2023–24 AFC Champions League

2023–24 AFC Champions League
The 2023–24 AFC Champions League is the 42nd edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 21st and final under the current AFC Champions League title, as the competition will be rebranded as the AFC Champions League Elite starting in 2024–25.
This season is the first to have an inter-year schedule from September (autumn-to-spring) instead of an intra-year schedule (spring-to-autumn) since the 2002–03 season. This edition sees an increase in numbers of preliminary players with 35 players able to be registered; teams will be able to field six foreign players in games, where one of these players must still be from another Asian nation.
The tournament winner will qualify for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States. Additionally, the winner will enter either the qualifying play-off stage or the League stage of the brand-new 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite if they have not already qualified through their domestic performance.
Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan are the defending champions, having defeated Al Hilal in the 2022 final.
Association team allocation
The 47 AFC member associations are ranked based on their clubs' performance over the last four years in AFC competitions (their national team's FIFA World Rankings no longer considered). The slots are allocated by the following criteria according to the Entry Manual:
The associations are split into two regions (Article 3.1):
West Region consists of the 25 associations from the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF), the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), and the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA).
East Region consists of the 22 associations from the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF).
The AFC may reallocate one or more associations to another region if necessary for sporting reasons.
The top 12 associations in each region can enter the AFC Champions League.
In each region, five groups are in the group stage, including 16 direct slots, with the four remaining filled through qualifying play-offs (Article 3.2). The slots in each region are distributed as follows:
The associations ranked 1st and 2nd are each allocated three direct slots and one play-off slot.
The associations ranked 3rd and 4th are each allocated two direct slots and two play-off slots.
The associations ranked 5th are each allocated one direct slot and two play-off slots.
The associations ranked 6th are each allocated one direct slot and one play-off slot.
The associations ranked 7th to 10th are each allocated one direct slot.
The associations ranked 11th and 12th are each allocated one play-off slot.
The AFC Champions League title holders and AFC Cup title holders are each allocated one play-off slot should they not qualify for the tournament through domestic performance (Article 3.6). The following rules are applied:
If the AFC Champions League title holders or AFC Cup title holders are from associations ranked 1st to 6th, their association is allocated the same number of play-off slots, and they replace the lowest-seeded team from their association. Otherwise, their association is allocated one additional play-off slot, and they do not replace any team from their association (Articles 3.8, 3.9, and 3.10).
If both the AFC Champions League title holders and AFC Cup title holders are from the same association, which is allocated only one play-off slot, their association is allocated one additional play-off slot, and only the lowest-seeded team from their association is replaced as a result (Article 3.11).
The AFC Champions League and AFC Cup title holders are the lowest-seeded teams in the qualifying play-offs if they do not replace any team from their association (Article 3.12).
If any association ranked 1st to 6th does not fulfill the AFC Champions League criteria, they have all their direct slots converted into play-off slots. The direct slots given up are redistributed to the highest eligible association by the following criteria (Articles 3.13 and 3.14):
For each association, the maximum number of total slots is four, and the maximum number of direct slots is three (Articles 3.4 and 3.5).
If any association ranked 3rd to 6th is allocated one additional direct slot, one play-off slot is annulled and not redistributed.
If any association ranked 5th to 6th is allocated two additional direct slots, one play-off slot is annulled and not redistributed.
If any association ranked 7th to 10th does not fulfill the AFC Champions League criteria, they have their direct slot converted into a playoff slot. The direct slot given up is redistributed to the next association ranked 11th or 12th, whose play-off slot is annulled and not redistributed, or if neither is eligible, the highest eligible association by the same criteria mentioned above (Articles 3.16 and 3.17).
If any association with only play-off slot(s), including any association ranked 11th to 12th or those mentioned above, does not fulfill the minimum AFC Champions League criteria, the play-off slot(s) is annulled and not redistributed (Articles 3.19 and 3.20).
The maximum number of total slots for each association is one-third of eligible teams (excluding foreign teams) in the top division (Article 3.4). If this rule is applied, any direct slots given up are redistributed by the same criteria as mentioned above, and play-off slots are annulled and not redistributed (Article 9.10).
All participating teams must be granted an AFC Champions League license and, apart from cup winners, finish in the top half of their top division (Articles 7.1 and 9.5). Suppose any association does not have enough teams that satisfy this criterion. In that case, any direct slots given up are redistributed by the abovementioned criteria, and play-off slots are annulled and not redistributed (Article 9.9).
If any team granted a license refuses to participate, their direct or play-off slot is annulled and not redistributed (Article 9.11).
Association ranking
For the 2023–24 AFC Champions League, the associations are allocated slots according to their AFC Club Competitions Ranking which was published on 24 November 2021, which takes into account their performance in the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup during the period between 2018 and 2021 and their domestic league.
Teams
In the following table, the number of appearances and last appearance count only those since the 2002–03 season (including qualifying rounds), when the competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League.
Note: Only teams assured of a place are displayed.
Notes
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows.
Qualifying play-offs
Preliminary round
Play-off round
Group stage
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Group I
Group J
Ranking of second-placed teams
West Region
East Region
Top scorers
See also
2023–24 AFC Cup
2024–25 competitions
2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite
2024–25 AFC Champions League 2
2024–25 AFC Challenge League
References
External links
1
2023
Current association football seasons