AVC Men's Challenge Cup

AVC Men's Challenge Cup

Most recent season or competition: 2024 AVC Men's Challenge Cup
Sport	Volleyball
Founded	2018; 6 years ago (2018)
First season	2018
No. of teams	12
Continent	Asia and Oceania (AVC)
Most recent champion(s)	Qatar (1st title)
Most titles	Iraq  Kyrgyzstan  Qatar  Thailand (1 title each)
Official website	asianvolleyball.net

The AVC Men's Challenge Cup, also known as the AVC Challenge Cup for Men, is an annual international volleyball competition in Asia and Oceania contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC), one of the sport's continent governing body.

This event should not be confused with the other, more prestigious continental competition for Asian national volleyball teams, the Asian Volleyball Championship and the Asian Volleyball Cup.

The four Asian Volleyball Challenge Cup tournaments has been won by four different national teams. Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar and Thailand have won once each.

Originally, the tournament was awarded every two years beginning 2018. This tournament was initially set up to serve as a qualifier to the Men's Asian Volleyball Cup, which served as the tournament for the top teams of the AVC. The champions were Iraq in the 2018 edition^[1] and Kyrgyzstan in the 2022 edition.^[2] Both teams defeated Saudi Arabia in a tie-break final.

Starting in the 2023 edition, the AVC Challenge Cup reformed from being held biennially to annually. The tournament was served as a qualifier for the FIVB Challenger Cup between 2023 and 2024.^[3] Thailand were the champions in the 2023 edition after defeating Bahrain in the straight-sets final.^[4] Qatar won the 2024 edition after a straight-sets victory over Pakistan in the final.^[5]

Starting in 2025, with the new format of the Nations League and the abolishment of the Challenger Cup, this will serve as an annual competition for teams not participating in the VNL to earn world ranking points to increase their place in the FIVB Senior World Rankings, and possibly qualify to the future editions of the VNL.

Year	Hosts		Final				3rd place match				Teams
			Champions	Score	Runners-up		3rd place	Score	4th place
2018 Details	Colombo		Iraq	3–2	Saudi Arabia		Sri Lanka	3–0	Bangladesh		8
2020	Cholpon-Ata		Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2022 Details	Cholpon-Ata		Kyrgyzstan	3–2	Saudi Arabia		Uzbekistan	3–2	Mongolia		4
2023 Details	Taipei		Thailand	3–0	Bahrain		South Korea	3–1	Vietnam		15
2024 Details	Isa Town		Qatar	3–0	Pakistan		South Korea	3–1	Kazakhstan		12

Team	Champions	Runners-up	3rd place	4th place
Iraq	1 (2018)
Kyrgyzstan	1 (2022)
Thailand	1 (2023)
Qatar	1 (2024)
Saudi Arabia		2 (2018, 2022)
Bahrain		1 (2023)
Pakistan		1 (2024)
South Korea			2 (2023, 2024)
Sri Lanka			1 (2018)
Uzbekistan			1 (2022)
Bangladesh				1 (2018)
Kazakhstan				1 (2024)
Mongolia				1 (2022)
Vietnam				1 (2023)

Federation (region)	Champions	Number
WAZVA (West Asia)	Iraq (1),  Qatar (1)	2 titles
CAZVA (Central Asia)	Kyrgyzstan (1)	1 title
SEAVA (Southeast Asia)	Thailand (1)	1 title

List of hosts by number of challenge cups hosted.

Number	Nation(s)	Year(s)
1	Sri Lanka	2018
	Kyrgyzstan	2022
	Taiwan	2023
	Bahrain	2024

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Iraq	1	0	0	1
	Kyrgyzstan	1	0	0	1
	Qatar	1	0	0	1
	Thailand	1	0	0	1
5	Saudi Arabia	0	2	0	2
6	Bahrain	0	1	0	1
	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
8	South Korea	0	0	2	2
9	Sri Lanka	0	0	1	1
	Uzbekistan	0	0	1	1
Totals (10 entries)		4	4	4	12

Legend

• 1st – Champions
• 2nd – Runners-up
• 3rd – Third place
• 4th – Fourth place
•  •  – Did not enter / Did not qualify
•    – Hosts
• Q – Qualified for forthcoming tournament

Team	2018 (8)	2022 (4)	2023 (15)	2024 (12)	Total
Australia	•	•	5th	8th	2
Bahrain	•	•	2nd	7th	2
Bangladesh	4th	•	•	•	1
China	•	•	•	5th	1
Chinese Taipei	•	•	9th	12th	2
Hong Kong	6th	•	11th	•	2
India	•	•	15th	•	1
Indonesia	•	•	6th	11th	2
Iraq	1st	•	•	•	1
Kazakhstan	•	•	7th	4th	2
Kyrgyzstan	•	1st	•	•	1
Macau	•	•	12th	•	1
Malaysia	7th	•	•	•	1
Mongolia	8th	4th	8th	•	3
Pakistan	•	•	•	2nd	1
Philippines	•	•	10th	10th	2
Qatar	•	•	•	1st	1
Saudi Arabia	2nd	2nd	14th	•	3
South Korea	•	•	3rd	3rd	2
Sri Lanka	3rd	•	13th	•	2
Thailand	•	•	1st	9th	2
United Arab Emirates	5th	•	•	•	1
Uzbekistan	•	3rd	•	•	1
Vietnam	•	•	4th	6th	2

Year	Debutants	Total
2018	Bangladesh	8
	Hong Kong
	Iraq
	Malaysia
	Mongolia
	Saudi Arabia
	Sri Lanka
	United Arab Emirates
2022	Kyrgyzstan	2
	Uzbekistan
2023	Australia	11
	Bahrain
	Chinese Taipei
	India
	Indonesia
	Kazakhstan
	Macau
	Philippines
	South Korea
	Thailand
	Vietnam
2024	China	3
	Pakistan
	Qatar

Year Most Valuable Player 2018 Ahmed Albakheet 2022 Onolbek Kanybek Uulu 2023 Anurak Phanram 2024 Renan Ribeiro

Year Best Setter 2018 Mustafa Haneed Jabbar 2022 Medetbek Ergesh Uulu 2023 Hwang Taek-eui 2024 Borislav Georgiev

Year Best Outside Spikers 2018 Deepthi Romesh Horosit Biswas 2022 Omar Alnajrani Ahmed Albakheet 2023 Anut Promchan Mohamed Abdulla Yaqoob 2024 Raimi Wadidie Kim Ji-han

Year Best Middle Blockers 2018 Ibrahim Majrashi Islam Sachit Challab 2022 Azizbek Kurchkorov Ibrahim Majrashi 2023 Kissada Nilsawai Kim Min-jae 2024 Ibrahim Ibrahim Musawer Khan

Year Best Opposite Spiker 2018 Hussain Nameer Shamil 2022 Omurbek Zhunusov 2023 Ali Khamis 2024 Murad Khan

Year Best Libero 2018 Lakmal Wijesekara 2022 Kutmanbek Absatarov 2023 Ayman Haroon 2024 Nasir Ali

• FIVB Men's Volleyball Challenger Cup
• AVC Women's Challenge Cup
• Asian Men's Volleyball Cup
• Asian Men's Volleyball Championship
• Volleyball at the Asian Games

• Asian Volleyball Confederation – official website