KUALA LUMPUR: The draw for the AFC Champions League 2010 will be held on 7 December 2009. The draw takes place at 4pm Malaysia time at the AFC House here. The draw for the continent’s second-tier club tournament, the AFC Cup 2010, takes place at 3pm. The 2010 ACL will be the second edition of the revamped competition, in which only the leagues and clubs that fulfil strict criteria in relation to professionalism are included in the 32-club draw. The clubs are drawn into eight groups of four teams, with four groups featuring teams from West and Central Asia, while the other four are populated by clubs from East Asia and the Asean region. The top two teams from each group advance to the Round of 16. The identity of both the ACL 2010 and AFC Cup 2010 teams will be announced soon. http://www.the-afc.com/en/inside-af...ns-league-2010-and-afc-cup-2010-on-december-7
i heard the format won´t change? what?????again we get no spot?????????? if we just have a paly off place beacuse we reached AFC Cup final,that´s bad.I can´t see us qualify from play off..
Syriaman, i think these are the teams so far: West Zone Qualifying Round Al Wahda Churchill Brothers Al Karamah Al Kuwait East Zone Qualifying Round SAFFC Muang Thong United Da Nang Sriwijaya West Zone Group Stage Esteghal Zob Ahan Mes Kerman Sepahan Al Ittihad Al Shabab Al Hilal Al Ahli Jeddah Al Ahli Dubai Al Ain Al Jazira Bunyodkor Pakhtakor Al Gharafa Al Sadd East Zone Group Stage Melbourne Victory Adelaide United Persipura Jayapura Note - this is using last years quota, which i think is the same for this year. East Asian leagues will soon be wraped up for the season, so more teams will be added shortly from Japan, Korea, China. Remember last year also didn't feature all teams in the qualifying stage, because a) they either didn't enter or b) they failed the criteria
for CSL after round 29 the top 6 teams on the table are 1.Beijing Guo'an 48pts 2.Henan Jianye 48pts 3.Changchun Yatai 47pts 4.Shandong Luneng 45pts ----------------------------- 5.Shanghai Shenhua 42pts 6.Tianjin Teda 42pts Beijing,Henan & Changchun had confirmed their spot in ACL2010, while Shandong just need a draw in the last round
http://www.the-afc.com/en/inside-afc/676-afc-news/25789-eight-clubs-eligible-for-2010-acl-play-offs The following teams are eligible to compete in the AFC Champions League 2010 Play-Offs. West Asia: Al Karamah (Syria, AFC Cup winners/runners-up) Kuwait SC (Kuwait, AFC Cup winners/runners-up) Churchill Borthers SC (India, league champions) Al Wahda (United Arab Emirates, fourth place) East Asia: Sriwijaya (Indonesia, knock-out champions) Singapore Armed Forces (Singapore, league champions) Muang Thong United (Thailand, league champions) SHB Da Nang (Vietnam, league champions) 1 team from East Asia and 1 team from West Asia will qualify. I wonder how AFC would have coped if South China had beaten Kuwait SC and made it 5 East Asia teams? How do they then ensure 1 team from 4 teams from both East Asia and West Asia? The teams will be checked by AFC to determine if they fulfill the professional club criteria. I doubt Kuwait SC will pass because they did not even bring their away jersey to Hong Kong in the AFC Cup semi-final. Disqualify them and let South China take their place!
There would be only two teams each from both zones............AFC will remove 4 teams further in November
I don't know if there will be only two teams, but for sure Kuwait SC don't cover the standards set by AFC at the moment.
It's never set in stone to say how many would feel each zone. If South China qualified we may well have had 5 and 3, last year teams pulled out so in Est we only had 3, still worked. I'm sure all teams will be allowed in. Kuwait have been in before, no reason why they can't be given this half chance to get in again.
AFC will not remove teams like state unless they fail to feel any criteria. All teams can play if they meet the very basic requirements and actually enter. Last year Vietnamese teams didn't enter, they pulled out. All 8 teams can play in my opinion.
