AFC plans radical overhaul of its Champions League and AFC Cup competitions

By Paul Nicholson

December 28 - The Asian Football Confederation is undertaking a major overhaul of its men's club competitions by injecting a more competitive base into its flagship Champions League and AFC Cup, both likely to be renamed in the framework of the new three-tier structure. .

The new format will see the AFC's top clubs play each other more frequently and in a more intense competitive environment and is set to be introduced for the 2024-25 season - fitting into the new season dates that the 'AFC adopts which see the transition from a season of the calendar year to a season covering the end of the year.

Currently, the AFC has 76 participating clubs that qualify through two tiers of club competitions. Under the new format, clubs will be divided into three tiers, with the top tier comprising 24 clubs in total, divided into 12 teams in each of the West and East regions competing in a league format.

The new structure is a transition from a five-zone format to an emphasis on East and West allowing top teams to compete more frequently.

Each club will play four home and four away matches against eight different clubs in their region, with the top eight teams from both regions - 16 in total - advancing to the Round of 16, which will be played at home and outside format. The competition will then move to a centralized venue for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, which will be played in one-way matches.

The name of the new club competition is yet to be determined, but it is essentially an adaptation and radical update of the current AFC Champions League. Reducing the number of teams in the top tier from 40 to 24 will remove a number of 'dead rubber' ties and replace them with more intense matches between elite clubs. "It's a bit like the European concept of a Super League, but the main thing here is that it's not a closed competition. The top teams from the major nations will play each other more frequently, but this will be on the basis of merit,” said AFC General Secretary Windsor John.

The second tier of club competition will see 32 teams divided into eight groups of four teams each. Clubs will play home and away in a round-robin format in the group stage, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stages. The knockout rounds will be played over two legs, with the final being decisive. Tier 3 will consist of 20 participating clubs divided into five groups. The clubs will face off in one-way matches which will be played in a centralized format with the top eight teams advancing to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played over two legs, home and away, before the final is played over a single leg.

The new structure will see movement between the three tiers. Losing teams from the preliminary and knockout stages of the upper tier will have the opportunity to compete in the second tier, and similarly, losing teams from the preliminary and knockout stages of the second tier competition will compete in the third tier.< /p>

As well as a restructuring of the AFC's club competitions, the new formats come with a host of other changes, including more money for clubs and changes to foreign player regulations .

The AFC said the changes are "perhaps the most significant reforms to be introduced since improvements to the AFC Champions League in 2009, among the recommendations are the introduction of new formats of competition, lifting the quota of foreign players and increasing the distribution budget to participating clubs."

Earlier this year, the AFC approved an increase in the foreign player quota from the existing 3+1 quota to 5+1 (five players from any nationality and one from an AFC member association ). This will change again from the 2024/25 season, with the AFC now recognizing each country's domestic regulations on foreign player registrations. The same rule applies for the FIFA Club World Cup.

Team funding is crucial and the AFC said there were "plans underway to significantly increase the financial distribution to participating clubs". This detail should be published next month.

The new structure with a centralized final format for the top tier creates a new business opportunity for AFC in terms of finding hosting partners. Overall, the number of games will increase from 274 to 287, but what will drive the commercial market is the increased significance and competitiveness of these games.

The AFC Executive Committee is expected to approve the proposals at its next meeting in January with more details on the new structure.

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