2017 AFC Champions League

2017 AFC Champions League

Tournament details
Dates	24 January – 25 November 2017
Teams	Maximum of 54 (from Maximum of 24 associations)

The 2017 AFC Champions League will be the 36th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 15th under the current AFC Champions League title.

The winners will qualify for the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup. As the United Arab Emirates is the host nation for the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup, if a team from the UAE wins the AFC Champions League, the runners-up will also qualify (in place of the winners of the 2016–17 UAE Pro-League).

Association team allocation

The AFC Competitions Committee proposed a revamp of the AFC club competitions on 25 January 2014,^[1] which was ratified by the AFC Executive Committee on 16 April 2014.^[2] The 46 AFC member associations (excluding the associate member Northern Mariana Islands) are ranked based on their national team's and clubs' performance over the last four years in AFC competitions, with the allocation of slots for the 2017 and 2018 editions of the AFC club competitions determined by the 2016 rankings:

• The associations are split into West Zone and East Zone, with 23 associations in each zone:
  • West Zone consists of the associations from West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, except India and Maldives
  • East Zone consists of the associations from ASEAN and East Asia, plus India and Maldives
• In each zone, there are a total of 12 direct slots in the group stage, with the 4 remaining slots filled through play-offs.
• The top 12 associations in each zone as per the AFC rankings are eligible to enter the AFC Champions League, as long as they fulfill the AFC Champions League criteria.
• The top six associations in each zone get at least one direct slot in the group stage, while the remaining associations get only play-off slots:
  • The associations ranked 1st and 2nd each get three direct slots and one play-off slot (in play-off round).
  • The associations ranked 3rd and 4th each get two direct slots and two play-off slots (one in play-off round, one in preliminary round 2).
  • The associations ranked 5th each get one direct slot and two play-off slots (both in preliminary round 2).
  • The associations ranked 6th each get one direct slot and one play-off slot (in preliminary round 2).
  • The associations ranked 7th to 12th each get one play-off slot (in preliminary round 1).
• The maximum number of slots for each association is one-third of the total number of clubs in the top division (e.g., Australia can only get a maximum of three total slots as there are only nine Australia-based clubs in the A-League).

West Zone Rank Member Association Points[4] Slots Group stage Play-off Zone All Play-off round Prelim. round 2 Prelim. round 1 1 2 Saudi Arabia 89.217 2 3 Iran 78.153 3 4 United Arab Emirates 77.314 4 8 Qatar 59.569 5 9 Uzbekistan 54.563 6 10 Kuwait 47.344 7 11 Iraq 41.650 8 13 Jordan 37.536 9 14 Syria 30.301 10 16 Oman 27.403 11 20 Bahrain 24.690 12 21 Lebanon 20.939 Total

East Zone Rank Member Association Points[4] Slots Group stage Play-off Zone All Play-off round Prelim. round 2 Prelim. round 1 1 1 South Korea 89.838 2 5 Japan 74.959 3 6 Australia 67.680 4 7 China 65.364 5 12 Thailand 39.093 6 15 Hong Kong 28.976 7 17 Vietnam 25.978 8 18 Malaysia 25.658 9 19 Indonesia 24.934 10 22 Myanmar 17.667 11 23 India 17.264 12 26 Singapore 14.599 Total

Teams

In the following table, the number of appearances and last appearance count only those since the 2002–03 season (including qualifying rounds), when the competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League.

