Nepal Hosts AFC Challenge Cup 2012

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has awarded the hosting rights of AFC Challenge Cup final round 2012 to Nepal. The Tournament is slated in March, 2012

The first meeting of the AFC Competitions Committee for the 2011-2015 term held under the chairmanship of UAE’s Yousef Al Serkal on Wednesday made the decision.

Nepal, Maldives and Palestine were vying to win the bid but Nepal won the bet. The president of AFC Organizing committee of AFC President's Cup and AFC Challenge Cup is Ganesh Thapa, who is also the president of ANFA.

However, the decision needs to be ratified by ex-co meeting on Friday.

Meanwhile, AFC competitions committee made following decisions:

- AFC Asian Cup: A Task Force will be established to recommend a more competitive format for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

- 2014 World Cup Asian qualifiers: It was decided to use FIFA World Rankings to seed the teams for Round 4.

- 2012 London Olympics: The Round 4 playoff between three second-placed teams from Round 3 will be played in the neutral venue of Malaysia from March 25 to 29. The winning team of this playoff will play a CAF representative for a place in the 2012 London Olympics.

- AFC U-22 Championship: The first edition of the biennial AFC U-22 Championship will be held in June 2013. The next edition of this competition will serve as qualifiers for the 2016 Olympics. The format for the competition was also approved.

- 2012 AFC Challenge Cup: Nepal was chosen to host the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup Finals.

AFC President's Cup; Draw On Monday

Kuala Lumpur: Defending champions Myanmar’s Yadanarbon have been placed alongside debutants Kyrgyzstan’s Neftchi and Cambodian outfit Phnom Penh Crown FC in the 2011 AFC President’s Cup Final Stage draw, which took place at the AFC House on Friday.

Yadanarbon ended Central Asian teams’ stranglehold on the third-tier AFC club competition last year by beating Kyrgyzstan’s Dordoi 1-0 in the final at home and could face a formidable challenge in the new Kyrgyz champions.

Taiwan Power Company (Chinese Taipei), FC Balkan (Turkmenistan) and Istiklol (Tajikistan) were placed in Group A.

Istiklol will take on Taiwan Power Company in the opener on September 19 while Phnom Penh Crown FC will meet Neftchi on the same day. Yadanarbon will begin their campaign on September 21 against Phnom Penh Crown FC.

The six-team Finals will be played in Kaohsiung City, Chinese Taipei, from September 19 to 25 at the National Stadium. Top teams from each group will qualify for the final.