Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

2017 AFC Champions League

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Matches played
  
43

Dates
  
25 Jan 2017 – 25 Nov 2017

Teams
  
47

Goals scored
  
126 (2.93 per match)

Location
  
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


Attendance
  
453,980 (10,558 per match)

Top scorer(s)
  
Youssef El-Arabi (3 goals)

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

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 associations are split into two regions:
  • West Region consists of the associations from the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF), the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA), and the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF).
  • East Region consists of the associations from the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF).
  • In each region, there are four groups in the group stage, including a total of 12 direct slots, with the 4 remaining slots filled through play-offs.
  • The top 12 associations in each region as per the AFC rankings are eligible to enter the AFC Champions League, as long as they fulfill the AFC Champions League criteria.
  • The top six associations in each region get at least one direct slot in the group stage, while the remaining associations get only play-off slots:
  • The associations ranked 1st and 2nd each gets three direct slots and one play-off slot (in play-off round).
  • The associations ranked 3rd gets two direct slots and two play-off slots (both in play-off round).
  • The associations ranked 4th gets two direct slots and two play-off slots (both in preliminary round 2).
  • The associations ranked 5th gets one direct slot and two play-off slots (both in preliminary round 2).
  • The associations ranked 6th gets one direct slot and one play-off slot (in preliminary round 2).
  • The associations ranked 7th to 12th each gets one play-off slot (in preliminary round 1).
  • The maximum number of slots for each association is one-third of the total number of clubs in the top division (e.g., Australia can only get a maximum of three total slots as there are only nine Australia-based clubs in the A-League).
  • If any association gives up its direct slots, they are redistributed to the highest eligible association, with each association limited to a maximum of three direct slots.
  • If any association gives up its play-off slots, they are annulled and not redistributed to any other association.

    • 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.

    Notes

    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.

    Notes

    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

    References

    2017 AFC Champions League Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA