According to Tasnim news agency, according to the report of “Al-Ittihad” magazine of the UAE; The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is considering a number of projects to expand its club-level matches with the aim of providing a comprehensive vision that will increase the value of the tournament technically, commercially and marketing-wise. AFC President Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa is expected to announce his candidacy for the next AFC presidency in early 2023, as he enjoys strong support from the continent’s member federations to head the top football body. Complete Asia, which has included numerous development projects.
The AFC, after deciding to increase the number of teams participating in the AFC Champions League to 40, will assess the feasibility of continuing the competition in this way and may present an alternative plan to expand the competition in the future. Which makes it the strongest club tournament in the history of AFC club competition.
According to the report; Increasing the number of foreign players per team to 6 players (5 non-Asian players and one Asian player) and setting the tournament date from September 2023 to May 2024 is the beginning of the development of the tournament, which is considering how to reduce the teams in the new format It will look like a Super League and will include the top Asian teams. The tournament is likely to feature 20 to 24 teams, including the continent’s strongest teams.
The evaluation mechanism of the Champions League will change before the 2024-25 season and may not be based on a “cumulative technical criteria” that alone controls the distribution or number of quotas for each country, especially after the idea of reducing the number of participating teams. The value of the AFC Cup will also increase and professional clubs will probably be allowed to attend.
At the end of this report it was stated; In the coming days, the possibility becomes apparent whether we will see a “Super League” tournament in Asia, a tournament that includes powerful clubs from the leagues of Iran, UAE, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Australia, China, Qatar and It will be Uzbekistan. The Asian Super League is very similar to the European Super League project, which is still being held in a haze of ambiguity.