DUSHANBE, July 20, 2009, Asia-Plus — Metallurg Stadium, the home of Tajikistan side Regar-Tadaz, will stage the final stages of the AFC President’s Cup 2009, according to report posted on an official website of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The competition comprises two semi-finals and a final for the best of AFC’s third-tier club sides. Regar will be attempting to defend their title against Ashgabat, of Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan’s Dordoi-Dynamo and Pakistan WAPDA.
The draw for the semi-finals and final will be held on Wednesday, 22 July at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The tournament, in Tursunzoda, is scheduled to be held from September 25-27.
The AFC President”s Cup is an annual international association football competition between domestic clubs sides run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Since the tournament began in 2005, the number of teams has increased from 8 to 11.
From editions 2005 to 2007, 8 clubs were placed into two groups of 4 teams. Both groups would be played in one host country. Out of these two groups, the winners and runners up would advance to the semi-final stage, again played in that host country.
In 2008, the tournament was increased to 11 clubs. Therefore a qualification round was created and 11 clubs split into 3 groups. Two groups containing 4 clubs with the 3rd group having 3 clubs. Each group would then be played in a different country, each having their own host. The group winners and the best runner up would then qualify for the finals stage, again to be hosted in another country and played at a later date.
Since the competition began, the 8 founding nations to take part have been, Tajikistan, Nepal, Taiwan, Bhutan, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Cambodia. Since 2008, clubs from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Turkmenistan have been invited.
Generally, clubs which represent each nation are the current champions of their domestic football leagues.