West Zone Team Qualifying method App Last App Group stage direct entrants (Groups A–D) Al-Ahli 2015–16 Saudi Professional League champions 9th 2016 2016 King Cup winners Al-Hilal or Al-Ittihad 2015–16 Saudi Professional League runners-up 13th / 11th 2016 2015–16 Persian Gulf Pro League champions 2015–16 Hazfi Cup winners 2015–16 Persian Gulf Pro League runners-up Al-Ahli 2015–16 UAE Pro-League champions 7th 2015 2015–16 UAE President's Cup winners Al-Rayan 2015–16 Qatar Stars League champions 7th 2014 2016 Emir of Qatar Cup winners 2016 Uzbek League champions Al-Qadsia 2015–16 Kuwaiti Premier League champions 6th 2015 Qualifying play-off participants Entering in play-off round Al-Hilal or Al-Ittihad 2015–16 Saudi Professional League 3rd place 13th / 11th 2016 2015–16 Persian Gulf Pro League 3rd place Al-Ain 2015–16 UAE Pro-League runners-up 12th 2016 El Jaish 2015–16 Qatar Stars League runners-up 5th 2016 Entering in preliminary round 2 2015–16 UAE Pro-League 3rd place Al-Sadd 2015–16 Qatar Stars League 3rd place 12th 2016 2016 Uzbekistan Cup winners 2016 Uzbek League runners-up Al-Kuwait 2015–16 Kuwait Emir Cup winners 6th 2014 Entering in preliminary round 1 2015–16 Iraqi Premier League champions Al-Wehdat 2015–16 Jordan League champions 4th 2016 2015–16 Syrian Premier League champions Fanja 2015–16 Oman Professional League champions 1st none Al-Hidd 2015–16 Bahrain First Division League champions 1st none 2015–16 Lebanese Premier League champions

East Zone Team Qualifying method App Last App Group stage direct entrants (Groups E–H) 2016 K League Classic champions 2016 Korean FA Cup winners 2016 K League Classic runners-up 2016 J1 League champions 2016 Emperor's Cup winners 2016 J1 League runners-up Adelaide United 2015–16 A-League premiers 2016 A-League Grand Final winners 6th 2016 Western Sydney Wanderers 2015–16 A-League regular season runners-up 3rd 2015 2016 Chinese Super League champions 2016 Chinese FA Cup winners 2016 Thai League champions Eastern 2015–16 Hong Kong Premier League champions 1st none Qualifying play-off participants Entering in play-off round 2016 K League Classic 3rd place 2016 J1 League 3rd place Brisbane Roar 2015–16 A-League regular season 3rd place 4th 2015 2016 Chinese Super League runners-up Entering in preliminary round 2 2016 Chinese Super League 3rd place 2016 Thai FA Cup winners 2016 Thai League runners-up 2015–16 Hong Kong Season Play-off winners 2016 V.League 1 champions 2016 Malaysia Super League champions Entering in preliminary round 1 2016 Indonesia Super League champions 2016 Myanmar National League champions Bengaluru FC 2015–16 I-League champions 2nd 2015 2016 S.League champions

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).^[5] Starting from 2017, matches in the West Zone will be played on Mondays and Tuesdays instead of Tuesdays and Wednesdays.^[6]

Stage	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Preliminary stage	Preliminary round 1	No draw	24 January 2017
	Preliminary round 2		31 January 2017
Play-off stage	Play-off round		7 February 2017
Group stage	Matchday 1	TBA	20–22 February 2017
	Matchday 2		27 February – 1 March 2017
	Matchday 3		13–15 March 2017
	Matchday 4		10–12 April 2017
	Matchday 5		24–26 April 2017
	Matchday 6		8–10 May 2017
Knock-out stage	Round of 16		22–24 May 2017	29–31 May 2017
	Quarter-finals	TBA	21–23 August 2017	11–13 September 2017
	Semi-finals		25–27 September 2017	16–18 October 2017
	Final		18 November 2017	25 November 2017

See also

• 2017 AFC Cup
• 2017 FIFA Club World Cup

References

1. "Revamp of AFC competitions". AFC. 25 January 2014.
2. "ExCo approves expanded AFC Asian Cup finals". AFC. 16 April 2014.
3. "Korea Republic head AFC MA Rankings". AFC. 9 December 2015.
4. "AFC MA Ranking – 26 November 2015" (PDF).
5. "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2017" (PDF). AFC.
6. "AFC Competitions Committee decisions". AFC. 12 April 2016.

External links

• AFC Champions League, the-AFC.com