The qualification phase for the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup saw four teams advance to the finals to join four automatic qualifiers in the final tournament in India. Qualification was held from 2 April to 28 May 2008 in four different venues. Sixteen teams participated in qualification in four groups containing four teams each. The four group winners joined hosts India, North Korea, Myanmar, and Turkmenistan in the final round.[1]
Seedings
5. TJK
6. Sri Lanka
7. Nepal
8. KGZ
9. PLE (Withdrew 14 May 2008)
10. Chinese Taipei
11. Bangladesh
12. BRU
13. Pakistan
14. Cambodia
15. Philippines
16. Afghanistan
17. BHU
18. MAC
19. GUM
20. Laos (Withdrew 2 May 2008)
The draw for the qualification groups was made on 18 January 2008 at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Qualification
Group A
- Matches played in Taipei, Chinese Taipei
Group B
- Matches played in Iloilo City and Barotac Nuevo, Philippines
Group C
- Matches played in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
- Laos withdrew on 2 May.
Group D
- Matches played in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- Palestine withdrew on 14 May.
Final tournament
The final tournament, consisting of 8 teams, was held from 30 July to 13 August 2008 in India.
Qualifiers
Qualifiers for the final tournament were:
- India - automatic qualifier
- North Korea - automatic qualifier
- Myanmar - automatic qualifier
- TKM - automatic qualifier
- Sri Lanka - Group A winner
- TJK - Group B winner
- Afghanistan - Group C winner
- Nepal - Group D winner
Goalscorers
- 5 goals
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- Nuth Sinoun
- Chang Han
- Zachary Pangelinan
- Che Chi Man
- Jamshed Anwar
- Nimal Dehiwalage
- Chathura Maduranga Siyaguna
- 1 goal
- Ata Yamrali
- Mohamed Hasan Ameli
- Nawang Dendup
- Passang Tshering
- Khayrun Bin Salleh
- Chan Rithy
- Chen Po-liang
- Chiang Shih-lu
- Huang Wei-yi
- Lo Chih-an
- Tsai Hsien-tang
- Christopher Mendiola
- Roman Kornilov
- Ruslan Sydykov
- Chan Kin Seng
- Sandip Rai
- 1 goal
- Adnan Ahmed
- Tanveer Ahmed
- Mohammad Essa
- Zahid Hameed
- Michael Masih
- Abdul Rehman
- Farooq Shah
- Emelio Caligdong
- Chad Gould
- Phil Younghusband
- Sabras Mohamed
- Dzhomikhon Mukhidinov
- Own goal
- Pema Rinchen (playing against Philippines)
- Chen Po-liang (playing against Sri Lanka)
- Iltaf Ahmed (playing against Guam)
References
- ^ "AFC Challenge Cup 2008". RSSSF. Retrieved 18 April 2026.