AFC builds towards Women’s Champions League with west zone pilot comp in Jordan

November 5 – Women’s club football in Asia takes another step forward this weekend with the four team AFC Women’s Club Championship 2021 – Pilot Tournament (West) kicking off Jordan.

The pilot tournament is the second run by the AFC as it prepares for the launch of the game-changing AFC Women’s Champions League. It marks a confederation commitment to widen the women’s game beyond its traditionally strong national teams (notably Australia, Japan, Korea -north and south – and China) and to create a sustainable and competitive regional club competition.

It has taken a while to get the women’s club game back into to the AFC competition schedule. The first pilot tournament was held pre-pandemic in 2019 in Yongin, Korea Republic, and won by Nippon TV Beleza of Japan. Since then the AFC has focussed more on securing its expanded Women’s Asian Cup – its fast growing competition for women’s national teams that will be played in India early next year.

Now attention is back on the club game and laying foundations for the AFC Women’s Champions League. Four women’s clubs will participate in the tournament in Jordan including hosts Amman Club, FC Bunyodkor from Uzbekistan, Islamic Republic of Iran’s Shahrdari Sirjan and Gokulam Kerala FC from India.

The opening match at the Aqaba Development Corporate Stadium will be between Uzbekistan champions FC Bunyodkor and Shahrdari Sirjan, who clinched the Iranian Women’s Football League for the first time. That game will be followed by first-time Indian Women’s League winners Gokulam Kerala FC will face Amman Club, who recently clinched their fifth Jordan Women’s Football League title.

The four teams will compete in a round-robin league format over three match days – November 7, 10 and 13

The  competition is also significant for the AFC technically as will test the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) Light concept in the tournament with the aim of creating more affordable VAR systems which can be used at all levels in football.

Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1711722233labto1711722233ofdlr1711722233owedi1711722233sni@n1711722233osloh1711722233cin.l1711722233uap1711722233


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