I don't understand why would any team choose not to play? If they can make the group stages there is very good prize money on offer. South China missed out on the US$250,000 AFC Cup finalists' prize money, AFC Cup final gate receipts and the AFC Champions League playoff game gate receipts. If they made it to the group stages, then they would get to play J-League, K League, A league or CSL sides. South China is sure to attract 10,000+ per game at home, 30,000 or more is likely for the J League opponent. I read SAFFC only attracted thousands for their group games this year. South China will beat those figures easily. It was a huge loss financially for Steven Lo... If you do the sums then you will know how lucrative it is to be part of the AFC Champions League for South China. It will also be big media wise for AFC Champions League, too, as Hong Kong is probably the biggest media outlet for China/Asia, there is always a lot of media personnel in HK.
The Vietnam champions did enter but was thrown out at the final hurdle fr nt fulfilling all requirements thus dropped to AFC Cup just like Jordan & Bahrain sides
Yes thats correct. Bahrain, Vietnam and Lebanon failed to meet requirements last year. Since then, Bahrain restructured, time will tell if what they have done is good enough? Vietnam, i don't think have done anything to improve, but their league is much better than most other ASEAN leagues, and i do remember a media report from within Vietnam stating that they didn't enter, they didn't supply any material for the criteria, hence why they failed to meet it, because they simply didn't want to be in it. Don't know where you got Jordan from? I assume you mixed them up with Lebanon?
U r right It is Lebanon As fr Vietnam, I believed it is more a case of old habit as they believed AFC will let through anyway like the previous times they mess up in ACL so they did nothing hoping it was the case
U r right It is Lebanon. As fr Vietnam, I believed it is more a case of old habit as they believed AFC will let through anyway like the previous times they mess up in ACL so they did nothing hoping it was the case
Am I correct that the 8 teams qualified for the preliminary stage have already fulfilled all AFC requirements? Or can they still be dumped. We're trying to find all information on those teams. Hope it isn't for nothing.
The draw's on the 7th November, so AFC have up until then really. Teams can in theory still be dumped. But looking at the 8 clubs, i'm sure they will all get in. Al Kuwait might be the only one's that are slighty worried due to the make up of the football structure in Kuwait (no player is on a professional contract).
Still they didn't manage to fill it! For a 6,000 capacity stadium, they had crowds of: 4,406 (Kashima Antlers), 3,867 (Suwon Bluewings) and 2,838 (Shanghai Shenhua). South China will definitely get more for the same opponents. When South China played Shenhua for the Hong Kong Shanghai Cup in Jan 2008, there were 2,921 people. That is already more than SAFFC managed for a proper game. The Hong Kong Shanghai Cup was more like a friendly exhibition game, for a real AFC Champion League game the attendance will be totally different.
So, when are they going to determine where the final will be? I think Australia would be a good pick.
i would love to go to a final even if an australian team wasnt involved but i cant speak for the rest of sydney(if it was held here) but usually the public reacts well to significant international events and turns up in good numbers so itll be interesting to see how many people attend the pohang and alittihad game considering no japanese teams made the final
I hate this whole 1 final thing but if I had any say in the matter... Hong Kong! Great city and would be worth taking a week-long vacation to watch an ACL Final and be a tourist.
I personally think they should play the final in the back yard of the previous season's winners. But where can AFC seriously go? They've already told half on Asia that they aren't good enough for ACL, so they won't be going to such places as HK or Thailand. Seem's it will be rotated around Korea / Japan / China / UAE / Saudi Arabia. Doha would make sense as a preperation for 2011 Asian Cup, just to see if they can cope.
Cope with what? The 20,000 turnout? I think a city like HK would still work being as that... like... it's still technically China and it's an "international" city with a lot of foreigners from all the aforementioned countries with great transport to the rest of East Asia. Australians, Koreans, Japanese, Chinese alike would all enjoy a final in Hong Kong I think. It's certainly a more central and more intriguing location than Tokyo if you ask me. The only issue would be if 2 sides from the other half of AFC get in -- but that's a huge concern no matter where you put the final.
Well, i'm talking about a trial run, afterall they have 2011 Asian Cup final, so surely it should be put to the test? I know where your coming from with HK, but can AFC be taken seriously if they give the fianl to a country that they say is not good enough to be in ACL in the first place? Personally, take the final to the previous edition winners, but then of course also limits to the amount of countries ever possible. But just you watch Bin Hammam have his East/West rotation going on, with his favorite Qatar getting the 1st shot.