Official 2008 AFC Champions League Thread [R]

shuvy87 · Nov 25, 2007

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.

aldreu9 · Dec 5, 2007

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

Date of the drawing: December 17, 2007

YokoFoxes · Dec 5, 2007

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?

shuvy87 · Dec 6, 2007

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.

YokoFoxes · Dec 6, 2007

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

shuvy87 said: ↑

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.
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great news? it would be terrible news. then japan would have two completely useless cup competitions.

hallelujah_united · Dec 7, 2007

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.

shuvy87 · Dec 7, 2007

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

YokoFoxes said: ↑

great news? it would be terrible news. then japan would have two completely useless cup competitions.
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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.

goru_no_ura · Dec 7, 2007

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

YokoFoxes said: ↑

great news? it would be terrible news. then japan would have two completely useless cup competitions.
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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

YokoFoxes · Dec 7, 2007

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

goru_no_ura said: ↑

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
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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.

shuvy87 · Dec 7, 2007

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

YokoFoxes said: ↑

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.
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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.

Luislb10 · Dec 12, 2007

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

aldreu9 · Dec 16, 2007

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

Luislb10 said: ↑

Draw on December 17, 2007
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Good luck for ACL draw

(I will be to sleep, 5:00 am GMT Hour)

aldreu9 · Dec 16, 2007

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

AFC Champions League 2008 - Live Draw:

http://livedraw.the-afc.com/livedraw/acldraw.html

Luislb10 · Dec 17, 2007

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

Puckodum · Dec 17, 2007

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.

megajapan-redded · Dec 18, 2007

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

Luislb10 said: ↑

Group F

Krung Thai Bank
Beijing Guoan
Nam Dinh
Kashima Antlers

Group G

Melbourne Victory
Chonburi FC
Gamba Osaka
Chunnam Dragons
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Not bad.

hallelujah_united · Dec 18, 2007

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

Gamba might have some trouble, but Kashima should get through pretty safely.

aiueo-redded · Dec 18, 2007

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

shuvy87 · Dec 20, 2007

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

YokoFoxes said: ↑

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?
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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.

aiueo-redded · Dec 21, 2007

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

Luislb10 · Jan 3, 2008

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

rumors on ACL new format

from Japanese and Chinese media

1. 32 clubs in group stage, 4 western group and 4 eastern group
2. 20m USD prize money, 5m for the Champions
4. the spots of each country in ACl will be decided by 2004-2008 AFC CL ranking (Points 50%) + format, structure and marketing of the league (Points 50%).
3. each of the A3 leagues will have 3 berths
4. For the group stage and the round of 16, the competition shall be played between February to July on designated AFC Champions League Match Days during that period.
5. For the group stage and the round of 16, the competition shall be played in the respective regions of WEST Asia (comprising the Middle East and Central and South Asia zones), and EAST Asia (Comprising of the ASEAN and East Asian zones). Following that, there shall be an open draw for the quarter-final matches onwards.
6. the final match will be a one-leg game just like ECL

yes the ACL will be restructure from 2009 with only teams from ten countries competing, although still no official format had been announced but from some of the media reports, the berths for partcipating contries will be decided by this fomula: Numbers of clubs in Top Division Domestic League (in 2008 or 07/08 season)/8 + 1(Cup winners) = berths to ACL

K-League, CSL,UAE-League,J-Leagu,Saudi League and IPL, who had the best performance in recent edtion of ACL and old ACC, plus Q-League and A-league, will be "Seed" leagues of ACL 2009

so that the spots will be decided like this:
J-League 18/8+1 = 3.25 they got 3 spots
K-League 14/8 +1 = 2.75 3 spots
CSL 16/8 +1 =3 3spots
A-League 8/8 +1 = 2 spots
IPL 18/8 + 1 = 3.25 3 spots
Saudi League 12/8 + 1 =2.5 3 Spots
UAE-League 12/8 + 1 = 2.5 3 spots
Q-League 10/8 + 1 =2.25 2 Spots

thus are spots for big Leagues in Asia, Kuwait, Iraq, Thailand, Syria league wlli not involving because they are not fully professional. and in an other article AFC warn UAE League for the facts they hire ameturish players in top level domestic leagues. AFC Suggested UAE League to realise professionalism, otherwise AFC will kick them out from ACL

AFC will give berths to league champions of some other countries, maybe from Uzbekistan, Singapore, Hongkong, Malaysia, Vietnam, or Indonesia but still to be confirmed yet.and of course the defending champions will got a spot autometically.

their is also a Rumours abot the expend of A3 Champions Cup, which had been discussed many times since the cup started to play in 2003. it is said A3 countries decided to expand the A3 Champions Cup to a A3 Champions League in 2009, with 6 or 8 clubs playing a home-away style league in two groups, and a eliminate style cup after that, if the rumors are true, I think they'd better not to involve ACL clubs in group stages but let them play the quarter- Finals directly.
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http://www.footballforumsaustralasia.com/index.php?showtopic=3859

nipponbasse83 · Mar 11, 2008

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

ACL anyone? it starts tomorrow any views?

aiueo-redded · Mar 12, 2008

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

HT Krung Thai Bank FC 0-3 Kashima Antlers

rougou · Mar 12, 2008

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

aiueo said: ↑

HT Krung Thai Bank FC 0-3 Kashima Antlers
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lets hope they keep at it in the 2nd half in case goal difference comes to play.

rougou · Mar 12, 2008

Re: Official 2008 ACL Thread [R]

OK they didn't let up yet its 5-0 5 minutes into the 2nd half.