AFC Champions League Two explained

AFC Champions League Two
Organiser:	AFC
Founded:	(as AFC Cup)
Region:	Asia
Number Of Teams:	32 (group stage)
Qualifier For:	AFC Champions League Elite
Related Comps:
Current Champions:	Central Coast Mariners (1st title)
Most Successful Club:	Al-Kuwait Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (3 titles each)
Current:	2024–25 AFC Champions League Two

The AFC Champions League Two (previously known as the AFC Cup, abbreviated as the ACL 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 tournament was founded in 2004 as the AFC Cup, which was played primarily among clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying slots to the top-tier AFC Champions League. In 2024, the AFC introduced a revamped second-tier club competition under the name AFC Champions League Two, with the records and statistics of the AFC Cup transferring to the new competition.

Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in national leagues and cup competitions. Participation in the competition is open to clubs from the top 12 nations in the East and the West region based on the AFC club competitions ranking. The participant from each nation ranked 1–6 in each region is the highest-placed club in that nation that did not qualify for the AFC Champions League Elite. The nations ranked 7–12 in each region enter their top club(s) directly to the AFC Champions League Two.

The current champions are Central Coast Mariners, who defeated Al-Ahed in the 2024 final. Al-Kuwait and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya are the most successful clubs in the competition's history, having won three titles each. Clubs from Kuwait have won four titles, making them the most successful nation in the competition.

History

Winners
Season	Winners
AFC Cup
2004	Al-Jaish
2005	Al-Faisaly
2006	Al-Faisaly
2007	Shabab Al-Ordon
2008	Al-Muharraq
2009	Kuwait SC
2010	Al-Ittihad
2011	Nasaf
2012	Kuwait SC
2013	Kuwait SC
2014	Al-Qadsia
2015	Johor Darul Ta'zim
2016	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2017	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2018	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2019	Al Ahed
2020	Cancelled
2021	Al-Muharraq
2022	Al-Seeb
2023–24	Central Coast Mariners
AFC Champions League Two

The AFC Cup began in 2004 as a second-tier competition to relate back to the AFC Champions League as 14 countries that had developing status competed in the first competition with 18 teams being nominated. The winners and three runners-up would then head to the knock-out stage where it was a random draw in who was going to play. Al-Jaish took the first AFC Cup after they defeated fellow Syrian opponents Al-Wahda on away goals.

In 2005, 18 teams competed from nine nations with the nations still being allowed to choose from one or two teams entering. After Syrian teams left the AFC Cup to try at the AFC Champions League for four years, Al-Faisaly defeated Nejmeh in the final. With it, Jordanian teams would win the next two AFC Cup seasons with Bahrain joining the league while Bangladesh was relegated to the AFC President's Cup until the tournament's abolition in 2014.

Al-Muharraq would break the trend in 2008 as they competed in the last two-legged final before it headed back into a one-leg system, a rule that was never changed till the termination of this tournament.

On 23 December 2022, it was announced that the AFC competition structure would change from the established formats from the 2024–25 season. A new second-tier tournament called the AFC Champions League Two would be introduced.^[1] Meanwhile, a new third-tier competition was also launched under the name AFC Challenge League.^[2] ^[3] ^[4]

On 24 May 2024, AFC announced that the records and statistics of the preceding AFC club competitions will be recognised and integrated within the revamped club competitions, with the data from the AFC Cup transferring to the AFC Champions League Two.^[5]

Format

Some changes were applied in terms of teams and format for the 2017 AFC Cup. A total of 36 teams participated in the group stage (12 each from West Asia and ASEAN, and 4 each from East Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia). The final is played as a one-off match.

Allocation

The allocation of group stage teams by member country was listed below; asterisks represent occasions where at least one team was eliminated in qualification for the group stage. Those who had not reached the group stage but had only played in qualification are not bolded.

