Jump to content

2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite
Tournament details
TeamsCompetition proper: 24 (from 12 associations)
← 2023–24 (AFC CL)
2025–26 →

The 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite (ACL Elite) is the 43rd edition of Asia's premier club football tournament, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the first since it was rebranded as the AFC Champions League Elite. The revamped format, along with the rebranding, sees 24 teams playing eight games against different opponents in the brand new league phase.[1]

The final stage will be played in Saudi Arabia from 25 April to 4 May 2025.[2] The tournament winner will qualify for the 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. Additionally, the winner will enter the league stage of the 2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite, if they have not already qualified through domestic performance.[3]

Al Ain are the defending champions, as the AFC Champions League records and statistics are carried forward to the ACL Elite.[4]

Association team allocation

[edit]

The associations are allocated slots according to their club competitions ranking which was published after the 2022 competitions were completed.[5]

Participation for 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite
Participating
Not participating

Teams

[edit]

In the following table, the number of appearances and last appearance count since the 2002–03 season, when the competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League.

Notes
  1. ^
    Iran (IRN): Sepahan were also third place in the Pro League, but qualified for this competition based on their Hazfi Cup performance. Otherwise, the third place in the Pro League would have qualified for the group stage of the AFC Champions League Two.
  2. ^
    Qatar (QAT): Al-Sadd had already qualified for the Champions League Elite as the 2023–24 Qatar Stars League champions has also won the 2024 Emir of Qatar Cup. Thus, second-placed Al-Rayyan have also qualified for the Champions League Elite league stage, while the third-placed Al-Gharafa qualified for the Champions League Elite qualifying play-off.
  3. ^
    South Korea (KOR): Pohang Steelers had already qualified as the 2023 K League 1 runners-up when they won the 2023 Korean FA Cup, so third-placed Gwangju FC qualified for the Champions League Elite qualifying play-off. Since both East region finalists in the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup (Yokohama F. Marinos and Central Coast Mariners) had already qualified through their domestic performance, Gwangju were later confirmed for the league stage[6] based on their association's higher ranking, leaving only two teams left in the East region qualifying play-off for the remaining league stage slot.
  4. ^
    United Arab Emirates (UAE): Al Wasl had already qualified for the Champions League Elite as the 2023–24 UAE Pro League champions have also won the 2023–24 UAE President's Cup. Thus, second-placed Shabab Al-Ahli have qualified for the Champions League Elite qualifying play-off.

Schedule

[edit]

The schedule of the competition is as follows.[7] All matches will be played on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, apart from the quarter-finals and the final. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final matches will be played at a centralized venue in Saudi Arabia.

Stage Round Draw date West region East region
Preliminary stage Preliminary round 1 No draw[a] 6 August 2024
Preliminary round 2 13 August 2024
League stage Matchday 1 16 August 2024 16–17 September 2024 17–18 September 2024
Matchday 2 30 September–1 October 2024 1–2 October 2024
Matchday 3 21–22 October 2024 22–23 October 2024
Matchday 4 4–5 November 2024 5–6 November 2024
Matchday 5 25–26 November 2024 26–27 November 2024
Matchday 6 2–3 December 2024 3–4 December 2024
Matchday 7 3–4 February 2025 11–12 February 2025
Matchday 8 17–18 February 2025 18–19 February 2025
Round of 16[b] No draw[a] 3–4 and 10–11 March 2025 4–5 and 11–12 March 2025
Final stage[c] Quarter-finals TBD 25–26 April 2025
Semi-finals 29–30 April 2025
Final 4 May 2025

Qualifying play-offs

[edit]
Main article: 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite qualifying play-offs

Preliminary round

[edit]

A total of 2 teams played in the preliminary round.

West Region
Team 1ScoreTeam 2
Sepahan Iran1–4 (a.e.t.)United Arab Emirates Shabab Al-Ahli

Play-off round

[edit]

A total of 4 teams played in the play-off round: 3 teams which entered in this round, and 1 winners of the preliminary round.

