LAHORE: The first meeting of the AFC President’s Cup and AFC Challenge Cup Organising Committee for the 2007-2011 term was held under the chairmanship of Nepal’s Ganesh Thapa here on Saturday.

The members agreed to decide on the participating members in the AFC President’s Cup following a restudy of participating teams after the 2008 edition.

The committee also approved Chinese Taipei as host of the fourth AFC President’s Cup next year. Draw for the event will be held at the venue early next year.

In his address, Thapa expressed satisfaction at the progress made by `emerging’ countries saying the AFC President’s Cup and AFC Challenge Cup also deserve credit for this development.

“The `emerging’ countries now have very good competition among themselves and they have the desire to win the AFC competitions. These two competitions have proved to be encouraging for these countries.”

“After two editions of the AFC President’s Cup we can see the improved performances of the participating clubs. They have developed their game over this period and the results are there for all to see,” he added.

He said the committee will try to have more club teams in the AFC President’s Cup from 2009 edition after assessing leagues the leagues of 16 `emerging’ countries.