Revealed: AFC Women's Champions League format, calendar

The AFC Women's Champions League was introduced by the confederation a few days back.

The AFC Women’s Football Committee underlined its determination to transform the Continent’s women’s club game at its first meeting today after it confirmed the entry principles, competition format and season calendar of the AFC Women’s Champions League, which will be introduced from the 2024-25 season.

Chaired by Kanya Keomany, members of the Committee, who met in Sydney, Australia just hours before the Final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023, were unanimous in praising FIFA, Football Australia, and New Zealand Football for staging a truly spectacular global showpiece.

The Committee also hailed the performances of Asia’s teams, which once again showcased the world-class standards of the Continent’s traditional powerhouses as well as the commendable progress of newcomers Vietnam and Philippines.

Turning their attention to the launch of the AFC Women’s Champions League, the Committee agreed to revise the implementation timeline of the club licensing criteria for the AFC Women’s Champions League, which will now be enforced from the 2028/29 season to better accommodate a more feasible transition time for participating clubs.

The Committee also approved the entry principles of the breakthrough tournament, which will see one entry per Participating Member Association from the 2024/25 to 2027/28 seasons.

Format

In determining the direct slots to the Group Stages, the Member Associations’ FIFA Ranking will be used, while Preliminary Stage may be organised between clubs from lower ranked Member Associations depending on the number of entries. Subsequently, from the 2028/29 season, the considerations for slot allocation will be in accordance with the AFC Women’s Club Competitions Ranking and Women’s Club Licensing criteria.

The Entry process will be opened to all Member Associations, who will need to meet a set of criteria to be included in the Competition Regulations, which will be approved by the AFC Women’s Football Committee in due course.

Moving on to the competition format, subject to the number of entries, the Committee agreed in principle that 12 participating clubs – to be divided into three groups of four teams each – will compete in the Group Stage.The matches will be played in a centralised single round robin format in each group, with the top two and the two best third-placed sides advancing to the Quarter-finals, which will be decided over a single leg tie at the venue of the higher ranked/seeded club. The Semi-finals and Final will also be a single-leg contest to be played in a centralised venue.

Tentative dates

The Committee also approved the tentative dates of the AFC Women’s Champions League 2024/25 season below whilst mandating the Administration to adjust the calendar where necessary.

Additionally, as part of efforts to enhance the value and stature of the AFC’s women’s national team competitions in the coming years, the Committee also agreed in principle to revamp the relevant stages of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup™, and the qualifying competitions of both the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.

As a first step, the Committee agreed to shift the AFC Women’s Asian Cup™ to non-FIFA Women’s World Cup odd years, which will see the edition after the upcoming Continental showpiece scheduled for 2026, take place in 2029 instead of 2030.

The Committee also agreed to simplify the qualification format of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, to be implemented from the 2027 to 2031 cycle with more details and plans to be finalised and communicated in due course.