Asian Football Confederation’s panel approves strategic reforms

• Committee of AFC approves major reforms for club competitions.
• Increased foreign players quota, financial regulations and new 3-tier format.
• Committee’s decisions must be ratified by AFC Executive Committee.

The Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Competitions Committee approved a number of game-changing reforms for club competitions on Friday, including a higher foreign player quota, stricter financial guidelines, and a new three-tier structure for competitions that will include relegation and promotion.

The introduction of new competition formats, lifting the foreign player quota, and increasing the financial distribution for participating clubs are among the recommendations in what the AFC called “possibly the most significant reforms to be introduced since the enhancements to the AFC Champions League in 2009,” according to a release.

Instead of the three players of any nationality and one from the AFC region that were previously permitted, clubs around the region are now permitted to hire five international players of any nationality and one from an AFC member country (5+1). A new quota will be implemented following the 2023–24 season.

The Committee also agreed to recognise each MA’s domestic regulations on the foreign player registration and remove the foreign player registration quota beginning with the 2024/25 season, according to the AFC. This ground-breaking decision is intended to improve the quality and stature of the AFC Club Competitions.

According to the present regulations, before becoming effective, all decisions made by the Competitions Committee must be approved by the AFC Executive Committee.

A three-tier tournament for the 76 participating clubs on the Continent has also been approved by the AFC panel. Instead of the previous five zones, the clubs will be divided into two heads: West and East.

“The top division will include a total of 24 participating clubs, split into 12 teams competing in leagues across the West and East regions. In order to advance to the Round of 16 stages, which will be contested in a home-and-away format, the top eight sides from each area will play four home games and four away games against eight other clubs within their region “AFC stated.

32 clubs will compete in the second division of Asian club football, divided into eight groups of four teams each. In a round-robin style, the clubs will play each other at home and away during the Group Stage, with the top two teams moving on to the Round of 16 and the next rounds of quarterfinals, semifinals, and final.

Twenty participating clubs, divided into five groups, will make up Tier 3. The top eight teams will advance to the Quarter Finals in single-leg matches between the clubs that will be played in a centralised style.

As the competitions move from their present five zone model to the East and West regions, the strategic revisions also open up additional opportunity for participating clubs from other zones to compete against one another, according to the statement.

The losing teams from the top tier’s Preliminary and Playoff rounds will be permitted to compete in the second tier, and the losing teams from the second tier’s Preliminary and Playoff stages will compete in the third tier.

According to the press release, “as a result of the overhaul, the total number of club football matches is scheduled to increase from a minimum of 274 to 287.”

A new mechanism of club competition ranking and slot distribution was also implemented by the AFC. Based on each club’s cumulative performance over an eight-year period, the rankings will be determined.

The competition titles for the three divisions, match scheduling guidelines, a calendar, and regulations, among other information, will be finalised and distributed in due course, the AFC stated in its announcement.

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