Winners of revamped event known as Asian Champions League Elite to earn US$12m prize money
- The event, which starts in August with a preliminary stage, comes after a revamp of Asian football and involves 27 clubs from 12 nations.
The winners of the new Asian Champions League Elite will pocket a minimum of US$12 million, the Asian Football Confederation said on Wednesday in a major boost to club football in the region.
The competition, which kicks off with a preliminary round in August, is at the heart of a major revamp of club football across the continent and involves 27 clubs from 12 nations including Japan, South Korea, Australia and Saudi Arabia.
The first prize is a three-time increase from the sum won by Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates in May in the final edition of the Asian Champions League under its previous format.
Five clubs will feature in the preliminaries of the Asian Champions League Elite from August 6 to 13, with two teams joining the 22 clubs to have directly qualified for the league stage.
Qatar’s Al-Gharafa will take on the winner of a tie between Shabab Al-Ahli from the UAE and an as-yet unknown Iranian qualifier while in the east China’s Shandong Taishan will face off against Bangkok United from Thailand.
The draw for the league phase, where clubs will be divided into western and eastern zones, will take place on August 16, with fixtures running from September 16 to February 19.
