8 AVC member associations qualified for the 2018 AVC Men's Challenge Cup. Sri Lanka qualified as hosts and the 3 teams were qualified from the 2017 Asian Men's Volleyball Championship while 4 teams were new entrants. The 8 AVC member associations were from 4 zonal associations, including Central Asia (2 teams), East Asia (2 team), Southeast Asia (1 team), and Western Asia (3 teams). Fiji and Uzbekistan withdrew from the tournament.
Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser
Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser