The 16-team meet was originally scheduled to be held in Bangladesh and Nepal but the Himalayan Kingdom was dumped due to current political unrest, it was decided at a meeting of the AFC Challenge Cup and AFC President Cup organising committee on Tuesday at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.

The AFC Challenge Cup, which provides an international competition platform for teams from the emerging and developing countries, will be played at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka and the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong.

The dates of the inaugural edition of the AFC Challenge Cup were also amended from March 25 to April 7 2006 to April 1-16 in order not to clash with the Independence Day activities in Bangladesh.

However, the schedule will collide with world champion Australia's cricket tour of Bangladesh. Australia arrive in Dhaka on April 6 and depart on April 29.

THE TEAMS

GROUP A: India, Taiwan, Philippines, Afghanistan.
GROUP B: Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Brunei.
GROUP C: Palestine, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Guam.
GROUP D: Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Macau.