The winners also qualified for the 2026–27 AFC Champions League Two group stage, unless they have already qualified for the Champions League Two through their league performance.

Al-Kuwait Kuwait4–3 (a.e.t.)Cambodia PKR Svay Rieng
 Report
Attendance: 43,366
Referee: Qasim Al-Hatmi (Oman)

Notes

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  1. 1 2 3 Due to the impacts from the 2026 Iran war, the AFC decided to play a one-legged tie at a neutral venue.[8]

References

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  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. ↑ "Statement on AFC Club Competitions". the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 1 March 2026. Retrieved 1 March 2026.
  5. ↑ "Latest update on AFC club competitions". the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 24 March 2026. Retrieved 24 March 2026.
  6. ↑ "AFC Competitions Committee approves key decisions on reformatted competitions". the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 1 July 2023.
  7. ↑ "Second-leg knockout ties of AFC Club Competitions postponed". Asian Football Confederation. Asian Football Confederation. 3 March 2026. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  8. 1 2 "Latest update on AFC club competitions". Asian Football Confederation. 24 March 2026. Retrieved 24 March 2026.
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