There is a non-zero chance of an NPL team winning that AFC Cup.
That would be brilliant.
There is a non-zero chance of an NPL team winning that AFC Cup.
That would be brilliant.
Nah, there’s still Middle Eastern teams we would need to face in the finals end when East goes against West.
Although it’ll be interesting if we have to come up against teams from Iraq or Syria. Given a Young Socceroo’s team just pulled out of a tournament being hosted in Iraq, I suspect an A-League team wouldn’t be too keen on travelling to those less than stable regions.
I know we didn’t participate in ACL in 2021, and we’re not the best league even in East Asia, but come on. There’s no way we’re only one spot ahead of Indonesia. Ridiculous.
Not to say that won’t be tough, but it takes out the Qatar Saudi and Iran teams as they are AFC CL only.
This goes into it in even more detail
Fair enough. So it’s a 4yr look back normally. And Australian teams performance has been s##t for a while.
SFC 1/3/2 - 3rd in group
Victory 2/2/2 - 3rd in group
2019
SFC 0/3/3 - 4th in group
Victory 0/1/5 - 4th in group
2020
Victory 2/1/3 - 2nd in group, knocked out Rd 16
SFC 1/2/3 - 4th in group
Glory 0/1/5 - 4thbin group
Expansion to 40 teams, with only some 2nd places getting through
2021
SFC, City and Roar withdrew
2022
City 3/3/0 - 2nd in Group but 4th in ranking of 2nd teams
SFC 0/2/4 - 4th in Group
So only one Australian team has made the knockouts in last 5yrs and went straight out.
And due to cancellation of AFC Cup that year 2020 points are all zeroed.
Even though the Yuan is drying up like their water supply, the ranking of the CSL below Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand is what highlights the idiocy the most.
China teams didn’t get a single win in 2021 and 2022 AFC cups, and only one draw.
The points system rewards performance (wins and draws) and progression to the knockout stages.
With a couple of years with teams in the AFC Cup I suspect a few Aus and Chinese teams will get some points.
But didn’t they only send their youth teams?
Results obviously need to be weighted, but they’ve gone from having 4 ACL spots and teams who consistently get out of groups and challenge to the same single spot as us in the blink of an eye.
It definitely does add some much needed variety though, having 1 x Japanese / Korean / Chinese team in every single East Asian group was getting stale.
The 2022 Asian Champs League is nearing its conclusion (you know that tournament that we kind of played in many moons ago)
Final to be played on
29 April and 6 May 2023 between
UAEs Al-Hilal
Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds
Urawa played the semi way back in August 2022 beating Jeonbuk on penalties, whereas Al-Hilal beat Qatatr’s Al-Duhail 7-0 in late Feb 2023.
Urawa currently 4th in the J1 League after 8 games, and Al-Hilal sits 4th in the SPL nearing the end of the season.
Also the qualifications for the 2023/24 Asian Champions League and Cup have changed.
Melbourne City will play in the ACL (as highest points scorer this and last)
Macarthur in AFC Cup as winner of the Australia Cup
And whoever finishes 2nd on the points table will get the 2nd spot. (Basically either WSW, WU or Adl).
Qualifying takes place in August 2023 (not involving Aus teams) and Competition proper from mid- September 2023 – May 2024
Paramount+ showing a tile for AlHilal v Urawa
Sat morning 3.30am.
First leg was a 1-1 draw. Urawa’s goal had a good level of chaos / luck
Didn’t it end up being Mariners to get that spot?
It did…
At least Wanderers won’t get the first shot at winning the AFC Cup. Winning that competition is surely attainable for an Australian club pretty consistently.
You’d certainly expect the Aus teams should win group stages (which I think will be ASEAN Zone only - so Vietnam, Malaysian, Phillipines, Singapore etc)… but still face off against Iraqi and Qatari teams in knockouts. And in 2024/25 China teams.
Note that if the Aus teams do well in the Cup for a couple of years we will probably be back to ACL only.
So looks like AFC have made big changes for the 2024/25 Club Championships.
There will now be three tiers (presumably Champions League Cup and something else).
And entry will now be based on a 10-yr competition look back.
See the New Rankings section.
So for 2024/25 Australia will get 1 entry in Tier 1 (ACL) and 1 entry in Tier 2 (Cup), and given the poor performances since 2017 will probably take some time for us to get more teams qualified.
Unlike this coming season (2023/24), all of the ‘strong’ countries will also get an entry into Tier 2, so you’ll have the 3rd or 4th best team from Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Qatar etc playing for the Silverware.
The third tier is the real minnows, with Kuwait being the highest ranked country to qualify a team.
Still trying to figure out how to say Asiaropa league.
I struggle to see how there is enough interest and money to support 3 tiers of this mickey mouse competition.
I bet any team that has to play in the third tier is going to be stressing about how much money is going to disappear down the toilet, absolutely doomed.
But I crave weirder and more stupid away trips, so give me a wider variety of potential opponents for Sydney FC.