Challenge League contenders eye Knockout Stage success

The journey continues for the eight remaining teams in the AFC Challenge League™ 2024/25 on Wednesday, March 5 when the Knockout Stage kicks off.
 
Having battled past 10 other sides to come through the Group Stage, they will contest their first-leg ties of the Quarter-finals in the quest for glory in the new third-tier Continental men’s competition.
 
Five of the contenders – including all four in the East Region – have reached the Knockout Stage of an AFC competition for the first time, underlining the AFC’s commitment to shine the light on teams from the Continent’s emerging leagues and their diverse range of talents.

West
 
The first of the last-eight showdowns takes place at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium in Kolkata at 7pm, where Group A winners East Bengal of India play host to Group B winners FC Arkadag. The home side, who won their maiden Super Cup in 2024, are appearing in a Knockout Stage for a fifth time and were AFC Cup™ semi-finalists in 2013. Their opponents from Turkmenistan, meanwhile, have enjoyed a remarkable rise since being founded in 2023 – two successive league and cup doubles have been achieved by winning all 66 domestic matches to date, and they will eye further progress on their Continental debut.
 
Having advanced as the best runners-up in the West Region to reach their third Knockout Stage, 17-time Kuwait Premier League champions Al Arabi SC are set to entertain Oman’s Al Seeb Club at 9.30pm at the Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Stadium in Sulaibikhat. The away side, who won all three matches to top Group C, enjoyed a memorable Continental debut in 2022 when they lifted the AFC Cup™. Al Seeb are on track to clinch a second consecutive and fourth overall Oman Professional League crown, as they currently lead the 2024/25 standings after 15 games.
 
East
 
The first team to win five league titles in a row after their 2024 triumph, Tainan City FC of Chinese Taipei progressed as Group D runners-up and will stage their first leg at the Kaohsiung Nanzih Football Stadium on March 6 with kick-off at 7pm against Indonesian outfit Madura United. Three-time league champions, the visitors topped Group E upon their first involvement in an AFC competition since featuring at the 1990/91 Asian Club Championship.
 
Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng FC are at home in the last of the first-leg clashes to Shan United FC of Myanmar, which gets underway on the same evening at 7pm, in Phnom Penh’s Morodok Techo National Stadium. The Cambodian club, who clinched a domestic double in 2023/24 and are leading this season’s standings, advanced as Group E runners-up and have past experience with an AFC President’s Cup appearance in 2014. Shan United, who reached a Knockout Stage at the eighth time of asking after topping Group D, captured the 2024 Myanmar National League trophy earlier this month – their fifth in a row and record sixth overall. They too have previously participated in the AFC President’s Cup (2008 and 2009) and will aim to replicate their domestic form here, having been unbeaten in the league since February 2020 – a run that has spanned a remarkable 77 matches.
 
The second-leg fixtures will take place on March 12 and 13, with the four victorious teams moving on to play the two-legged Semi-finals between April 9 and 17. The 2024/25 season will then culminate in the single-leg Final on May 10, 2025, with at least USD1.3 million in prize money on offer for the champions.