In the grouping of the Women's AFC Champions League announced on July 18th, China's strongest team, Wuhan Cheguang Jiangda Women's Football Team, as the host, was put into the highly competitive Group A, playing with Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women's Football Team from South Korea. This group not only tests the strength of the Wuhan Cheguang Jiangda Women's Football Team, but also indicates that they will face a tough challenge in the group stage.
In Group A, in addition to Wuhan Chegu Jiangda Women's Soccer Team and Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angel Women's Soccer Team, there are two other teams that came out of the qualifying rounds - the winner of Group C and the winner of Group A of the qualifying rounds. All of these teams have a lot of strength, making the competition in Group A particularly fierce.
Meanwhile, the groupings in Groups B and C are also of interest. Melbourne City Women's Football Team (Australia), Kaya Women's Football Team (Philippines), Asian Scholars Academy (Thailand) and the winners of Group D of the qualifiers will compete for a place in Group B, while Urawa Red Diamonds Women's Football Team (Japan), Ho Chi Minh City Women's Football Team (Vietnam), Taichung Blue Whales Women's Football Team (Taipei, China) and the winners of Group B of the qualifiers will have a fierce duel in Group C.
The qualifying stage is also full of attractions as a total of 13 teams will take part in the preliminary stage, which is organized into four groups. Of these, Bhutan, Jordan, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia will host one group each. The winners of these four groups will qualify for the group stage and compete with the teams in Groups A, B and C for the honor of winning the Women's Asian Championship.
In the knockout phase, the top two teams from each group and the two best third-placed teams will advance to the quarterfinals. The draw for the knockout stage will be made prior to the quarterfinals and the format of the tournament will be a single-round knockout tournament, with the higher-ranked team in each match serving as the home team. The semifinals and finals will then be held from May 21-24, 2025, where the first winner of the Women's AFC Asian Championship will be decided and is expected to receive a minimum of US$1.3 million.
