The AFC Competition Committee proposes the principle of organizing club-level tournaments according to the new structure
On the afternoon of June 7, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Competition Committee held an online meeting with important contents on the agenda, including a proposal on principles for organizing high-level tournaments. The club of continental football follows the new structure and the plan to organize the FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers. President of the Vietnam Football Federation Tran Quoc Tuan attended and moderated the meeting as Chairman of the AFC Competitions Committee.
09/06/2023 15:36:24
As reported, from the 2024/2025 season onwards, AFC will apply landmark changes in the organization of club tournaments. Accordingly, the playing field of Asian clubs will be restructured according to 3 levels. Level 1 corresponds to the current highest tournament, the AFC Champions League, level 2 corresponds to the AFC Cup and level 3 is a tournament for the group of clubs that have not yet qualified to participate in the two tournaments above.
The level 1 tournament (AFC Champions League) will have 24 teams participating in the group stage, including 12 teams in the West region and 12 teams in the East region. Teams in each region will play 8 matches (4 home and 4 away), selecting 16 teams to participate in the round of 16 in the home-away format. The 8 winning teams in the round of 16 will win the right to compete in the finals, which will be held at the gathering place. Finals include Quarterfinals, Semi-Finals, Finals and a one-match knockout format.
The level 2 tournament (AFC Cup) consists of 32 teams participating in the group stage and also applies the same format as the level 1 tournament.
The level 3 tournament is the latest tournament to be included in the Asian club competition system since the 2024/2025 season. This tournament will have 20 teams participating in the group stage and will be divided into 5 groups, of which 3 are in West Asia and 2 in East Asia. Teams will play a round robin in each group to choose the 8 teams that advance to the Quarterfinals, then the Semifinals and the Finals. The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played in a home-away format while the Finals will have only one match.
Thus, the restructuring of AFC’s club tournaments will expand the number of clubs participating in the continental arena to 76 teams of different levels, thereby helping Asian football to improve the quality of football. The number of top 2 club-level tournaments has created opportunities for the group of clubs from developing football countries.
The divination for the clubs will be based on the AFC club table of the Asian leagues. The Vietnam National Championship (V.League) is ranked 7th in East Asia on the 2022 rankings, so Vietnam will not have a place to participate in the level 1 tournament (AFC Champions League) but only 1 direct entry and 1 play-off slot in the level 2 tournament (AFC Cup) season 2024/2025.
For the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the AFC Competition Committeee has also planned to organize four stages of the Asian qualifying round to determine 8.5 places to attend the World Cup. Round 1 includes teams ranked from 26 to 47 on the FIFA rankings – Asia region. 22 teams were drawn into 11 pairs and played a knockout round to select 11 teams to advance to the 2nd round.
Round 2 has a total of 36 teams, including 25 teams ranked from 1 to 25 on the FIFA rankings – Asia region and 11 teams qualified for the first round. 36 teams will be divided equally into 9 groups, playing round-robin home – away. The top two teams in each group (18 teams in total) will advance to round 3.
18 teams participating in the 3rd round will be divided into 3 groups of 6 teams each. The top six teams in the three groups will win direct tickets to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The six third and fourth placed teams in the three groups will advance to the fourth qualifying round, also known as the Asian play-off round. These six teams are divided into 2 groups of 3 teams each. In which, the top two teams have tickets to go directly to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the second two teams will play a regional play-off match to compete for tickets to the inter-continental play-off match.
For the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, the AFC has also determined that it will continue to be held in parallel with the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Accordingly, 18 teams that reach the third round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers will have the tickets directly to attend the 2027 Asian Cup.
The remaining 6 tickets to the 2027 Asian Cup will be determined through 2 rounds, including the play-off round and the 3rd round (the final qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup). The play-off round includes the 10 losers of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying round, the draw for the knockout stage at home and away. The five winners and losers with the best rankings in the 2026 FIFA World Cup preliminary round will join the 18 teams ranked 3rd and 4th in the second qualifying round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a total of 24 teams will compete in the final qualifying round. 24 teams are divided into 6 groups, each group has 4 teams, competing to choose the 6 best teams in 6 groups to win tickets to the 2027 Asian Cup.
The proposals of the AFC Competition Committee at today’s meeting will be sent to the Member Federations for comments. Based on the contributions of member federations, the AFC Competition Committee will make a decision at the next meeting to be held in July, and then submit it to the AFC Executive Committee for approval.