On the afternoon of January 17, the 2022 AFC Champions League group draw ceremony was held at the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Shanghai Harbour entered Group J, along with Chiang Rai United from Thailand and Jie Zhi from Hong Kong, China. A fourth team will be decided in a play-off in March.
According to the rules, 40 teams from the Eastern and Western Asia regions will participate in the 2022 AFC Champions League, which is divided into five groups and four teams each. The participating teams will first play a group round robin, and the top 3 teams in each group and the 2nd place team in the 3 best-performing groups will qualify for the knockout round, that is, the top 8 teams in the Eastern and Western Asia regions. In the group stage, the same country and the same class of teams will not be divided together.
The 2021 Chinese Super League double champion Shandong Taishan, as the first team, was drawn to Group F, along with Urawa Red Diamonds and Singapore Sailors, and another place in this group will be selected from the play-offs, namely the winner between Daegu FC and Buriram United. Guangzhou is in the same group as Kawasaki Striker and Johor Bahru, and another team is also produced from the play-offs. Changchun Yatai will need to participate in the play-offs, and if he can break through successfully, he will be in the same group as Jeonbuk Hyundai, Yokohama Mariners and Jialai Huangying.
According to the schedule of the 2022 AFC Champions League, the group stage will be implemented in a conference system, from April 15 to May 1, and each team will play 6 matches in 16 days. The Round of 16 until the semi-finals are held in August, with a single-game knockout system. The finals will be held until February 2023 and will be held on New Year's Eve.
Photo: AFC AFC Champions League official Weibo
Source: People's Daily News
Editors: Xia Yang, Yang Ye
Review: Xinyu Wang
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