 | |
| 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(s) | Bhaichung Bhutia |
← 2006 2010 → | |
The 2008 AFC Challenge Cup football tournament was organised by AFC and was hosted by India.The tournament was played from 30 July – 13 August 2008. India won the final against Tajikistan.[1] India was also the winner of the fair play award and the India captain Bhaichung 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 Philippines also was to take over as host with matches to be played in Bacolod in May 2008 but the plan failed to materialized.[4]
The winners of the 2008 and 2010 competitions will qualify directly for the 2011 Asian Cup. As a result, India qualified for the AFC Asian Cup, the first time since 1984.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.[5] Palestine withdrew from the competition on 14 May 2008.[6]
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 be played at the Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, and two at the LBS Stadium.[7] 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 StadiuminNew Delhi.[8]
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]
Bold Type – qualified teams, Italics – withdrawn teams
Turkmenistan India Myanmar Tajikistan
Sri Lanka
Nepal
Kyrgyzstan
Palestine (Withdrew 14 May 2008)
Chinese Taipei
Bangladesh
Brunei
Pakistan
Cambodia
Philippines
Afghanistan
Bhutan
Macau
Guam
Laos (Withdrew 2 May 2008)| Hyderabad |
 |
New Delhi | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gachibowli Athletic Stadium | Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium | Ambedkar Stadium | |||
| Capacity: 30,000 | Capacity: 30,000 | Capacity: 20,000 | |||
|
|
| |||
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)All times are Indian Standard Time (IST) – UTC+5:30
| Key to colours in group tables |
|---|
| Top two placed teams advance to the semi-finals |
Where two or more teams end the group stage with the same number of points, their ranking is determined by the following criteria:
| 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 |
| Turkmenistan | 0–0 | Tajikistan |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Attendance: 150
Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)
| India | 1–0 | Afghanistan |
|---|---|---|
Lawrence  90+2' |
Report |
Attendance: 300
Referee: Masaaki Toma (Japan)
| Tajikistan | 1–1 | India |
|---|---|---|
| Rabiev 11' |
Report | Tuychiev 61' (o.g.) |
Attendance: 350
Referee: Tayeb Shamsuzzaman (Bangladesh)
| Afghanistan | 0–5 | Turkmenistan |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Öwekow 1', 41', 77', 80' Krendelev 23' |
Attendance: 100
Referee: Ali Saleem (Maldives)
| Turkmenistan | 1–2 | India |
|---|---|---|
| Orazmämmedow 84' |
Report | Bhutia 54', 80' |
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Khalid Al-Senan (UAE)
| Afghanistan | 0–4 | Tajikistan |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Rabiev 14', 44', 56' Tukhtasunov 39' |
Attendance: 150
Referee: Vo Minh Tri (Vietnam)
| 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 |
| North Korea | 3–0 | Sri Lanka |
|---|---|---|
| Madushka Peiris 5' (o.g.) Pak Song-chol 9', 27' |
Report |
Attendance: 100
Referee: Vo Minh Tri (Vietnam)
| Myanmar | 3–0 | Nepal |
|---|---|---|
| Yazar Win Thein 66' Myo Min Tun 76'Soe Myat Min 86' |
Report |
Attendance: 150
Referee: Khalid Al-Senan (UAE)
| Sri Lanka | 1–3 | Myanmar |
|---|---|---|
| Jayasuriya 51' |
Report | Soe Myat Min 47' Yan Paing 70' Si Thu Win 85' |
Attendance: 100
Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)
| Nepal | 0–1 | North Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Pak Song-chol 39' |
Attendance: 100
Referee: Masaaki Toma (Japan)
| North Korea | 1–0 | Myanmar |
|---|---|---|
| Ro Hak-su 15' |
Report |
Attendance: 100
Referee: Tayeb Shamsuzzaman (Bangladesh)
| Nepal | 3–0 | Sri Lanka |
|---|---|---|
| Sahukhala 14' J.M. Rai 55' K.C. Anjan 68' |
Report |
Attendance: 200
Referee: Ali Saleem (Maldives)
| Semi-finals | Final | ||||
| ||||||
| 7 August – Hyderabad | |||||
| ||||||
| India | 1 | ||||
| 13 August – New Delhi | |||||
| Myanmar | 0 | ||||
| India | 4 | ||||
| 7 August – Hyderabad | |||||
| Tajikistan | 1 | ||||
| North Korea | 0 | ||||
| ||||||
| Tajikistan | 1 | ||||
| Third place | |||||
| ||||||
| 13 August – New Delhi | |||||
| ||||||
| North Korea | 4 | ||||
| ||||||
| Myanmar | 0 | ||||
| India | 1–0 | Myanmar |
|---|---|---|
| Chhetri 82' |
Report |
Attendance: 1,500
Referee: Tayeb Shamsuzzaman (Bangladesh)
| North Korea | 0–1 | Tajikistan |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Mukhidinov 39' |
Attendance: 600
Referee: Masaaki Toma (Japan)
| Myanmar | 0–4 | North Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Pak Song-chol 10', 12', 44' (pen.) Ro Hak-su 53' |
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Khalid Al-Senan (UAE)
| India | 4–1 | Tajikistan |
|---|---|---|
| Chhetri 9', 23', 75' Bhutia 18' |
Report | Fatkhuloev 44' |
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)
| 2008 AFC Challenge Cup champions |
|---|
 India First title |
| Fair Play Award | Golden Shoe | Most Valuable Player | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India
|
Pak Song-chol
|
Bhaichung Bhutia
|
|
|
|
This table shows all team performance. Matches that ended in a penalty shoot out are counted as draws
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reached the knockout stage | |||||||||
| 1 | India
|
5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | |
| 2 | Tajikistan
|
5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | |
| 3 | North Korea
|
5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1 | +8 | |
| 4 | Myanmar
|
5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 7 | -1 | |
| Eliminated in the group stage | |||||||||
| 5 | Turkmenistan
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 | |
| 6 | Nepal
|
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | |
| 7 | Sri Lanka
|
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | −8 | |
| 8 | Afghanistan
|
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | −10 | |
Source:[10]
