# AVC Men's Challenge Cup

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.

## History

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 and Kyrgyzstan in the 2022 edition. 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. Thailand were the champions in the 2023 edition after defeating Bahrain in the straight-sets final. Qatar won the 2024 edition after a straight-sets victory over Pakistan in the final.
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.

## Results summary

| Year | Hosts | Final | Final | Final | | 3rd place match | 3rd place match | 3rd place match | | Teams |
| Year | Hosts | Champions | Score | Runners-up | | 3rd place | Score | 4th place | | Teams |
| 2018 Details | Colombo | Iraq | 3–2 | Saudi Arabia | | Sri Lanka | 3–0 | Bangladesh | | 8 |
| 2020 | Cholpon-Ata | Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | 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 |
| 2025 Details | TBA | | | | | | | | | TBA |

### Teams reaching the top four

| 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) |

### Champions by region

| 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 |

## Hosts

List of hosts by number of challenge cups hosted.
| Number | Nations | Year(s) |
| 2 | Bahrain | 2024, 2025 |
| 1 | Sri Lanka | 2018 |
| 1 | Kyrgyzstan | 2022 |
| 1 | Taiwan | 2023 |

## Medal summary

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

## Participating nations
### 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) | 2025 | Total |
| Australia | • | • | 5th | 8th | | 2 |
| Bahrain | • | • | 2nd | 7th | Q | 3 |
| 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 |

### Debut of teams

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

## Awards

| 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 |
| 2018 | Horosit Biswas |
| 2022 | Omar Alnajrani |
| 2022 | Ahmed Albakheet |
| 2023 | Anut Promchan |
| 2023 | Mohamed Abdulla Yaqoob |
| 2024 | Raimi Wadidie |
| 2024 | Kim Ji-han |
| Year | Best Middle Blockers |
| 2018 | Ibrahim Majrashi |
| 2018 | Islam Sachit Challab |
| 2022 | Azizbek Kurchkorov |
| 2022 | Ibrahim Majrashi |
| 2023 | Kissada Nilsawai |
| 2023 | Kim Min-jae |
| 2024 | Ibrahim Ibrahim |
| 2024 | 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 |