West Region
Team 1ScoreTeam 2
Al-Gharafa SC Qatar1–0United Arab Emirates Shabab Al-Ahli
East Region
Team 1ScoreTeam 2
Shandong Taishan China1–1 (a.e.t.)
(4–3 p)		Thailand Bangkok United

League stage

[edit]
Main article: 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite league stage

The draw for the league stage took place on August 16th at the InterContinental Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Malaysia.[8]

class=notpageimage|
Location of the 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite league stage teams
Orange: East Region; Blue: West Region

West Region

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification PAK SAD PRS HIL SHR AIN NSR RYN EST AHL GHA WSL
1 Uzbekistan Pakhtakor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Knockout stage 17 Feb 3 Dec 5 Nov 17 Sep
2 Qatar Al-Sadd 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 Oct 26 Nov 30 Sep 3 Feb
3 Iran Persepolis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 30 Sep 2 Dec 17 Feb 4 Nov
4 Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Feb 1 Oct 4 Nov 3 Dec
5 Iraq Al-Shorta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 Oct 17 Feb 16 Sep 26 Nov
6 United Arab Emirates Al Ain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 Sep 21 Oct 3 Feb 25 Nov
7 Saudi Arabia Al-Nassr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Dec 5 Nov 30 Sep 3 Feb
8 Qatar Al-Rayyan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 Nov 17 Sep 18 Feb 21 Oct
9 Iran Esteghlal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 Nov 3 Feb 22 Oct 16 Sep
10 Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 Sep 4 Nov 2 Dec 17 Feb
11 Qatar Al-Gharafa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Feb 1 Oct 25 Nov 22 Oct
12 United Arab Emirates Al Wasl 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Nov 18 Feb 2 Dec 30 Sep
First match(es) will be played: 16 September 2024. Source: Asian Football Confederation
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) number of matches won; 5) fair play ranking; 6) drawing of lots

East Region

[edit]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification USH SHP JDT CCM BRU VSK PHS SDT YFM GWJ SHS KWF
1 South Korea Ulsan HD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Knockout stage 26 Nov 23 Oct 19 Feb 18 Sep
2 China Shanghai Port 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 Sep 22 Oct 19 Feb 3 Dec
3 Malaysia Johor Darul Ta'zim 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Nov 3 Dec 18 Feb 1 Oct
4 Australia Central Coast Mariners 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 Feb 1 Oct 3 Dec 5 Nov
5 Thailand Buriram United 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 Feb 17 Sep 22 Oct 26 Nov
6 Japan Vissel Kobe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 Feb 26 Nov 2 Oct 5 Nov
7 South Korea Pohang Steelers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Oct 3 Dec 6 Nov 11 Feb
8 China Shandong Taishan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 Nov 17 Sep 22 Oct 11 Feb
9 Japan Yokohama F. Marinos 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Oct 6 Nov 27 Nov 12 Feb
10 South Korea Gwangju 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 Oct 18 Feb 17 Sep 27 Nov
11 China Shanghai Shenhua 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Dec 18 Feb 17 Sep 23 Oct
12 Japan Kawasaki Frontale 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Nov 18 Feb 4 Dec 1 Oct
First match(es) will be played: 17 September 2024. Source: Asian Football Confederation
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) number of matches won; 5) fair play ranking; 6) drawing of lots

Round of 16

[edit]
Main article: 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite knockout stage

A total of 16 teams will qualify for the knockout stage, with each region having 8 teams to qualify.

Final stage

[edit]

The first legs will be played on 3–5 March, and the second legs will be played on 10–12 March 2025.

West Region
Team 1Agg.Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
West Region 8thR16 West 1West Region 1st3–4 Mar10–11 Mar
West Region 7thR16 West 2West Region 2nd3–4 Mar10–11 Mar
West Region 6thR16 West 3West Region 3rd3–4 Mar10–11 Mar
West Region 5thR16 West 4West Region 4th3–4 Mar10–11 Mar
East Region
Team 1Agg.Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
East Region 8thR16 East 1East Region 1st4–5 Mar11–12 Mar
East Region 7thR16 East 2East Region 2nd4–5 Mar11–12 Mar
East Region 6thR16 East 3East Region 3rd4–5 Mar11–12 Mar
East Region 5thR16 East 4East Region 4th4–5 Mar11–12 Mar

Final

[edit]
Main article: 2025 AFC Champions League Elite final

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Pre-determined format
  2. ^ two-legged ties
  3. ^ centralized venue in Saudi Arabia

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "AFC Executive Committee approves biggest prize purse in Asian club football history from 2024/25; announces AFC Women's Champions League". AFC. 14 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Saudi Arabia to host AFC Champions League Elite – Final Stage". the-AFC. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  3. ^ "More Member Associations to benefit from inclusive AFC Champions League". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 23 November 2019. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee". AFC. 24 May 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  5. ^ "AFC Club Competitions Ranking". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  6. ^ "광주FC - GWANGJU FOOTBALL CLUB". www.gwangjufc.com (in Korean). Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  7. ^ "AFC Competitions Committee approves key decisions on reformatted competitions". AFC. 1 July 2023.
  8. ^ "#ACLTwo group stage draw finalised". Asian Football Confederation. 16 August 2024. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2024–25_AFC_Champions_League_Elite&oldid=1241076916"