August 16 – The AFC today held the draw for its reconfigured two-tier Champions League club competitions which will see the expanded AFC Champions League Elite open with a Swiss style ‘League Stage’ for the first time.
For the 2024/25 competitions the qualified club were divided into two leagues of 12 teams in each of the West and East regions, with each team to play against eight different opponents within its region – four home and four away.
Those matches will be played September 16, 2024 to February 12, 2025, with the top eight teams from each League progressing to the Round of 16, scheduled from March 3 to 12, 2025.
The eight winning teams will move into the centralised final rounds with matches from the quarter-finals onwards all to be played in Saudi Arabia between April 25 to May 4, 2025.
This means the top teams from the east and west regions will likely meet each other earlier in the competition – previously the inner of the east met the winner of the west in the final.
The draw – that will see each club play eight fixtures against eight different opponents – threw up some fascinating match-ups in both regions.
United Arab Emirates’ Al Ain FC, who won the final season of the AFC Champions League, will meet Qatar sides Al Sadd SC, Al Gharafa and Al Rayyan, Saudi Arabia trio Al Hilal SFC, Al Ahli Saudi FC and Al Nassr and Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor and Al Shorta of Iraq.
In the east zone two-time AFC Champions League winners Ulsan HD, will face China PR’s Shanghai Port FC, Shanghai Shenhua and Shandong Taishan, Japan’s Vissel Kobe, Yokohama F. Marinos and Kawasaki Frontale, Johor Darul Ta’zim of Malaysia and Buriram United of Thailand.
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