Asia's Champions League adopts new name, 'league stage' — here's how it works

Football

Published: 09 May. 2024, 15:12 Updated: 09 May. 2024, 20:05

Asia's Champions League adopts new name, 'league stage' — here's how it works

Ulsan Hyundai, now Ulsan HD, celebrate winning the 2020 AFC Champions League at Al Janoub Stadium in Qatar on Dec. 19, 2020. [YONHAP]

The AFC Champions League, Asia's top club tournament, will be rebranded as the AFC Champions League Elite (ACLE) starting from the 2024-25 season.

The rebranded tournament will see multiple changes, allowing for more matches between east and west Asian teams and more action from foreign players.

The current format of the Champions League, which is played entirely in the East and West regions until the final, will be retired after the 2023-24 Champions League final in May.

Here's how the ACLE will operate from next season.

League instead of group

A total of 24 teams — 12 from east Asia and 12 from west Asia — will compete in the so-called “league stage,” in which each team in a region will play four home and four away games against a randomly drawn eight opposing teams from the same region. That means that every team will play most other teams, although not all other teams, in their region.

Draws for each of the eight games will take place after the preceding match has been played, so teams will only ever know who they're facing in the very next game.

The top eight sides from each region after the league stage has finished will then advance to the round of 16.

The new format is nothing like the current — and significantly more familiar — group stage format, in which 10 groups of four compete and the 10 group winners and three best runners-up from each region advance to the round of 16. It's about to become a lot more familiar though, with the UEFA Champions League also shifting to the league stage from the 2024-25 competition.

The Pohang Steelers celebrate during an AFC Champions League group stage match against Hanoi FC at Pohang Steelyard in Pohang, North Gyeongsang on Nov. 29, 2023. [AFC]

The ACLE’s round of 16 will be played in the same home-and-away two-leg format currently used, but all later stages of the knockout round will be single-leg ties held at a neutral ground, including the final.

The ACLE will still utilize qualifying playoffs as well as the direct entrants, with playoff winners entering the league stage.

Like regular spots, playoff spots are based on each country's associations' ranking. For the 2024-25 season, China and Thailand in east Asia secured one ticket apiece.

With 11 direct league stage entrants in east Asia already decided, the last available slot in the league stage in east Asia will go to the winner of a playoff between Chinese team Shandong Taishan and 2023-24 Thai FA Cup winners, who are yet to be decided as of May 8.

Over in west Asia, Qatar, Iran and the United Arab Emirates have one playoff ticket each. Two teams from the three countries will join the league stage.

The ACLE winners will receive $12 million, a big increase from the $4 million given to this season’s Champions League winners.

No more limits

The ACLE will scrap the current rule that only allows each team to field six players that do not come from the country where the team is based in a game, with one of the six also having to be from another Asian country.

This rule was also followed in K League team recruitment, with each K League team taking on a maximum of six foreign players with one from an Asian country.

Scrapping the rule entirely will benefit teams from some countries more than others. In Korea, the cap was only raised to five-plus-one last year, and most K League teams are still not used to heavily recruiting foreign talent.

Ulsan HD's Gustav Ludwigson, left, shoots during the second leg of the 2023-24 AFC Champions League quaterfinals against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors at Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan on March 12. [YONHAP]

During the first leg of the 2023-24 Champions League semifinals between Ulsan and Yokohama F. Marinos on April 17, Gustav Ludwigson was the only non-Korean Ulsan player to start the game.

Some teams do field more foreign players, but even Al-Hilal from Saudi Arabia only had five foreign players in the starting XI for the second leg of the Champions League semifinals against Al Ain from the United Arab Emirates on April 23.

More action between east and west Asia

Teams from east and west Asia will face each other from the quarterfinals under the new ACLE structure, a big change from the current rules where teams from the two regions only meet in the final.

Al Ain defender Saeed Juma, front, vies for the ball with Al-Nassr forward Cristiano Ronaldo during an AFC Champions League match at Al-Awal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on March 11. [AFP/YONHAP]

The rule change will not only allow more fixtures between teams from the two regions in the knockout stage, but also a big increase in matchups between sides that have never faced each other in the Champions League.

The knockout stage will take place with a single-match format, except for the round of 16, which will still be played with a home-and-away format.

Who qualifies for the ACLE?

Countries are allocated places in the ACLE based on their association rankings. The higher their ranking, the more places they get. The teams with the best domestic performance from the previous season get those places, but only three teams from each association can enter the ACLE.

Korea, ranked third in the ranking, are allocated three tickets: Two for the 2023 K League 1 champions and 2023 Korean FA Cup winners and one playoff ticket for 2023 K League runners-up.

Ulsan HD booked a place in the ACLE as 2023 K League 1 champions. But since the Pohang Steelers are both the 2023 Korean FA Cup winners and 2023 league runners-up, the playoff ticket went to third-place Gwangju FC.

Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung, third from right, celebrates with Gwangju FC players after the team's 2-1 win over the Suwon Samsung Bluewings at Gwangju Football Stadium in Gwangju on June 7, 2023. [NEWS1]

Gwangju, however, have received a bye through the playoffs. They would have had to face Australian team Central Coast Mariners, but the Mariners secured a direct ticket to the ACLE by locking in a finish that guarantees them at least a runner-up spot in the A-League.

In the A-League, where 11 Australian and one New Zealand team compete, the top Australian team earns a direct ticket to the ACLE, but because Wellington Phoenix are a New Zealand team that belong to the Oceania Football Confederation, their top finish does not give them the ticket, which instead goes to the top Australian team in the league.

The 2023-24 Champions League will end following the home-and-away format final between Al Ain and Yokohama F. Marinos on May 11 and May 25, with the ACLE playoffs starting at the end of July.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]