Asian Football Confederation
Officials have announced the inaugural
Asian championship
Elite League roster, with Shanghai
harbor
and Shanghai
Shenhua prefecture level city in south China
directly to the main round, while Shandong Taishan will participate in the play-offs.
The inaugural AFC Elite League will feature 24 teams. Teams advancing to the main stage of the tournament will receive a minimum of $800,000 in prize money and additional prizes based on the final standings, with a minimum of $12 million in prize money for the winner.
According to the schedule, the AFC Elite League play-offs will be played on August 6 and 13, with a single match to decide the winner. The East Asian play-off match is between Shandong Taishan and Thailand's Bangkok United; the West Asian play-off match is between Qatar's Gharafa and the winner of the Iranian team (to be confirmed) and the UAE's Dubai Young Nationals.
The draw for the AFC Elite League will be held on August 16 and the group stage will run from September 16 this year to February 19 next year. 24 teams will be divided into East Asia and West Asia zones and each team will play eight games against teams from the same zone, four home and four away.
The top eight finishers from the East and West Asian zones will advance to the 1/8 finals to be held from March 3 to 12 next year, with a two-legged tiebreaker. Starting from the quarter-finals, the matches will be centralized and decided in single matches from April 25 to May 4 next year, with the venue of the tournament confirmed to be in Saudi Arabia.
West Asia Region:
abbr. for Saudi Arabia
: Riyadh Victory, Riyadh Crescent, Jeddah National
Doha
: Saad, Rayan, Garafa in the play-offs
Iranian
: Persepolis, Estral, additional teams to be determined
UAE
: Al Ain, Al Wasl, Dubai Young Nationals in play-offs
Uzbekistan
: Tashkent cotton farmers
Iraqi
: To be determined
East Asia:
Japanese
: Kobe Marinos, Kawasaki Frontale, Yokohama Marinos
South Korea (Republic of Korea)
Ulsan Hyundai, Pohang Steelers, Gwangju FC
sino
: Shanghai Harbor, Shanghai Shenhua, Shandong Taishan in the play-offs
Thailand
: Buriram United, Bangkok United in the play-offs
Australia
: Central Coast Mariners
Malaysia
: Johor DT