Associations	Spots
Associations	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023–24	2024–25
align=center colspan=21	EAFF
China	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Chinese Taipei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	1	1*	1	1	2*	0
Guam	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hong Kong	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	2	1	2	2	0	2
Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Macau	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	1	0	1	0	0	1*	0
Mongolia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	0*	0*	0*	1	0*	1	0
North Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1*	0	0	0	0	0
South Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	5
AFF
Australia				0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
Brunei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0*	0	0*	0
Cambodia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1*	1	1	1	2	2	1*	0
Indonesia	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	2	1	2	2	2	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2*	1
Laos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0*	0*	1	1*	0*	1	0*	0
Malaysia	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	0	0	2	2	2	1
Myanmar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	1*	0
Philippines	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1*	2	2	2	2	2	0	1	2	2
Singapore	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2
Thailand	0	0	0±	1	0	2	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3*
Timor-Leste	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	0	0	0
Vietnam	0	0	0	1	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1
Total	4	4	4	6	4	8	8	7	10	10	10	10	9	11	12	12	12	11	11	12	11
SAFF
Bangladesh	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	1*	1*	1	1*	1*	1*	1*	0
Bhutan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0
India	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2	2	2*	1*
Maldives	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2	2	2	2	1*	1*	0	2	1*	1*	1*	0
Nepal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0*	0	1	0	0*	0*	0*	0
Pakistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sri Lanka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0*	0*	0*	0*	0	0
Total	5	6	6	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	1
CAFA
Afghanistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Iran	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2*
Kyrgyzstan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0*	0*	2	1*	1*	2	2	2	1*	0
Tajikistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	1*	1*	1*	1*	2	2	2	2	1*	2
Turkmenistan	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1*	1*	1*	2	1*	2	2	2	2*	1*
Uzbekistan	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	1
Total	2	2	2	2	0	1	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	7	7	7	4	6
align=center colspan=21	WAFF
Bahrain	0	0	1	1	2	2	1	0	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	1*
Iraq	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	1
Jordan	0	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	1	2
Kuwait	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	3	3	2	2	2	0	0	0	2	2	1	2	2	1*
Lebanon	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0
Oman	1	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2	2	2	1*	1*	0	2	1*	0
Palestine	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1*	2	0*	0*	1	1	2	2	1*	0
Qatar	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Saudi Arabia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Syria	2	0	0	0	0	2	3	3	2	1*	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2*	0
United Arab Emirates	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2*
Yemen	1	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0*	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	6	4	6	10	10	17	16	17	16	14	14	14	14	12	12	12	12	11	12	12	9
Total
Finals	18	18	20	24	20	32	31	32	32	32	32	32	32	34	36	36	39	37	37	36	32
Qualifying	18	18	20	24	20	32	31	32	33	33	34	41	40	50	44	43	48	43	43	49	36

Prize money

The prize money for the 2024–25 AFC Champions League Two is as follows:^[6]

Round	Teams	Amount
Round	Teams	Per team	Total
Final (Champions)	1	$2.5m	$2,500,000
Final (Runners-up)	1	$1m	$1,000,000
Semi-finals	4	$240k	$960,000
Quarter-finals	8	$160k	$1,280,000
Round of 16	16	$80k	$1,280,000
Group stage	32	$300k	$9,600,000
Total	32	$16,620,000

Marketing

Sponsorship

The tournament has been sponsored by a group of multinational corporations, in contrast to the single main sponsor typically found in national top-flight leagues.

Official Global Partners

Official Global Supporters

Records and statistics

Results

See main article: List of AFC Cup and AFC Champions League Two finals.

Performance by nations

Titles	Runners-up	Total
4	3	7
3	2	5
3	1	4
2	2	4
2	1	3
1	3	4
1	1	2
1	1	2
1	0	1
1	0	1
0	2	2
0	1	1
0	1	1
0	1	1

Top scorers

Year	Player	Club	Goals
2004	Indra Sahdan Daud	Home United	7
Egmar Goncalves	Home United
2005	Mo'ayyad Salim	Al-Faisaly	9
2006	Mahmoud Shelbaieh	Al-Wehdat	8
2007	Odai Al Saify	Shabab Al-Ordun	5
Mohammed Ghaddar	Nejmeh
2008	Rico	Al-Muharraq	19
2009	Robert Akaruye	Busaiteen	8
Mohamad Hamwi	Al-Karamah
Jehad Al Hussain	Al-Kuwait
Huỳnh Kesley Alves	Bình Dương
2010	Afonso Alves	Al-Rayyan	9
2011	Ivan Bošković	Nasaf Qarshi	10
2012	Amjad Radhi	Erbil	9
Raja Rafe	Al-Shorta
2013	Issam Jemâa	Al-Kuwait	16
2014	Juan Belencoso	Kitchee	11
2015	Daniel McBreen	South China	8
Riste Naumov	Ayeyawady United
2016	Hammadi Ahmed	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	16
2017	Kim Yu-song	April 25	9
2018	An Il-bom	April 25	12
2019	Bienvenido Marañón	Ceres–Negros	10
2020	Bienvenido Marañón	Ceres–Negros	5
2021	Khusayin Norchaev	Nasaf Qarshi	7
2022	Jasur Hasanov	Sogdiana Jizzakh	5
Paulo Josué	Kuala Lumpur City
Pedro Paulo	Viettel
2023–24	Marco Túlio	Central Coast Mariners	8

