Up for the cup

Three countries in collaboration with their league champion clubs from Cambodia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have registered their interest to organise the finals of the AFC President’s Cup to be held in September. President's Cup finalists Phnom Penh Crown, Istiklol and Dordoi are in the race to win the rights to host the AFC President's Cup finals, the third tier of AFC club football in Asia. Palestine’s debutant Al Amma’ri, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) of Pakistan and defending champions Taiwan Power Company make up the numbers in the final to be played amongst six clubs in a league-cum-knockout format, with the top two sides playing in the final.
The AFC will carry out inspection visits to all the three interested bidders before the AFC Competitions Committee meeting in July gives the final verdict on the hosts of the 2012 edition of the cup, which started back in 2005. Dordoi, the two-time winners of the competition, topped Group B ahead of Phnom Penh Crown in May’s qualifying round held in Phnom Penh, while Istiklol won the qualifiers leaving Palestine debutants Al Amma’ri in 2nd place when they hosted Group C in the qualifiers held in May 2012. Defending champions Taiwan Power Company won both their matches in Group A to qualify ahead of KRL.