AFC Champions League fixtures
Centralized tournament system
It was learned from the AFC That the schedule for the 2022 AFC Champions League season has been finalized. Affected by the epidemic, the Qatar World Cup and the implementation of the AFC Champions League itself, the final champions and runners-up finals of this year's AFC Champions League will be held in February 2023. However, the east Asian region's events have not been affected and will all be completed in August this year.
1
Home and away games become two centralized tournament systems
As early as last year, the AFC has held several meetings to solicit the opinions of member associations and draft the schedule of the 2022 AFC Champions League. On 10 January, the AFC Competition Committee held a remote video conference to once again discuss the many competition schedules hosted by the AFC this year. Today (January 13), the AFC has finally finalized the entire schedule for the 2022 AFC Champions League season. Compared with the original draft schedule, affected by objective factors such as the epidemic, the originally envisaged knockout stage matches have changed from a home-and-away system to a "centralized conference system". This year, the entire AFC Champions League has also been divided into two "centralized competition systems".
Originally, the AFC's vision was that in view of the rebound in the epidemic in Asian countries and regions, the governments of various countries and regions have further strengthened their control and international travel has been strictly restricted, so the AFC has decided to change the group stage to a "centralized tournament system", and each team in the group can bid for the competition in its group and finish in a period of time. Then, after the 16 group teams from the two zones are selected, they will be played in the form of home and away and single-round knockout matches, that is, the teams with relatively good results will play at home, and the result of one game will determine the promotion team. After the quarter-finals, the draw determines the location of the home stadium.
However, due to the difficulty of judging the current development of the epidemic, the AFC accepted the opinions of its member associations and decided that the competition in the knockout stage should also be carried out in a "centralized tournament system", that is, each of the 8 teams from the two regional groups would be concentrated in one place to determine their respective champions, and then the champions and runners-up finals would be held.
2
The West Asian Zone knockout rounds are postponed until Next February
In terms of the overall schedule, the timing of the east Asian region has not changed much. On 8 March, the East Asia region will feature a qualifying round, with two Australian Premier League teams playing against clubs in the Philippines and Myanmar, with the winner advancing to the play-offs. The play-offs are scheduled for 15 March, with Changchun Yatai, who finished fourth in last season's Chinese Super League, at home to face the winner between the Australian Premier League and the Philippine club. If they can win, Yatai will enter the AFC Champions League group stage.
From 15 April to 1 May, the competition of the five groups in the East Asian region will be in full swing. The Chinese Super League's Shandong Taishan, Shanghai Harbor, Guangzhou and The likely Changchun Yatai will attack from all sides to win the right to qualify for the group. In the five groups, in addition to the first place in each group, the second place in the last three results will also be qualified and enter the quarterfinals.
From August 18 to 25, the eight teams from the East Asian group will be concentrated in one place for a knockout round. The quarterfinals will be held on August 18 and 19, the quarterfinals will be held on August 22, and the semi-finals will be held on August 25. The winning team will win the East Asian Region and qualify for the annual finals.
However, due to the relatively intensive competition in the West Asia region and the fact that this year's Qatar World Cup will be held from late November to mid-December, many teams in West Asia have made it clear that the schedule in the second half of this year is more intensive, because there are many regional events in West Asia. As a result, the group stage in the West Asia region is scheduled to take place from 7 to 27 April, while the knockout stage is postponed to between 3 and 10 February 2023.
It is important that the AFC agree with the West Asian Club that from 2023 onwards, the AFC will change the current annual format of the AFC Champions League to a cross-annual format, starting from September 2023. With no events in the first half of the year, the 2022 knockout rounds in the West Asia region can be postponed to February 2023.
Thus, as the final team of the West Asian region will not be produced until February next year, the AFC has decided that the 2022 AFC Champions League Champions League Finals will be played on a home-and-away basis on February 19 and February 26 next year, with the West Asian club playing the home game first and the East Asian team sitting at home in the second leg.
It is reported that this competition plan is subject to final confirmation by the AFC Executive Committee. Once confirmed, this year's AFC Champions League will be played according to the above schedule. For the four Chinese Super League clubs competing in this year's AFC Champions League, will they play in full force under the new schedule? Much will depend on the Chinese Football Association's schedule for this year's Chinese Super League.