Qualification is in following order: 1) 2007 ACL Winner: Urawa Reds 2) 2007 J.LEAGUE Champion: TBD 3) 2006 Emperor's Cup Winner: Urawa Reds 4) 2007 J.LEAGUE Runners-up: TBD 5) 2006 Emperor's Cup Runners-up: Gamba Osaka 6) 2007 J.LEAGUE 3rd Place: TBD Since we know that Urawa, Kashima, and Gamba has secured the top three, Urawa, Kashima, and Gamba will participate in the next edition of the ACL. Also Urawa will skip the group stage and start from the quarterfinal. This probably means that only Gamba and Kashima will get a bye in the Nabisco Cup group stage.
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] i heard that the 2006 emperor's cup champions will be the last to go into the acl and that from now on the top 2 in the j-league will qualify. anyone heard this or have any proof it is true?
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] If that is ture, that would be a great news. However, I have not encounter any reports to prove that. Also 2009 ACL will be different format, thus I believe many things will change.
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] great news? it would be terrible news. then japan would have two completely useless cup competitions.
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] It goes both ways. You get stronger representatives (no more Tokyo Verdy) in the ACL, but it takes away the incentive to do well in the cups.
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] I said great, because league winner tends to be stronger at games like ACL. But, actually I have a feeling that in 2009, J.LEAGUE will have more then 2 spots, so I probably see the emperor's cup winner + few top clubs from domestic league receiving the spots. Eitherway, I do not mind seeing emperor's cup winner receiving the spot, however, they really need to change the policy where last year's winner qualifies to following years' ACL.
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] Well, what about actually playing for THE Cup you're in, be that Emperor or whatever else you're in...? My team won The Emperor's Cup once, and it was one of the best days of my life EVER as soccer fan
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] for the fans it is great and, of course, for the players winning is nice but these days team tend to prioritise. it would be a shame to see the nabisco and emperor's cup both become cups for the little teams who aren't in with a shout of coming 1st or 2nd in the league. in this way cups lose the importance and winning them becomes a kind of non-event. look at the "mickey mouse" league cup in england these days. shuvy, i understand why the top 2 in the league would be stronger but i am much more in favour of rewarding a team that wins something. i think the nabisco or emperor's winners should always have the second spot in asia before the team who are second in the league.
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] I would rather send a club that can bring back the cup from ACL than a club that get knocked out in the first round. Plus... what would be an incentive for clubs that finishes 2nd or 3rd in J.LEAGUE, when they fall out of the championship battle with few rounds to go, just like Gamba this year? Would you rather see a club going "we can't win the league anymore, so just do whatever in the last round" attitude or "we can still finish 2nd for the ACL spot, so we will try our best." I sort of see this as "promotion" to the "super league," just like how 2.5 J2 clubs promote to J1 every year. It's just that ACL has not become as profitable to be considered the "super league" yet, but eventually ACL will get there. I am not saying cup games are not important. I think Emperor's cup should be played at the same level as the leagues games, which I sort of think, most of the clubs already do. I mean after all this is the oldest football competition in Japan.
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] Possible adversaries (Group Stage): Vietnam – Becamex Binh Duong and Nam Dinh Thailand – Chonburi FC and Krung Thai Bank Australia – Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United Korea Republic – Chunnam Dragons and Pohang Steelers China – Changchun Yataiand and Beijing Guo’an Draw on December 17, 2007
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] AFC Champions League 2008 - Live Draw: http://livedraw.the-afc.com/livedraw/acldraw.html
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] Group F Krung Thai Bank Beijing Guoan Nam Dinh Kashima Antlers Group G Melbourne Victory Chonburi FC Gamba Osaka Chunnam Dragons
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] Not really sure about how the new ACL format is gonna be like, but reading ur comments i have a hinch. Anyways why not let the cup winners(2 cups was it?) meet the 2nd and 3rd placed teams in a knock out tourny, the winner gets the second ACL spot.
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] Gamba might have some trouble, but Kashima should get through pretty safely.
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] Urawa, Kashima and Gamba Osaka's ACL records Urawa 2007 - Winner Gamba Osaka 2006 - Round 1 Kashima 97/98 - Quarterfinals 99/00 - Quarterfinals 01/02 - Quarterfinals 2003 - Round 1
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] About that, Japanese version of wikipedia says that this year's winner will be skipped as far as ACL qualification is concerned. This is an one year thing to adjust the lag in qualification period. From the 2008 season, the Emperor's Cup winner will qualify to the following year's ACL. So for 2009 ACL, 2008 (not 2007) Cup Winner will receive the spot.
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] Fixture March 12, 2008 Krung Thai Bank – Kashima Antlers Gamba Osaka – Chonburi FC March 19, 2008 Kashima Antlers – Nam Dinh F.C. Chunnam Dragons – Gamba Osaka April 9, 2008 Kashima Antlers – Beijing Guoan Melbourne Victory – Gamba Osaka April 23, 2008 Beijing Guoan – Kashima Antlers Gamba Osaka – Melbourne Victory May 7, 2008 Kashima Antlers – Krung Thai Bank Chonburi FC – Gamba Osaka May 21, 2008 Nam Dinh F.C. – Kashima Antlers Gamba Osaka – Chunnam Dragons
Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R] lets hope they keep at it in the 2nd half in case goal difference comes to play.