AFC Women's Champions League expanded to 22 teams

The official draw ceremonies for both the Preliminary Stage and Group Stage will be conducted on Thursday, July 18 at the AFC House.

In a historical development, the Asian Football Confederation has confirmed that about twenty-two clubs from twenty-two different nations will be part of the inaugural AFC Women’s Champions League, which is slated to begin in August. 

AFC took it to their official Twitter handle to declare about 22 clubs taking part in the 2024-24 AFC Women’s Champions League, including preliminary and group stage fixtures. 

Landmark #AWCL to feature 22 clubs ahead of Preliminary Stage and Group Stage Draw ceremonies on July 18! https://t.co/U38r2oxIaB

— AFC (@theafcdotcom) June 14, 2024

They wrote, “Landmark AWCL to feature 22 clubs ahead of Preliminary Stage and Group Stage Draw ceremonies on July 18!”

How will the League proceed

Although 22 clubs will be participating in the league, clubs from the top eight Membership Associations (as per the rank on 15 March 2024) will get a direct entry to the group stage fixtures, which will be divided into three groups with four teams in each group. 

Before the commencement of the centralized league format matches, in the group stage from 6 October 2024 to 12 October 2024, all other 14 teams will go through a preliminary stage which will be conducted from 25 August 2024 to 31 August 2024.   

The preliminary stage will consist of four groups, which will include four teams in two groups and three in the other two groups. The winner of each team will get a ticket to the next stage of the game. 

Host Nations 

Preliminary stage matches will be held in Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Thailand, with each nation hosting one group. While China PR and Vietnam have got the nod for hosting one group in the group stage matches. The third host nation for the group stage will be declared after the Draw Ceremony and the name will be chosen before the commencement of the group stage matches. 

Clubs who are going to be part of the inaugural AFC Women’s Champions League

Rank	Member Association	Club
1	Japan	Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies
2	DPR Korea	Naegohyang Women’s FC
3	Australia	Melbourne City FC
4	China PR	Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
5	Korea Republic	Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
6	Vietnam	Ho Chi Minh City Women’s FC
7	Philippines	Kaya FC-Iloilo
8	Chinese Taipei	Taichung Blue Whale Women’s Football Team
9	Thailand	TBC*
10	Uzbekistan	PFC Nasaf
11	Myanmar	Myawady Women Football Club
12	Islamic Republic of Iran	Bam Khatoon FC
13	India	Odisha Football Club
14	Jordan	Etihad Club
15	Hong Kong, China	TBC*
16	Laos	Young Elephants FC
17	Malaysia	Sabah FA
18	Nepal	APF Football Club
19	United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi Country Club
20	Singapore	Lion City Sailors FC
21	Bhutan	RTC FC
22	Saudi Arabia	Al Nassr Club

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