The

2010 AFC Challenge Cup The 2010 AFC Challenge Cup was the third edition of the tournament which was held from 16–27 February 2010 in Sri Lanka. India, the defending champions, fielded their India national under-23 football team, under-23 team for this tournament ...

qualification phase saw five teams advance to the finals to join three automatic qualifiers in the final tournament in Sri Lanka. Qualification consisted of two sections. * A playoff between the 19th and 20th ranked entrants (

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

) * Four qualification groups for four teams. Each group winner advanced to the finals, along with the best-ranked runner-up. Because of the withdrawal of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, the ranking of second-placed teams excluded results of any matches against fourth-placed sides.

Seeding

Seeding was based partially on the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

World Ranks as at January 2009 (ranking shown in brackets). , and chose not to compete.

withdrew prior to their first match.

Qualifying preliminary round

Moved from originally scheduled dates of 7 March and 14 March due to conflict with the qualification for the 2010 East Asian Football Championship. ---- ''3–3 on aggregate. Macau advanced to the group phase on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

.''

Qualifying group stage

Qualification was officially scheduled to take place from 2–13 April 2009, although the actual dates began before and extended beyond that. Each qualification group was held in a single location -

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

hosting their respective groups. The teams were ranked according to

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

(3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss) and tie breakers were in following order: #Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned; #

Goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned; #Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned; #Goal difference in all the group matches; #Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches; #

Kicks from the penalty mark In association football, a penalty shoot-out (previously known as kicks from the penalty mark) is a tie-breaking method to determine which team is awarded victory in a match that cannot end in a draw, when the score is tied after the normal tim ...

if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play; #Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches; (1 point for each yellow card, 3 points for each red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for each direct red card, 4 points for each yellow card followed by a direct red card) #Drawing of lots.

Group A

*Matches played in

. *Times listed are

UTC+6 UTC+06:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +06:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Bishkek, Chittagong, Dhaka, Omsk, Thimphu South Asia *Bangladesh – Bangladesh Standard Time *Bhutan � ...

. ---- ----

Group B

*Matches played in the

. *Times listed are

UTC+5 UTC+05:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +05:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Astana, Almaty, Kokshetau, Tashkent, Ashgabat, Dushanbe, Malé, Yekaterinburg, Martin-de-Viviès, Port-au ...

. ---- ----

Group C

*Matches played in

. *Times listed are UTC+5:45. Tie-breaking situation: *Kyrgyzstan ranked ahead of Nepal and Palestine on the basis of goals scored. *Nepal ranked ahead of Palestine on the basis of a better disciplinary record (Nepal 1 yellow card - Palestine 3 yellow cards). ---- ----

Group D

*Matches played in

. *Times listed are UTC+5:30. ---- ----

Ranking of second placed teams

The best-ranked second placed team also qualified for the finals tournament. Due to Afghanistan's withdrawal from Group C, matches against fourth-placed sides in the other groups were excluded from the following comparison. Notes on the tie-breaking situation: *Bangladesh ranked ahead of the Maldives on the basis of goal difference. *Pakistan ranked ahead of Nepal on the basis of goals scored.

Final tournament

The final tournament, consisting of 8 teams, was eventually held from 16–27 February in Sri Lanka.

Qualifiers

The eight teams that qualified for the final tournament are: * – automatic qualifier * – automatic qualifier * – automatic qualifier * – winner Group A * – winner Group B * – winner Group C * – winner Group D * – best runner-up The draw for the final tournament was done on 30 November 2009 at the Galadri Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Goalscorers

;5 goals * Safiullah Khan * Kasun Jayasuriya ;4 goals * Ibrahim Fazeel ;3 goals *

Chen Po-liang Chen Po-liang (; born 11 August 1988) is a Taiwanese people, Taiwanese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Qingdao West Coast F.C., Qingdao West Coast. He is also captain of the Chinese Taipei natio ...

Ali Ashfaq Ali Ashfaq (; born 6 September 1985) is a Maldivian former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Nicknamed "Man of Steel" (), he is regarded as one of the best players in the South ...

* Döwletmyrat Ataýew *

Berdi Şamyradow Berdi Bayrammyradovich Shamyradov or Berdi Baýrammyradowiç Şamyradow (; born 22 June 1982) is a Turkmen football coach and a former professional player. Currently, he works as assistant manager at Nebitçi FT, FC Nebitçi Balkanabat. Early ...

;2 goals * Enamul Haque * Mohammed Zahid Hossain * Huang Wei-yi * Mirlan Murzaev * Chan Kin Seng * Pai Soe * Yazar Win Thein * Adnan Ahmed * Chad Gould * Rohana Ruwanthilake * Arif Mirzoýew * Mekan Nasyrow * Didargylyç Urazow ;1 goal * Mohd Mamunul Islam * Kamarul Ariffin Ramlee * Keo Sokngon * Teab Vathanak *

Chang Han Chang Han (, born December 25, 1985, in Hualien City, Hualien) is a Taiwanese people, Taiwanese football player from Amis people, Amis tribe. He usually plays as a Forward (association football), striker. During the Football at the 2008 Summer ...

* Kuo Chun-yi * Che Chi Man * Leong Chong In * Mukhthar Naseer * Mohamed Umair * Murun Altankhuyag * Donorovyn Lkhümbengarav * Khin Maung Lwin * Myo Min Tun * Pyae Phyo Oo * Biraj Maharjan * Atif Bashir * Jadid Khan Pathan * Said Al-Sobakhi * Alexander Borromeo * Asmeer Lathif Mohamed * Shanmugarajah Sanjeev *

Gahrymanberdi Çoňkaýew Gahrymanberdi Ovezliyevich Chonkayev (; born October 19, 1983) is a professional Turkmen football coach and former football striker. Club career In 2013 with FC Balkan he won the 2013 AFC President's Cup in Malaysia. In the summer of 2 ...

* Ruslan Mingazow ;Own goal * Geofredo (playing against Mongolia) * Anton del Rosario (playing against Turkmenistan)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Challenge Cup 2010

Qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

2009 in Asian football