There are 32 teams participating in the AFC Champions League group match, which will be divided into 8 groups, including 4 groups in East Asia and 4 groups in West Asia. The game will be played in the form of home and away games. The winner gets three points, the draw gets one point, the loser gets zero point, and the top two in each group advance 16.
After the teams that have advanced to the quarter-finals are produced, the opposing teams will be drawn by lot, and the promotion table from the quarter-finals to the semi-finals will be determined at the same time. There are no group rankings, association differences or home and away restrictions in this lucky draw. The semi-final is played by the winner of two quarter-finals in each district, and the order of home and away games is determined by the promotion table decided by the draw of the quarter-finals.
The final adopts the home and away two-turn system, and the semi-final winners in each district play against each other. The order of home and away games is determined by the promotion table decided by the draw of the quarter-finals. The winner of the final is the champion of this season's AFC Champions League, who can participate in the club World Cup that year.
AFC Champions League
The AFC Champions League, also known as the Asian Champions League, is an Asian club football championship founded by the AFC in 2002, formerly known as the Asian Champions Club Championship and the Asian Club Championship.
The AFC Champions League is the highest level of club football in Asia, equivalent to the European Champions League and the Libertadores Cup in South America, and higher than the AFC Champions Cup. The winning team will represent AFC in the FIFA Club World Cup.
The top 10 associations in the Asian Games have places to directly participate in the group matches, and the remaining eight group matches will be produced through play-offs. The first competition (that is, the AFC Champions League in 2002/03) was held in different years, and all previous AFC Champions were completed in the same natural year.
In February 2022, the AFC officially announced that the AFC Champions League would resume the New Year's Eve system from 2023, and the number of foreign aid places would increase from "3+ 1" to "5+ 1" from the 2023/24 season.