May 10 – Uzbekistan has stepped up as host for the final two unallocated AFC Champions League (East) groups, to be played June 25-June 11.
The Uzbekistan Football Association (UFA) will host Groups H and I, which are scheduled to take place from June 25 to July 11, 2021. The Football Association of Thailand will host groups F, G and J, which will take place from June 22 to July 11, 2021.
Uzbekistan will also host the Playoff Stage match between South Korea’s Daegu FC and Chiangrai United of Thailand on June 23. The winners will play in Group I alongside last season’s quarter-finalist Beijing FC from China PR, reigning J.League champions Kawasaki Frontale and this season’s debutants United City FC from the Philippines.
The AFC completed the group stages of its West Zone Champions League qualifiers 10 days ago. The five groups were hosted in Saudi Arabia (two groups), the UAE, Qatar and Goa, India.
The expanded ACL – four extra teams in each of the West and East zones – has added to the increasing competitiveness of the Asian Football Confederation’s top club competition with East Zone group play seeing a number of last minute surprises with some of the region’s biggest clubs miss out on Round of 16 slots in what was an exciting end to group play.
Perhaps the biggest casualties were Qatar’s Al Sadd SC and Al Duhail SC, while the breakout club of the group stages was undoubtedly Tajikistan’s FC Istiklol – making their group stage debut in the ACL – who edged out 2019 winners Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia) to top group A.
The East Zone sees the arrival of the region’s big clubs from China, Japan, and South Korea in the competition, and will be played after the completion of the all-important Asian Qualifiers for Qatar 2022 and the 2023 Asian Cup. Those qualifiers have been centralised to enable their finish, and will see 12 national teams go through as automatic qualifiers for the Asian Cup in China in 2023, as well as their division into two groups of six for Qatar 2022 qualification.
AFC Cup (South) Group D matches postponed
The AFC has postponed “until further notice”, its AFC Cup (South) Group D matches, which were scheduled to take place from May 14 to 21, 2021, in Male, Maldives. The AFC Cup is the confederation’s club competition for developing nations whose club sides fail to reach the Champions League.
The AFC Cup was cancelled in 2020 when the global pandemic struck but the AFC has frequently expressed its intent to see the competition played this season.
The AFC said that further details of the group play will be announced at a later date. A play off match between JSW Bengaluru and Club Eagles to decide the final group slot in Group D is still showing as being scheduled to be played in Male tomorrow (May 11).
“Participating clubs who have travelled to Maldives will be required to arrange for their return home while adhering to the COVID-19 health and travel protocols put in place by the country. At the same time, the AFC is in contact with all other Participating clubs and officials who have not entered the Maldives to cancel their travel arrangements,” said the AFC.
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