As the 2023/24 AFC Champions League season comes to an end, the AFC Champions League will enter a new era in the second half of the year. The AFC Champions League Elite League, which has undergone huge changes in the competition system, participating teams, the number of foreign players and prize money, will allow the powerful Japanese and South Korean teams and the West Asian teams with the same season to invest more energy, but it may not be a choice for the Chinese Super League teams that are not financially and strong.
The first three match days of the AFC Champions League from September to November coincided with the sprint period of the Chinese Super League. Compared with last year, the temptation to double the prize money of the AFC Champions League Elite League is big enough, but the number of teams is downsized, and the unlimited number of foreign players leads to the increase in the strength of opponents, and it is more difficult for Chinese Super League teams to qualify and get rich bonuses. On the one hand, the Chinese Super League champion, on the other hand, there may be tens of millions of yuan in AFC Champions League bonuses, and a sense of honor related to the number of participants in the AFC Champions League in the Chinese Super League.
In mid-September, the AFC's newly created AFC Champions League Elite League and AFC Champions League 2 will officially kick off. Unlike before, the new version of the AFC Champions League has made major changes in terms of the number of participating teams, the format and the schedule. The number of teams from East Asia has been reduced from 20 to 12, but the group stage has been cancelled and the Swiss round robin format has been replaced by a 12-team round-robin format.
Each team played eight games, two more than in the previous group stage. The Swiss round is played by winners vs. winners and losers vs. losers, and the draw is held immediately after each round, and the teams only know who will be in the next round after each round. The league stage has 8 match days, which will last from mid-September to mid-February next year, which are September 16-18, September 30-October 2, October 21-23, November 4-6, November 25-27, December 2-4, February 11-12 and February 17-19 next year.
The top eight teams will advance to the quarter-finals, with the two legs taking place on March 3-5 and March 10-12 next year, with the winning four teams heading to Saudi Arabia at the end of April to compete in the quarterfinals with the four teams from the West Asia region. The quarter-finals (April 25-26 next year), semi-finals (April 29-30 next year) and finals (May 4 next year) will be held in the quarter-finals.
The second league of the AFC Champions League in which the Zhejiang team participates still adopts the previous double round-robin system of the group stage. The 16 teams in East Asia are divided into four groups, with six match days in the group stage one day later than the AFC Champions League Elite League. The knockout rounds are all next year, and the tournament dates are the 1/8 finals (February 11-13/February 18-20 next year), the 1/4 finals (March 4-6/March 11-13 next year), the semi-finals (April 8-9/April 15-16 next year), and the final will be held on May 17 next year.
Shanghai Port and Shanghai Shenhua of the Chinese Super League will participate in the AFC Champions League Elite League, Shandong Taishan will participate in the qualifiers on August 13, and if they can beat their Thai opponents, they will participate in the AFC Champions League Elite League, otherwise they will participate in the AFC Champions League 2nd League with Zhejiang. The two-level cross-year competition system of the AFC Champions League will have a greater impact on the second half of the Chinese Super League. Shanghai Shenhua, Shanghai Port, which played well in the first half of the race, and Shandong Taishan, whose form needs to be recovered, all involved three AFC Champions League match days in the critical period of the second half of the championship.
Shanghai Shenhua will play the fourth AFC Champions League game in the Chinese Super League against Zhejiang, Tianjin and other strong teams, and three days after the season finale away against Chengdu Rongcheng, the opponent of the championship. In the last 3 rounds of the Shanghai Port Chinese Super League, they will play Chengdu Rongcheng and Cangzhou Lions in a row, and play Tianjin Jinmen Tigers at home, and there will be 2 AFC Champions League constraints during the period. Shandong Taishan AFC Champions League qualifiers will play against Chengdu Rongcheng 4 days later, if you enter the AFC Champions League elite league, you will also have to play against Wuhan Three Towns, Tianjin Jinmen Tigers, Zhejiang team around 3 AFC Champions League match days 3 strong teams.
What's even more a headache for the Chinese Super League team is that the Chinese Super League has ended on November 2, but the four teams participating in the two divisions of the AFC Champions League will play two AFC Champions League games in late November and early December, so the team's winter break has to be postponed by 1 month. According to tradition, the new Chinese Super League season will not start until early March next year, but the four teams participating in the AFC Champions League still have two AFC Champions League games to play in mid-to-late February next year. It means that the pre-season preparation of the four teams will also be advanced, which will also affect the start of the new season.
For Chinese Super League teams, the appeal of the AFC Champions League is the sharply rising prize money. The prize money for the winner is $12 million, which is three times more than this season. The runner-up prize money is $4 million, twice as much as this season. In addition, the prize money for winning in the league stage, the travel allowance and the prize money for advancing to the round of 16 and 8 will also be at least doubled.
Shandong Taishan reached the top 8 of the AFC Champions League this season, with a total of $800,000 in bonuses and away allowances, not counting the five AFC Champions League home match days and broadcast revenue. Even if the new AFC Champions League Elite League does not make it to the top 8 to Saudi Arabia for the final week, the same result will receive a prize of $1.3 million. If you make it to the top 8, you will get at least $420,000.
As long as the AFC Champions League elite league in the new season qualifies for the round of 16, the bonus income alone is almost equivalent to the dividend amount of the clubs in the Chinese Super League this season. Although it may seem tempting, due to the drastic reduction of the number of underdogs, it will be much more difficult for Chinese Super League teams to qualify than this season. Shandong Taishan has won two of their five wins in the AFC Champions League this season from weak Philippine teams, and the new AFC Champions League has three teams from Japan and South Korea in East Asia, as well as Australia, Thailand and Malaysia champions, all of which are stronger.
In the second half of last year, Zhejiang team only had 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses in 4 games against Australian and Thai teams in the AFC Champions League group stage, and Wuhan Three Towns had 4 games, 2 draws and 2 losses against Japanese and South Korean teams. Moreover, the abolition of the AFC Champions League elite league restrictions on the number of foreign aid is good news for Southeast Asian teams that have always relied on foreign aid. However, it is impossible for Chinese Super League clubs to sign more foreign aid for the AFC Champions League, and they are naturally at a disadvantage in terms of the number and strength of foreign aid. The AFC Champions League elite league seems to be a "big pie" with high bonuses, but it is more likely that it cannot be eaten.
This season's AFC Champions League is a cross-year competition system, and the group stage overlapped with the sprint period of the Chinese Super League championship in the second half of last year. Shandong Taishan was affected by the AFC Champions League last year, and the AFC Champions League went all out to qualify, and after the group stage, it was forced to draw by Dalian and the championship opponent Shanghai Port, which affected the championship to a certain extent. On the contrary, Shanghai Port, which was out of the AFC Champions League play-offs, even if its form declined in the second half, it still relied on its rival Shandong Taishan to lose 4 points due to the impact of the AFC Champions League, so as not to waste a huge lead in the first half.
The three Chinese Super League teams that participated in the group stage of the AFC Champions League last year were affected to varying degrees in the second half of the season due to the double-line battle of the Chinese Super League and the AFC Champions League, and only the final results of the Zhejiang team were unsatisfactory. After a year, the Chinese Super League championship team is facing more difficult and complicated choices to gain and lose.