Martyrs Memorial A-Division League champions Church Boys United are ready to face Bhutan’s Paro FC in the qualification playoff of the AFC Challenge League, head coach Bal Gopal Maharjan said on Friday.

Church Boys will host Paro at the Dasharath Stadium on August 13. The winners will secure one of the two berths in the group stage of the new third-tier Continental men’s competition.

Abdysh-Ata of the Krygyz Republic and Afghanistan’s Attack FC are battling in the other preliminary stage ties for the other remaining spot.

The group stage of the Challenge League consists of 18 teams—16 of them qualified directly for the group stage based on their AFC Member Association Rankings.

Church Boys are ranked 20 in the Member Association rankings, while Paro are in the 22nd position. The higher ranked team in the tie host the match.

Church Boys enjoyed a meteoric rise last season when they won the A-Division League title in their debut season in 2023, also becoming the only second team to win C, B and A division leagues in consecutive seasons after Manang Marshyangdi Club in 1986.

Paro’s tale in the Bhutan Premier League is equally inspiring. They were the runners-up in Bhutan’s top tier league in their debut season in 2018 and capped off their impressive arrival with their first league title the next season in 2019. After finishing third in the 2020 season, they won the league for three successive seasons in 2021, 2022 and 2023/24.

Maharjan said his men have no problem in facing the Bhutanese.

“We have been training for almost a month now. Although our preparations have been short, our team has players who have regularly played for the national team,” said the former national coach Maharjan, who led Nepal to Bangabandhu Cup title in 2016 in Bangladesh and Three Nations Cup trophy in 2021 in Kathmandu. Maharjan also led Nepal’s U-23 team to South Asian Games gold in 2019.

“I believe the team will play good football,” Maharjan added.

But Paro will be determined to pull off their first ever victory in the continental competition. They were eliminated in the preliminary rounds of the AFC Cup three times (in 2020, 2022, 2023/24).

They had lost to Machhindra Club in the Preliminary Round 1 of the AFC Cup at the Dasharath Stadium last year.

Church Boys have already announced their 23-member squad for the Paro clash.

The draw for the group stage will take place on August 22.

Church Boys Squad

Goalkeepers: Deep Karki, Tikendra Thapa, Rembo Chaudhary

Defenders: Chhiring Lama, Ekraj Budhathoki, Omolaja Kareem, Saubhagya Rai, Ananta Tamang, Yogesh Gurung, Sanish Shrestha

Midfielders: Arik Bista, Peter Banda, Santosh Khatri, Bibek Paudel, Rohan Karki, Laken Limbu, Manish Jharga

Forwards: Anjan Bista, Moses Gyabaah Twum, Niraj Chaudhary, Ayush Ghalan, Sanjeeb Bista, Aditya Shakya