2009 AFC Champions League

Template:Future sport AFC Champions League 2009 will be the 28th AFC Champions League. It will be played between clubs from nations who are members of the Asian Football Confederation.

The Asian Football Confederation are currently reviewing the format of the AFC Champions League and are expected to make significant changes to way the competition is run.

From comments made in the press, it is likely that an extra stage in the knockout phase will be added so that the runners up as well as the winners from the group stage will progress. It is also likely that the previous season winner will no longer get a bye through to the knockout round.

The AFC Calendar for 2009 has a two-legged playoff round scheduled for 18 February and 25 February. There is also a standard six matchday group phase (from March to May) plus a "seventh matchday" (separately for East and West zones) before the two-legged quarter finals in September, two-legged semi finals in October and a one-off final in November.

The AFC have also indicated that more places will be made available for the more professional leagues in Asia and that prizemoney will be signficantly increased.

Qualification

ASEAN

Australia (2)

Template:ALeague CCM (2007-08 A-League Premiers) Template:ALeague NUJ (2007-08 A-League Champions)

East Asian

Japan

TBD (Note: 2007 Emperor's cup winner will be skipped to fix the year lag.)

West Asia

Kuwait (2)	Al Kuwait Kaifan (Kuwaiti Premier League 2007-08 Champions) TBD (2008 Kuwait Emir Cup Winners)
Qatar (2)	Al-Gharafa (Qatari League Champions ) TBD (2008 Emir of Qatar Cup Winners)

Group Stage

Yet to be determined.

External links

• AFC Champions League Official Page (English)

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