Matches played 43 Dates 25 Jan 2017 – 25 Nov 2017 Teams 47 | Goals scored 126 (2.93 per match) | |
Attendance 453,980 (10,558 per match) Similar 2016 AFC Champions League, 2015 AFC Champions League, 2014 AFC Champions League, 2016 AFC Cup, 2004 AFC Champions League |
The 2017 AFC Champions League is the 36th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 15th under the current AFC Champions League title.
Contents
- Association team allocation
- Teams
- Schedule
- Qualifying play off
- Group stage
- Knockout stage
- Bracket
- Round of 16
- Quarter finals
- Semi finals
- Final
- Top scorers
- References
The winners of the 2017 AFC Champions League will qualify as the AFC representative at the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. If a team from the United Arab Emirates wins the AFC Champions League, the runners-up will also qualify (in place of the winners of the 2016–17 UAE Pro-League).
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors are the defending champions, but on 18 January 2017, they were excluded from the 2017 AFC Champions League due to bribery scandal in the domestic K League. Jeonbuk appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but their request for provisional measures was rejected on 3 February.
Association team allocation
The AFC Competitions Committee proposed a revamp of the AFC club competitions on 25 January 2014, which was ratified by the AFC Executive Committee on 16 April 2014. The 46 AFC member associations (excluding the associate member Northern Mariana Islands) are ranked based on their national team's and clubs' performance over the last four years in AFC competitions, with the allocation of slots for the 2017 and 2018 editions of the AFC club competitions determined by the 2016 AFC rankings:
The final association ranking used to determine the slot allocation was published on 30 November 2016. The slot allocation was announced on 7 December 2016, with India and Maldives returning to the West Region. The final slot allocation, after unused slots were redistributed, was announced on 12 December 2016.
Teams
The following 47 teams from 19 associations entered the competition.
In the following table, the number of appearances and last appearance count only those since the 2002–03 season (including qualifying rounds), when the competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows. Starting from 2017, matches in the West Region will be played on Mondays and Tuesdays instead of Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Qualifying play-off
In the qualifying play-off, each tie was played as a single match. Extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 9.2). The eight winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the 24 direct entrants. All losers in each round which are from associations with only play-off slots entered the AFC Cup group stage.
The bracket of the qualifying play-off was determined by the AFC based on the association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the match. Teams from the same association could not be placed into the same play-off.
Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held on 13 December 2016, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Hilton Petaling Jaya in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four: four groups each in the West Region (Groups A–D) and the East Region (Groups E–H). Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.
In the group stage, each group is played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advance to the round of 16.
Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, the 16 teams play a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split into the two regions until the final. Each tie is played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 11.3).
Bracket
The bracket of the knockout stage will be known after the draw for the quarter-finals.
Round of 16
In the round of 16, the winners of one group play the runners-up of another group from the same region, with the group winners hosting the second leg.
Quarter-finals
In the quarter-finals, the four teams from the West Region play in two ties, and the four teams from the East Region play in two ties, with the matchups and order of legs decided by draw.
Semi-finals
In the semi-finals, the two quarter-final winners from the West Region play each other, and the two quarter-final winners from the East Region play each other, with the order of legs determined by the quarter-final draw.
Final
In the final, the two semi-final winners play each other, with the order of legs reversed from the previous season's final, with the team from the West Region hosting the first leg, and the team from the East Region hosting the second leg.
Top scorers
Note: Goals scored in the qualifying play-off are not counted when determining top scorer (Regulations Article 64.4).
Source: AFC