The AFC Champions League is the current annual Asian club football competition hosted by Asian Football Confederation (AFC). In normal circumstances, 32 top clubs from fourteen Asian countries along with the defending champions competed in the tournament.

Including the results from Asian Champion Club Tournament and Asian Club Championships, seven clubs have won the tournament twice; Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Esteghlal F.C., Al-Hilal, Thai Farmers Bank FC, Pohang Steelers, Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Al Ittihad.

2009 AFC Asian Champions League
A bigger, better and richer AFC Champions League was launched here on Friday in a spectacular ceremony amidst fanfare, marking the dawn of a new era of professionalism in Asian football.

Attended by FIFA President Joseph Blatter and dignitaries from AFC and Member Associations from across the continent, as well as star players and special invited guests, the 2009 ACL launch showcased a fresh brand identity for Asia’s premier club competition.

The ceremony took place at the Toyota Mega Web after a dazzling build-up, which included a fashion show and interaction between the fans and football stars.

Japan provided a fitting venue for the launch of the new ACL given the guidance and influence that Japanese football leaders, with Captain Saburo Kawabuchi at the helm, had in creating the new tournament.

Kawabuchi, the former Japan Football Association President, was asked by AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam three years ago to lead the Ad Hoc Committee for the AFC Professional League Project.

“Asian football needs a strong regional club tournament to grow, and we hope that the new ACL will help Asian clubs strengthen themselves technically and administratively so we can be a force in world football,” said Captain Kawabuchi at the launch.

“It has been a long road. Many people have put in a lot of effort and we are delighted that we have come to a stage where we can launch this exciting new project.”

The 2009 ACL will feature 32 teams in the group stages instead of the 28 in previous events. Prize money has been increased with US$1.5 million for the winners and US$750,000 for the runners-up.

However, strict entry requirements means that only clubs and leagues that are professionally run as commercial entities are eligible to take part in the competition.

For this reason, only 10 Member Associations have earned direct entry into the group stages. Clubs from four other countries, in addition to the winners and runners-up of the AFC Cup, must go through the play-offs for two berths in the opening group stage.

AFC President Hammam said: “We had to implement tough measures to ensure that the clubs and leagues they represented are truly professional in the way they are run and play football.

“This is the only way to build up the credibility of this tournament. At the end of the day, Asian football benefits and we are delighted to see that so many associations and clubs are doing their best to meet our competition criteria.

“This is an exciting time in Asian football and we are looking forward to a fantastic competition in 2009.”

FIFA President Blatter said he was looking forward to the new AFC Champions League.

“Football in Asia continues to develop at great pace, and my memories of Japan and the Korean Republic during the 2002 FIFA World Cup are still very vivid,” said Blatter.

“FIFA´s commitment to football development across the continent has been long-standing, and with the new expanded AFC Champions League, I look forward to welcoming the winners next December, for the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.”

A Brief History (source Wikipedia)
Asian Champion Club Tournament Era (1967-1972)
The competition started as the Asian Champion Club Tournament back in 1967. Eight domestic champions from eight Asian leagues competed in the inaugural season. With the exception of 1968 season, the tournament was held annually until 1971. During this first four editions, two Israeli clubs from Tel Aviv took three championships. In 1972, the tournament canceled due to a lack of interests which eventually resulted in withdrawals of most participants except for two clubs. The tournament was not held for next fourteen years. This also because professionalism in Asian club football did not start till late 90s and early 2000s.

Asian Club Championship Era (1985/86-2001/02)
Using old European Cup as a model, the tournament returned to Asia during the 1985/86 season with a new name, Asian Club Championship. Entry was restricted to the domestic champions of certain Asian leagues. Even so, few withdrawal were seen from year to year. From 1990, AFC introduced Asian Cup Winners Cup which, as the name suggest, was also restricted to domestic cup winners. The winners of these two Asian tournaments then played at the Asian Super Cup.

AFC Champions League Era (2002/03)
From 2002/03 season the three major Asian tournaments, Asian Champions Cup, Asian Cup Winners Cup, and Asian Super Cup was merged into one larger competition and was re-branded as AFC Champions League. In the previous years, the domestic champions and cup winners were sorted into two different continental tournaments, but now both domestic champions and cup winners enter into one competition. In the first edition, after several qualifying round, a total of sixteen clubs participated. One club from each group hosted the group stage which were conducted with the single round-robin format in a week. Four group winners, then qualified to the semifinals, which unsurprising were the four hosts of the group stage. The semifinal and the finals were contested in two-legged aggregate series.

The 2003/04 season was canceled due to SARS virus outbreak and the War in Iraq.

The 2004-2008 Seasons
The tournament was re-launched in 2004 season with 28 clubs from fourteen countries. Unlike previous year, tournament schedule changed from March to November. In the group stage, the 28 clubs from 14 or 15 nations were divided into 7 groups of four and played double round-robin in home and away basis. Then the seven group winners along with defending champions qualified to the quarterfinals. Quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals were two-legged series, with away goal, extra time, and penalties used as tie-breaker. From 2007, Australian clubs were included in the tournament, following their transfer into the AFC Confederation in 2006. With lack of professionalism in Asian Football, many problem still existed in the tournament, such as on the field violence and late submission of the player registration. Many blamed the lack of prize money and expensive travel cost as the some of the season. However, with the introduction FIFA World Club Championship in 2005 (or FIFA Club World Cup), inclusion of English media through Australian League, and two consecutive win by Japanese sides, most professional football league in Asia, allowed the 2004 to 2008 season to set a foot at more competitive and more professional stage in 2009.

The 2009 season – present
The champions league is expanded to 32 clubs and entry will be limited to the top eleven Asian leagues. Each country will receive up to 4 slots depending on the strength of their league, league structure (professionalism), marketability, financial status, and other criteria set out by the AFC Pro-League committee. The group stage will be conducted in the same manner as the previous four tournaments; however, the group winners and eight runners-up will qualify to the round of 16. At Round-of-16, the group-winners will play host to runners-up, matched regionally.