India demoted to third-tier Challenge League as AFC revises slot allocation for 2027-28

Indian football suffered another major continental setback after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) revised its slot allocation for the 2027-28 club competition cycle, pushing India down to the AFC Challenge League, which is the third tier of Asian club football.

New Delhi: Indian football suffered another major continental setback after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) revised its slot allocation for the 2027-28 club competition cycle, pushing India down to the AFC Challenge League, which is the third tier of Asian club football.

The revised allocation, released by the AFC in its official slot allocation document for the 2027-28 season, confirms that Indian clubs will no longer enjoy a direct place in the AFC Champions League Two (ACL2), Asia’s second-tier competition. However, Indian football clubs will play in the second-tier AFC Champions League 2 in 2026-27. India had earlier been allocated one direct and one playoff slot in ACL2 for the 2026-27 cycle, but the latest revision effectively demotes the country into the AFC Challenge League structure from the 2027-28 season. The slot allocation from AFC explains how many teams each member association can send across its three-tier structure directly and indirectly.

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According to the latest update, India have been given only one indirect slot in the Challenge League and the Indian clubs have to play qualifiers to secure their berth in the main competition. The development comes as a consequence of India’s falling AFC club competition ranking, which is determined by the performances of clubs across continental tournaments over an eight-year cycle. India is currently placed at 15th in the list of West Asian countries, below Hong Kong, Tajikistan and Lebanan and others. Saudi Arabia is at the top with 132.545 points.

The AFC Challenge League currently serves as Asia’s third-tier club competition beneath the AFC Champions League Elite and ACL2. The tournament was introduced as part of the AFC’s revamped three-tier continental structure. India’s decline in continental standing has been linked to a string of underwhelming performances by Indian clubs in recent AFC competitions.

Clubs from the Indian Super League have struggled to progress consistently in ACL2 and earlier AFC Cup campaigns, resulting in a drop in coefficient points compared to rival West Asian nations. Indian clubs have also not fulfilled the minimum number of games played criteria for the top tier of a country, which is 27 matches for each team, as the Indian Super League (ISL) 2025-26 was shortened, and each team played only 13 matches in the league stage. The AFC Challenge League winners qualify for the following season’s ACL2 group stage, offering Indian clubs a possible route back into the second tier if they perform strongly in continental competition.