The 2008 AFC President's Cup was the fourth edition of the AFC President's Cup, a competition for football clubs in countries categorized as "emerging nations" by the Asian Football Confederation. For this edition, the tournament was extended from eight to eleven teams, with three groups in place of the previous two. The three new teams came from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Turkmenistan. The eleven teams that competed were split up into three groups and played each other team in their group once. The winner of each group and the best runner-up qualified for the semifinals, and the winners of the semifinal matches played in the final match to determine the winner.
Each group was to be played over a period of days in April at one venue - Group A at Dashrath Stadium, Nepal, Group B at Chungshan Stadium, Taiwan and Group C at Sugathadasa Stadium, Sri Lanka. However, due to political unrest in Nepal, Group A matches were postponed and eventually played at MPPJ Stadium, Malaysia in June.
The final stage of the competition was played in Kyrgyzstan from 19–21 September. Final stage to be held in Kyrgyzstan
Venues
Group stage Kuala Lumpur Taipei Colombo MPPJ Stadium Changchun Soccer Stadium Sugathadasa Stadium Capacity: 25,000 Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 25,000 Final stage Bishkek Spartak Stadium Capacity: 23,000
Qualifying teams AssociationTeamQualifying methodAppLast App Bangladesh Abahani Ltd. 2007 B.League champions 1st Bhutan Transport United 2007 A-Division champions 4th 2007 Cambodia Nagacorp FC 2007 Cambodian League champions 1st Chinese Taipei Taipower 2007 Enterprise Football League champions 2nd 2005 Kyrgyzstan Dordoi-Dynamo 2007 Kyrgyzstan League champions 4th 2007 Myanmar Kanbawza 2007 Myanmar Premier League champions 1st Nepal Nepal Police Club1 2006–07 Martyr's Memorial A-Division League champions2 2nd 2007 Pakistan WAPDA3 2007–08 Pakistan Premier League champions 2nd 2005 Sri Lanka Ratnam SC 2007 Kit Premier League champions 3rd 2007 Tajikistan Regar-TadAZ 2007 Tajik League champions 3rd 2007 Turkmenistan FC Aşgabat 2007 Turkmenistan League champions 1st
1 Mehandra Police Club now known as Nepal Police Club.
2 No league held in 2007–08 so 2006–07 champions qualify.
3 Pakistan Army F.C. were originally Pakistan's entrants, but replaced by WAPDA for rearranged group stage.
Group stage
Group A All matches played at MPPJ Stadium, Kuala Lumpur
Group B All matches played at Chungshan Stadium, Taipei
Group C All matches played at Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo
Final stage Semi-finals
Final
DORDOI-DYNAMO: GK 1Vladislav VolkovDF 3Talant SamsalievDF 4Ruslan SydykovDF 8Azamat BaimatovDF 20Igor KudrenkoMF 5Sergey Knyazev MF 7 Aibek BokoevMF 18 Vadim HarchenkoFW 6Daniel Tago FW9David TettehFW 10 Mirlan Murzaev Substitutes:DF 2Faruh Abitov MF 13Davron Askarov FW 19Ildar Amirov Manager: Boris Podkorytov
REGAR-TADAZ: GK 16Alisher DodovDF 2Safarali KarimovDF 5Maruf RustamovDF 6Farrukh ChorievDF 13Naim Nasirov MF 9 Khurshed MakhmudovMF 10 Jamshed Ismailov MF 11Alisher Hakberdiev MF23Ilhomzhon Orkitov FW 14 Davronjon Tukhtasunov FW 18Victor SimõesSubstitutes:DF 3Farkhodzon Kholbekov MF 7Ibrahim Rabimov FW 17Shujoat Nematov Manager: Khabibulloev Makhmadjon
OFFICIALS Linesman: Sokhandan Reza (Iran) Linesman: Bakhtiyor Tagaev (Uzbekistan)
References
External links AFC President's Cup 2008 RSSSF President's Cup 2008