 |
|
| Be Formed 1967(in 2002, new format) | |
|---|---|
| Region Asia |
|---|
| The Number of Teams 32 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Most Successful Club Pohaang Steelers | ||
Asian Football Confederation (in English: Asian Football Confederation or AFC) is thegoverning body of football in Asia, excluding Cyprus and Israel, but it includes Australia.
AFC Champions League is an inter-club football tournament when organized Asia by Asian Football Federation. At first, initially followed by 32 teams selected from around the football cometition in Asia.
AFC was founded on May 8, 1954 in Manila, the Philippines and is one of six continentalconfederations of FIFA. FIFA recognizes the AFC since June 21, 1954. AFC's headquarters is located in the AFC House, Jalan 1/155, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia. Current president Mohammed bin Hammam is (Qatar).
There are the following countries are carrying the establishment Asian Football Confederation:
There are the following citizen ever elected as president for the organization, for now is Zhang Jilong, who from China.
AFC is divided into four areas. Here is shown how the national teams in Asia is divided into areas (but not necessarily be part of regional football federations in the region). As arule, because of cultural restrictions, only the ASEAN and East Asia which has awomen's team.
The AFC Champions League is the premier Asian club football competition hosted annually by Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The tournament is contested among the top thirty-two clubs from the top 10 Asian leagues, two of which must qualify through the playoffs. The champions receive aboutUS$2.25 million in prize money (specific amount depends on record from the group stage) and a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup at the end of the year.
Starting 2009 season, the defending champion no longer receives an automatic berth, forcing them to qualify through their respective domestic league or cup competitions. However, the 2008 champions, Gamba Osaka, and the 2009 champions, Pohang Steelers, both managed to qualify for the following season. In the 2010 edition though, the defending champions, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma became the first club to fail to secure a spot in the following year's Champions League.
The qualifying round starts in late February and the single-match final takes place in early November at a neutral venue. During the World Cup years, the qualifying rounds tends to start bit earlier.
Pohang Steelers is currently the most successful club in the competition's history, having won their third title in 2009. League-wise, the Korean K-Leaguehas 9 titles and is the most successful league competition followed by the Japanese J. League which has 5 previous winners. The last five editions (2006–2010) have seen K-League clubs win 3 titles (2006, 2009, 2010) and J.League with 2 titles (2007, 2008), showing the dominance by the Eastern clubs.
Asian Champion Club Tournament Era (1967–1972)
The competition started as the Asian Champion Club Tournament back in 1967. Eight domestic champions from eight Asian leagues competed in the inaugural season. With the exception of the 1968 season, the tournament was held annually until 1971. During the first four editions, two Israeli clubs, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv won three championships. In 1972, the tournament was canceled due to a lack of interest which eventually resulted in the withdrawal of all participants except for two. The tournament was not held for the next fourteen years; this was also because professionalism in Asian club football did not start till the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Asian Club Championship Era (1985/86–2001/02)
Using the old European Cup as a model, the tournament returned to Asia during the 1985/86 season with a new name, the Asian Club Championship. Entry was restricted to the domestic champions of certain Asian leagues. Even so, a few withdrawals were seen from year to year. From 1990, AFC introduced the Asian Cup Winners Cup which, as the name suggested, was also restricted to domestic cup winners.
AFC Champions League Era (2002/03–present)
From 2002/03 season the three major Asian club competitions, Asian Champions Cup, Asian Cup Winners Cup, and Asian Super Cup were merged into one larger tournament and re-branded as theAFC Champions League. In the previous years, the domestic champions and cup winners were sorted into two different continental tournaments, but now both domestic champions and cup winners enter into this larger competition. In the first edition, after several qualifying rounds, a total of sixteen clubs participated in group stage. One club from each group hosted the group stage which were conducted with the single round-robin format in a week. Four group winners then qualified to the semifinals, which were the four hosts of the group stage. The semifinal and the final were contested in two-legged aggregate series.
The 2003/04 season was cancelled due to the SARS virus outbreak.
The tournament was re-launched in 2004 season with 28 clubs from fourteen countries. Unlike the previous year, the tournament schedule was changed from March to November. In the group stage, the 28 clubs were divided into seven groups of four on a regional basis, separating East Asian and West Asian clubs to reduce traveling costs, and played double round-robin on a home and away basis. Then, the seven group winners along with the defending champions qualified to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals were two-legged series, with away goals, extra time, andpenalties used as tie-breakers. The 2005 season saw Syrian clubs join the competition, thus increasing the number of participating countries to 15, and two years later, following their transfer into the AFC in 2006, Australian clubs were also included in the tournament. With lack of professionalism in Asian football, many problems still existed in the tournament, such as on field violence and late submission of the player registration. Many blamed the lack of prize money and expensive travel cost as the some of the reasons. However, with the introduction of the FIFA World Club Championship in 2005 (now known as FIFA Club World Cup), inclusion of English media via the A-League, and two consecutive wins by Japanese sides, allowed to set up a more competitive and more professional format in 2009.
The Champions League expanded to 32 clubs and direct entry is limited to the top ten Asian leagues. Each country will receive up to 4 slots, though no more than one third of the number of teams in that country's top division, rounded downwards, depending on the strength of their league, league structure (professionalism), marketability, financial status, and other criteria set out by the AFC Pro-League committee. The assessment criteria and ranking for participating associations will be revised by AFC every two years, with the most recent ones being approved for 2011–2012 seasons.
The prize money has been significantly increased since 2009 season and the clubs can earn some prize money even at the group stage depending on their performance. The group stage is conducted in the same manner as the previous four tournaments; this time, however, now eight group winners and eight runners-up qualify to the Round of 16, in which group-winners play host to the runners-up in a single match format, matched regionally. The regional restriction is lifted from the further stages, though since 2010 season clubs from the same country cannot face each other in the quarterfinals unless that country has three or more representatives in the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals and the semifinals are played in two-legged series, with away goal, extra time, and penalties used as tie-breakers. The final is played as a single match at a pre-determined neutral venue.
QualificationAFC Final Assessment Ranking for 2009–2012 seasons
The qualifications are based on AFC Final Assessment Rankings (see below). The assessments was conducted by AFC Pro-League committee during 2006–2008, and is based on the football competitiveness, professionalism, marketability, and financial status of the league and its clubs. Leagues can have up to four spots, but no more than one third of the number of teams in that country's top division, rounded downwards. However, some leagues may have to enter their clubs through qualifying playoffs. The previous year AFC Cup finalists may also enter qualifying play-offs given that their league meets the AFC Champions League criteria.
The new assessment ranking was expected to be published in November 2010, with an intention to it being updated every two years. However, after realizing that newly set criteria are hard to be implemented on time, AFC decided to maintain the existing allocation scheme for two more seasons and postpone the publishing of a new ranking for one year till November 2011. This ranking is expected to be applied for 2013 season onwards.
|
||
|---|---|---|
HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
