Defending champions Al Ain FC and UAE Pro League winners Al Wasl FC are set to find out their AFC Champions League Elite group stage opponents on Friday after the lineup was finalised following the completion of the Preliminary Stage on Tuesday.
The UAE’s Shabab Al Ahli were hoping to join the duo in the revamped competition but suffered a 1-0 defeat to Qatar’s Qatar's Al Gharafa on Tuesday evening, despite having plenty of opportunities to find an equaliser.
Shandong Taishan of China were the final team to secure their spot in this season’s competition after registering a hard-fought win against Thailand's Bangkok United FC.
Both of those teams will be in Pot 2 of their respective zones for Friday's draw in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, joining the 22 sides that qualified directly.
The draw will see the teams divided into two leagues of 12 teams across the West and East regions. Scheduled to be played between September 16, 2024 and February 19, 2025, each team will face eight different opponents within its region in the form of four home and four away matches.
The country protection principle will be in force and a bespoke draw software will be utilised to prevent any deadlock situations from occurring.
The top eight finishers of each League progress to the Round of 16, scheduled for March 2025, which will be followed by a unique centralised Finals that sees all matches from the Quarter-finals onwards being contested in Saudi Arabia between April 25 and May 4, 2025.
This season’s champions will win a minimum of $12m, which is a three-fold increase from the sum won by Al Ain in May in the final edition of the Asian Champions League under its previous format.
That was the second triumph in Asia’s premier club competition for ‘Al Zaeem’, who beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr and ended Al Hilal’s record-breaking run of 34 consecutive wins en route to victory.
West
Pot 1: Al Ain FC (UAE), Al Hilal SFC (KSA), Al Sadd SC (QAT), Persepolis FC (IRN), Pakhtakor (UZB), Al Shorta (IRQ)
Pot 2: Al Nassr Club (KSA), Al Rayyan SC (QAT), Esteghlal FC (IRN), Al Wasl FC (UAE), Al Ahli Saudi FC (KSA), Al Gharafa SC (QAT)
East
Pot 1: Vissel Kobe (JPN), Ulsan HD FC (KOR), Shanghai Port FC (CHN), Buriram United (THA), Central Coast Mariners (AUS), Johor Darul Ta’zim FC (MAS)
Pot 2: Kawasaki Frontale (JPN), FC Pohang Steelers (KOR), Shanghai Shenhua FC (CHN), Yokohama F. Marinos (JPN), Gwangju FC (KOR), Shandong Taishan FC (CHN)
