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The first AFC Champions League was held in the 2002/03 season. Its predecessor was the Asian Club Championship and the Asian Winners Cup.
The first Asian Club Championship was held in 1967, with 8 teams participating. However, starting from 197 1, the tournament was suspended. Until 1986, the event was resumed and renamed the Asian Club Champions Cup, which was limited to local league champions.
The first Asian Cup Winners' Cup was held in 199 1, with the participation of world cup champions. The winners of the two events will compete for the Asian Super Cup.
In the 2007 season, AFC Champions began to join Australian clubs.
In the 2009 AFC Champions League, the number of participating teams will be increased to 32, and the number of participating countries will be reduced. Only 1 1 with the highest ranking in the Asian league can participate.
In addition, the champion and runner-up of the AFC Champions Cup can also participate in the new qualifying stage. The form of the group stage will be the same as before, except that the first and second place of the eight groups can get the right to qualify for the final stage of the quarter-finals. Starting from this tournament, the logo of AFC Champions League will also be changed to a new logo.
Starting from the 20021season, the AFC Champions League will become 40 teams, from 4 teams in East Asia and West Asia to 5 teams in each region. The AFC Champions League has also become the largest league on the African continent.
The number of places in the top six Asian technical leagues will not change, that is, the number of places in the AFC Champions League of the Chinese Super League is still 3+ 1.
Since 2022, the Women's Asian Cup has also been expanded from 8 teams to 12 teams.
In February 2022, the AFC officially announced that the AFC Champions League would be changed from spring to autumn to autumn-spring New Year's Eve, and it would be implemented from the 2023-24 season.
At the same time, starting from the 2023-24 season, the number of foreign aid for participating teams in AFC clubs will be changed from the current "3+ 1" to "5+ 1", that is, five foreign players with unlimited nationality and 1 players from AFC member associations.