2020 AFC Champions League

2020 AFC Champions League

The 2020 AFC Champions League is the 39th edition of Asia’s premier club football tournament. The tournament is the last to involve 32 teams during the group stage, with an increase to 40 teams scheduled for the 2021 season. The competition was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.

About 2020 AFC Champions League in brief

Summary 2020 AFC Champions LeagueThe 2020 AFC Champions League is the 39th edition of Asia’s premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation. The tournament is the last to involve 32 teams during the group stage, with an increase to 40 teams scheduled for the 2021 season. The competition was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia after group stage matches on 4 March 2020, and restarted on 14 September 2020. All matches after restart will be played in Qatar, with the final played at the Al Janoub Stadium. Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia were the defending champions, but were considered to have withdrawn from the competition and effectively disqualified by the AFC after they failed to name the required 13 players.

For the first time, the video assistant referee system will be in use from the quarter-finals onwards. The 46 AFC member associations are ranked based on their national team’s and clubs’ performance over the last four years in AFC competitions. The allocation of slots for the 2019 and 2020 editions of the AFC club competitions determined by the 2017 AFC rankings. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four: four groups each in the West Region and the East Region. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. All losers in each round from associations with only play-off slots entered the AFC Cup group stage.