Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Football Confederation’s Competitions Committee has confirmed the slot allocation for the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC Champions League.
The decisions were made based on three criteria, namely the AFC Member Associations Ranking 2014, the AFC Champions League Criteria and the Club License of the clubs eligible to participate in the most prestigious club competition in Asia.
Korea Republic, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Uzbekistan lead the way with three teams from each country gaining direct access to the AFC Champions League group stage, while the quintet will each have one representative in the competition’s initial play-off stage (3 group stage + 1 play-off).
Elsewhere, there will be two teams from Australia (2+1), the United Arab Emirates (2+2) and China (2+2) in the AFC Champions League group stage, while Thailand (1+2), Qatar (1+2) and Vietnam (1+1) have all been allocated one slot each for the main phase.
Indonesia, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Malaysia, India, Singapore, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman and Bahrain will have one representative each in the play-off stage (preliminary rounds) and their teams would return to the AFC Cup 2015 group stage if they fail to advance to the AFC Champions League 2015 group stage.
Slot Allocation for the ACL 2015-2016 (EAST)
| **EAST** |
| **Rank** | **Member Association** | **ACL Slot Allocation for 2015-2016** | **Club Licence of a Sportingly Eligible Club(s) for Participation in 2015** | **Number of Participating Clubs in ACL 2015** |
| 1 | Korea Republic | 3+1 | Yes | 3+1 |
| 2 | Japan | 3+1 | Yes | 3+1 |
| 3 | Australia | 2+1 | Yes | 2+1 |
| 4 | China | 2+2 | Yes | 2+2 |
| 5 | Thailand | 1+2 | Yes | 1+2 |
| 6 | Vietnam | 1+1 | Yes | 1+1 |
| 7 | Indonesia | 0+1 | Yes | 0+1 |
| 8 | Hong Kong | 0+1 | Yes | 0+1 |
| 9 | Myanmar | 0+1 | Yes | 0+1 |
| 10 | Malaysia | 0+1 | Yes | 0+1 |
| 11 | India | 0+1 | Yes | 0+1 |
| 12 | Singapore | 0+1 | Yes | 0+1 |
Slot Allocation for the ACL 2015-2016 (WEST)
| **WEST** |
| **Rank** | **Member Association** | **ACL Slot Allocation for 2015-2016** | **Club Licence of a Sportingly Eligible Club(s) for Participation in 2015** | **Number of Participating Clubs in ACL 2015** |
| 1 | Saudi Arabia | 3+1 | Yes | 3+1 |
| 2 | Iran | 3+1 | Yes | 3+1 |
| 3 | Uzbekistan | 3+1 | Yes | 3+1 |
| 4 | UAE | 2+2 | Yes | 2+2 |
| 5 | Qatar | 1+2 | Yes | 1+2 |
| 6 | Iraq | 0+2 | No | 0+0 |
| 7 | Kuwait | 0+1 | Yes | 0+1 |
| 8 | Jordan | 0+1 | Yes | 0+1 |
| 9 | Oman | 0+1 | Yes | 0+1 |
| 10 | Bahrain | 0+1 | Yes | 0+1 |
| 11 | Lebanon | 0+1 | No | 0+0 |
| 12 | Syria | 0+1 | No | 0+0 |