Organising body | AFC |
---|---|
Founded | 2024 |
Region | Asia |
Number of teams | 12 (group stage) |
Qualifier for | FIFA Women's Club World Cup |
Website | the-afc.com |
2024–25 AFC Women's Champions League |
The AFC Women's Champions League is the top-tier women's football club competition in Asia. It involves the top clubs from countries affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The tournament was established in 2024. [1]
The concept of an Asian women's club competition was first recommended in 2018. [2] The following year, the inaugural edition of the AFC Women's Club Championship, a pilot women's club championship for Asian teams, was held as a round-robin tournament among four teams. [3]
In 2023, the format for the new club competition called AFC Women's Champions League was unveiled. Starting with the 2024–25 edition, the competition includes a preliminary stage, a twelve-team group stage and a knockout stage. Each association gets one team to enter. [1] [4] In the first four seasons, there will be one entry per participating member association, [5] with allocation based on the AFC Women's Club Competitions Ranking, which will combine their clubs' performance in the AFC Women's Champions League and the latest FIFA Women's World Ranking as follow: [6]
Edition | Year | Winners | Runners-up | Final venue | Number of teams |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2024–25 | 21 |
Starting with the 2024–25 season, the distribution of the prize money is as follows. [7]
The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest continental football championship in the world after Copa América. The winning team becomes the champions of Asia and until 2015 qualified for the FIFA Confederations Cup.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC) was the section of AFC that managed women's association football in Asia. The group was independently founded in April 1968 in a meeting involving Taiwan, British Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. In 1986, ALFC merged with AFC.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the Grand Hotel in Khartoum, Sudan by the national football associations of: Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and South Africa. following formal discussions between the aforementioned associations at the FIFA Congress held on 7 June 1956 at Avenida Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal.
Association football is one of the most-popular sports in India. India hosted the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, the first FIFA event the country hosted; it was called the most successful FIFA U-17 World Cup ever, with a record-breaking attendance of 1,347,133, exceeding China's previous record of 1,230,976 in 1985. India also hosted the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup and bid to host the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
The AFC Champions League Elite is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition in Asian football, played by the national league champions of their national associations.
The AFC Women's Asian Cup is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football competition and premier women's football competition in the AFC region for national teams. The competition is also known as the Asian Women's Football Championship and the Asian Women's Championship. 20 tournaments have been held, with the current champions being China PR. The competitions until 2026 also serve as Asian qualifying tournament for the FIFA Women's World Cup.
The AFC Champions League Two is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC Champions League Elite and above the AFC Challenge League.
The AFC Challenge League is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. The competition is played among clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying slots to the top-tier AFC Champions League Elite or the second-tier AFC Champions League Two, based on the AFC club competitions ranking. The 2024-25 season will mark its inaugural edition in the new format. The winner of the AFC Challenge League gets a direct spot in the qualifying stage of the next season's AFC Champions League Two, if they haven't already qualified through their domestic performance.
The AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup is an association football tournament for women's national teams under the age of 20, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is organised by the Asian Football Confederation every two years, and serves as a qualifying competition for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. It was first played in 2002 as the AFC U-19 Women's Championship with an upper age limit of 19. Starting from the 2022 edition, the age limit was raised to 20. Moreover, the tournament was rebranded from the "AFC U-19 Women's Championship" to the "AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup".
The AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup, founded as the AFC U-17 Women's Championship and later the AFC U-16 Women's Championship, before changing to its current name after the 2019 edition, is a biennial women's football tournament for youth teams organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It further serves as the qualifying competition for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. The AFC agreed to the proposal for switching the tournament from under-16 to under-17 starting from 2022. Thus, the tournament was rebranded from the "AFC U-16 Women's Championship" to the "AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup".
South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) is an association of the football playing nations in South Asia which is a regional subsidiary of Asian Football Confederation, incorporated in 1997. The members of the association are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Football is the most popular sport in Saudi Arabia. Football in Saudi Arabia is governed by the Saudi Arabia Football Federation (SAFF). It was founded in 1956. It administers both the club competitions and the national football teams of Saudi Arabia.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The Indian Super League (ISL) is the men's highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the league is currently contested by 13 clubs.
The AFC Women's Club Championship was the women's football club competition in Asia. It involved the top clubs from countries affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was designed as a pilot competition for the AFC Women's Champions League, which was launched in the 2024–25 season.
The 2022 AFC Champions League was the 41st edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 20th under the current AFC Champions League title.
The 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup will be the 21st edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament in Asia competed by the women's national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The 2023–24 AFC Champions League was the 42nd edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 21st and final under the AFC Champions League title, as the competition would be rebranded as the AFC Champions League Elite starting in 2024–25.
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is the planned 21st edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, an international club soccer competition organized by FIFA. The tournament is scheduled to be played in the United States from June 15 to July 13, 2025. It is planned to be the first under an expanded format with 32 teams, including the winners of the four previous continental championships.
The 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite is the 43rd edition of Asia's premier club football tournament, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the first since it was rebranded as the AFC Champions League Elite. The revamped format, along with the rebranding, sees 24 teams playing eight games against different opponents in the brand new league phase.