By Michael Church
HONG KONG (Reuters) – The Asian Football Confederation will revamp its continental club competitions next year with an increased prize fund and will also launch an Asian Women’s Champions League, the regional body announced on Monday.
Kicking off in September 2024, the leading 24 club sides from across the continent will play in the new AFC Champions League Elite, with the winners earning US$12 million.
That sum is a three-fold increase in the maximum amount available to previous winners of the competition.
The AFC Champions League Elite headlines a new three-tier set-up and replaces the existing format, in which clubs complete in either the AFC Champions League or the secondary AFC Cup.
The three new competitions will feature a total of 76 teams from across Asia, with 32 teams also taking part in the AFC Champions League 2 while a third strand, to be called the AFC Challenge League, will comprise of 20 clubs.
“Today the AFC is embarking on a new and historic era with these forward-looking initiatives in both men’s and women’s Asian club football,” AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said in a statement.
“The AFC has outlined its ambitions to ensure our teams and players continue to shine through world-class competitions and a major part of this ambition is anchored on our promise to reinvest in our competitions.”
Details about the AFC Women’s Champions League, including start date, prize fund and the number of clubs involved, have yet to revealed.
The playoff rounds of the 2023/24 AFC Champions League, the last under the current model, are due to kick off on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Michael Church, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
