This AFC Champions League Elite TV schedule constantly updates with the when and where to watch Asia’s biggest club competition.
Similar to the UEFA, CONCACAF or CAF renditions of the tournament, the AFC Champions League Elite features clubs across Asia. Teams from east Asia, including China, Japan and South Korea, and west Asia, such as Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia compete. Additionally, clubs from Australia partake in the season-long tournament. This changed when Australia joined from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) back in 2007.
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AFC Champions League Elite TV schedule
Iterations of this tournament date back to the 1960s, but that was only a five-year span. The competition we see now started up in 1985 as the Asian Club Championship. That joined with the Asian Cup Winners’ Cup and the Asian Super Cup to form the AFC Champions League in 2002.
Now, we see many teams enter a group stage before a knockout competition, just like the wildly popular UEFA Champions League.
Still, due to the size of the continent and the number of countries participating, the ten groups of four teams each are split down the middle. Five groups come from the ‘west region’ while five come from the ‘east region.’
The five groups in the west region only have teams from that area. This, in addition to those above, includes clubs in countries like Iran, India and Uzbekistan. Conversely, east region groups only include countries from that area.
The group stage is crucial. Like the UEFA tournament, the group winners automatically advance to the round of 16. However, the second-place teams do not have a guaranteed spot. As there are ten groups, only the three-best second-place teams from the east and those from the west qualify for the knockout stages. Therefore, two group runners-up exit the competition despite finishing second.
Successful sides in the AFC Champions League
When scanning the AFC Champions League Elite TV schedule, certain clubs stand out.
Saudi side Al-Hilal holds the record for the most titles at four, with South Korea’s Pohang Steelers claiming three. After that, there are 11 clubs that have two AFC Champions League wins. Additionally, 11 more clubs can say they lifted the AFC Champions League trophy.
This shows the diversity of champions in the tournament. Comparatively, only 22 teams have a European Cup or a Champions League. Despite being almost 30 years younger, more clubs won the AFC Champions League.
Moreover, the same number of nations won the UEFA Champions League as its AFC counterpart. Eleven countries won in Asia, just like the 11 European nations to have clubs that won the European Cup or UEFA Champions League.
In Asia, South Korea holds the record for most titles by country. Of the country’s 12 wins, there have been six different clubs to lift the trophy. Japan and Saudi Arabia are the other two dominant nations in the competition, holding seven and six titles, respectively.
In recent years, Al-Hilal is the team to beat. Not only does the club have three trips to the AFC Champions League final in the last five years, but it won two of those.
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