Khaberni - The AFC Competitions Committee has recommended a set of strategic adjustments to the elite Asian Champions League, aimed at enhancing the level of competition among the elite clubs of the continent.
These changes aim to provide a more inclusive and exciting model, by improving the qualification mechanism to the knockout stages, which contributes to enhancing the quality of competition in the upcoming seasons.
Among the prominent proposals is an increase in the number of teams participating in the group stage from 24 to 32, to be implemented starting from the 2026-2027 season. Teams will be evenly divided between the West and East regions, with 16 teams in each area, allowing greater opportunities for interaction between clubs and improving their technical level.
The recommendations also include a modification to the qualification system, where the teams that are in the top six positions in each region will directly qualify to the round of 16, while teams from seventh to the tenth place will enter a playoff round which gives them an additional opportunity to reach the final stages, with the seventh and eighth places having the advantage of playing on their home ground.
Despite the proposal of a knockout playoff, the Asian Federation clarified that this system will not be implemented in the first edition after the expansion, due to the congested competition schedule, but it will be adopted in the following seasons.
However, these amendments are contingent on final approval by the AFC Executive Office before officially coming into effect.