Most Valuable Player

Year	Player	Club
2011	Artur Gevorkyan	Nasaf Qarshi
2012	Rogerinho	Al-Kuwait
2013	Bader Al-Mutawa	Al-Qadsia
2014	Saif Al Hashan	Al-Qadsia
2015	Safiq Rahim	Johor Darul Ta'zim
2016	Hammadi Ahmed	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2017	Manuchekhr Dzhalilov	Istiklol
2018	Hammadi Ahmed	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2019	Mehdi Khalil	Al-Ahed
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
2021	Abdulwahab Al-Malood	Al-Muharraq
2022	Eid Al-Farsi	Al-Seeb
2023–24	Mikael Doka	Central Coast Mariners

Winning coaches

Year	Club	Coach
2004	Al-Jaish	Costică Ștefănescu
2005	Al-Faisaly	Branko Smiljanić
2006	Al-Faisaly	Adnan Hamad
2007	Shabab Al-Ordon	Nizar Mahrous
2008	Al-Muharraq	Salman Sharida
2009	Al-Kuwait	Mohamad Abdulla
2010	Al-Ittihad	Valeriu Tița
2011	Nasaf Qarshi	Anatoliy Demyanenko
2012	Al-Kuwait	Marin Ion
2013	Al-Kuwait	Marin Ion
2014	Al-Qadsia	Antonio Puche
2015	Johor Darul Ta'zim	Mario Gomez
2016	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Basim Qasim
2017	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Hussam Al Sayed
2018	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Basim Qasim
2019	Al-Ahed	Bassem Marmar
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
2021	Al-Muharraq	Isa Sadoon Al-Hamdani
2022	Al-Seeb	Rashid Jaber
2023–24	Central Coast Mariners	Mark Jackson

Top goalscorers

^[13]

Rank	Player	Club
1	Bienvenido Marañón	Ceres–Negros
2	Mahmoud Shelbaieh	Al-Wehdat
3	Aleksandar Đurić	Geylang United, Singapore Armed Forces, Tampines Rovers
3	Amjad Radhi	Erbil SC, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
5	Bader Al-Mutawa	Qadsia SC
5	Rico	Al-Muharraq, Al-Riffa, Al-Hidd
7	Ali Ashfaq	Club Valencia, New Radiant, VB Sports Club

External links

AFC Cup on RSSSF

Notes and References

Web site: History beckons for AFC Cup 2023/24 contenders as final edition of popular competition kicks off. 21 September 2023. 15 September 2023. the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. en.
Web site: AFC Competitions Committee recommends strategic reforms to elevate Asian club football . theAFC.com . 24 December 2022 . en . 24 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221224020236/https://www.the-afc.com/en/more/afc_competitions/news/afc_competitions_committee_recommends_strategic_reforms_to_elevate_asian_club_football.html . live .
Web site: 14 August 2023 . AFC Executive Committee approves biggest prize purse in Asian club football history from 2024/25; announces AFC Women's Champions League . AFC. 14 August 2023.
Web site: AFC Club Competitions 2024/25 Slot Allocation . Football Association of Singapore. 11 October 2023.
Web site: Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee . 2024-05-24 . the-AFC . en.
AFC Champions League Two™ 2024/25 . 2024-06-19 . The AFC Hub . 2024-06-20 . YouTube.
Web site: 10 July 2024 . AFC and NEOM announce global multi-year partnership extension . 12 July 2024 . the-afc.com . Asian Football Confederation.
Web site: Long . Michael . 18 December 2023 . AFC lands six-year Qatar Airways sponsorship deal . 19 December 2023 . SportsPro.
Web site: 16 December 2023 . AFC and Qatar Airways announce global partnership . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240509075258/https://www.the-afc.com/en/more/afc_news/news/afc_and_qatar_airways_announce_global_partnership.html . 9 May 2024 . 20 December 2023 . the-afc.com . . en.
Web site: 25 January 2021 . AFC and KONAMI sign new sponsorship and licensing deal . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210903201801/https://www.the-afc.com/competitions/afc-champions-league/latest/news/afc-and-konami-sign-new-sponsorship-and-licensing-deal . 3 September 2021 . 23 November 2023 . the-afc.com . . en-SG.
Web site: 5 May 2018 . AFC appoints world-leading ball manufacturer Molten as official match ball supplier . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180504222656/http://www.the-afc.com/competitions/afc-asian-cup/latest/news/afc-appoints-world-leading-ball-manufacturer-molten-as-official-match-ball-suppl . 4 May 2018 . 23 November 2023 . the-afc.com . . en-GB.
Web site: TECNO becomes Official Global Supporter of AFC Club Competitions . 2024-08-14 . the-AFC . en.
Web site: AFC Cup: Marañón leads all-time top scorers. the-afc.com. 12 March 2020. 11 May 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210511124104/https://www.the-afc.com/competitions/afc-cup/latest/news/the-all-time-top-scorers. live.