Yes, but for this year since we have 4 spots, the 1st place on regular season team gets automatic qualification to one of those berths. But Seoul still needs to win 1 match and draw 1 for the remaining matches, and one of them is against Pohang so it'll be a tricky away match. Suwon and Seongnam still can finish 1st.
Asian players given ACL boost AFC has opened the opportunity for players from across the continent to play in next season’s revamped AFC Champions League (ACL) by introducing a 3+1 rule for foreign players. During the 8th meeting of the AFC Professional League Ad Hoc Committee on Thursday, it was decided to allow each ACL team to field a maximum of four foreign players, one of whom must be from an Asian country.
Good news. But for now only J-League has implemented this and they are the only ones who are gonna benefit from this rule for the time being as all other asian leagues haven't adopted this yet. K-league was gonna do it but the plan never made any progress thus far. Any Southeast Asian recommendations for the K-League?
There r changes according to fox sports http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24578225-5012708,00.html In further news, Jordan, Syria and Kuwait have been cut from the list of nations eligible to enter clubs in the Asian Champions League. The AFC's Pro-League committee, charged with restructuring the competition, announced the 14 nations that had met the professional and administrative criteria for having clubs in the 2009 competition: Australia, Japan, South Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Indonesia, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Thailand, Vietnam and India. Jordan, Syria and Kuwait were deemed ineligible because they did not submit full documentation for eligibility before the October 1 deadline.
A-League clubs likely to go for Asian players (Mostly Korean and Chinese players?) Sydney FC turn sights to Asia http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/fo...-sights-to-asia/2008/10/30/1224956237975.html
The situation is also likely to work in reverse with cashed-up Japanese clubs - each allowed one player from another Asian Football Confederation country, starting next season - turning their eyes to the A-League. Again, the rich Japanese clubs
Getting slightly offtopic... but you should check Celtic boards on Naka xfer rumors. They're convinced Yokohama FC[sic] is "bankrolled" by a megarich car company.
Jordan getting cut before they even managed to get in!! If Kuwait can't meet FIFA's standards, then i'm not surprised that they would get cut. But lets wait for final decision as i'm sure if some nations struggle to meet requirments, then i'm sure my nation Thailand would also struggle. Hell, the serious nations will get places, but then they will be joined by a laughing stock. If AFC wants to get serious then cut basically all but 8 leagues.
So if they cut these other leagues out which would be very unfortunate then is there a chance perhaps that an Australian team can take their CL spot(or qualifying spot?)
It is confirmed now AFC is dead-serious abt getting the Asian league to buck up Jordan teams has won 3 of the last 4 edition of the AFC Cup & Syria team the other as well as a ACL Final spot so football standard nt a problem yet bth leagues will nt be in ACL 2009 becos their leagues r nt up to scratch in other aspect The new make-up will be reveal on Nov 25 Decisions of the 8th meeting of the AFC Professional League Ad Hoc Committee 1. A total of 17 Member Associations (MA) were deemed to have the ability to meet the criteria to compete in the 2009 ACL. Of these, 13 MAs had submitted the necessary documents by the deadline of 1 October, 2008. They were: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Uzbekistan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, China and Korea Republic. Japan had earlier met all the criteria and therefore was not required to submit documents. Three MAs failed to meet the deadline. They were: Jordan, Syria and Kuwait. The committee therefore concluded that 14 MAs qualified as candidates to compete in the 2009 ACL. A final decision on which MAs qualify for the 2009 ACL will be made on November 25 during the 9th meeting of the AFC Professional League Ad Hoc Committee in Shanghai, China.
But doesn't the Western half already have more spots than the Eastern anyway? Ive also read that they haven't fully decided whether or not Champions can qualify directly for the next ACL, so im hoping they let the champions qualify through to the group stages, i think it's only right to have the best teams playing.
Nope, each had 15. East still does. I haven't seen anything to that effect. By all accounts that rule has been scrapped (and for the best imo.) AFC Cup winners get into the qualifiers however.
I don't think the problem was that they let them in -- nothing wrong with allowing a team to defend its title. The problem was that the let them in at the 1/4 final stage, which is ludicrous. Imagine Italy skipping the group stages and round of 16 at the next World Cup!
Getting handed a 1seed on a silver platter isn't much different. If the team couldn't qualify from their own league / cup ... maybe they don't deserve to get there.
Doesn't quite seem balanced to me. The AFC Cup winners get a qualfying spot and the ACL winners get nothing?
In how many confeds do the defending champs actually get in. UEFA - Yes Everyone else? I'm not sure, but I can't think of any where it is explicitly stated. OFC maybe? AFC not any more at least. J