The 2021 AFC Champions League Quarter-Finals kicked off in Saudi Arabia and South Korea on October 16-17, marking the official opening of the competition between the West and East Asian regions.
China Super League (soccer league)
The club failed to reach the last eight for the first time since 2010, and domestic interest in the AFC Champions League has fallen to an all-time low. This phenomenon seems to be related to the Chinese
national soccer team
The end of the "golden age" of the ball has some kind of inevitable connection, of course, the impact of the epidemic can not be ignored. In the face of a real problem.
China Super League (soccer league)
Teams must think: how will the next AFC Champions League be played? Although this reporter has learned the general schedule of the next AFC Champions League from the AFC, the situation is quite similar to this year.
Next year's conference system continues
With the AFC Champions League celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2022, the AFC had hoped that the tournament would return to full normalcy, i.e. a return to the home-and-away system. However, due to the impact of the epidemic, the AFC had to continue to adopt the centralized system for the tournament. It is reported that the AFC Competition Department summoned the relevant member associations of the East Asia Region and the West Asia Region last month and early this month respectively to seek opinions on the arrangements for the AFC Champions League next year through online meetings.
Based on the successful experience of the 2020 and 2021 AFC Champions League, and in consultation with the AFC Emergency Committee, and taking into account the Asia-wide epidemic, the AFC Competitions Department has made the following recommendations: the 2022 AFC Champions League will be the last time that the centralized match system will be used for the group stage, while the 2023 AFC Champions League will return to a full home-and-away system. With the World Cup tournament due to start in mid-November the following year, the next edition of the AFC Champions League will be brought forward to end in October instead of scheduling it in late November as in the past, in order to better prepare the Asian teams for the World Cup tournament. In addition, in order to shorten the tournament's schedule, all matches in the knockout stage will be played in a single-elimination system instead of a home-and-away system, but there will not be a centralized tournament system for the quarterfinals and semifinals, as was the case this year.
Based on the above principles, the AFC Competition Department has also come up with the approximate schedule of matches. For the East Asian Region, the first and second round qualifiers as well as the third round play-offs will take place on March 1, 8 and 15 respectively. As the following year
China Super League (soccer league)
The seats for clubs competing in the AFC Champions League will remain "3+1", with the third-place finisher in this year's Chinese Super League taking part directly in the third-round playoff on March 15 and playing at home. This arrangement will not affect the final two rounds of the 12-team tournament on March 24 and 29 next year. The reason why the AFC has scheduled the qualifiers and play-offs for the AFC Champions League in early to mid-March is to avoid clashes with the Top 12. Of course, the AFC has no control if a national team adopts a long training period.
The group stage of the East Asian Region is scheduled to open on April 15 or 16 and end on April 30 or May 1, with a total of six rounds of matches lasting half a month. The first round of qualifiers for the West Asia Region will be held on March 15 of the following year, followed by the second round of qualifiers and the third round of additional matches on April 5 and 19 of the following year to make way for the 12-team tournament, while the group stage will open on May 11 or 12 and end on May 26 or 27.
