April 15 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has taken the next steps in outlining a club licensing pathway for women’s clubs, with a view to establishing a meet the requirements for participation in the AFC Women’s Champions League in 2023.
The AFC said it expects the club licensing criteria “to create a similar game-changing impact as witnessed with the Men’s Club Licensing and will focus on sporting, infrastructure, personnel and administrative, legal and financial requirements.”
That impact is expected to reverberate through both the commercial proposition of women’s football, and in particular the new Champions League, but also in encouraging improved performance as clubs are encouraged to professionalise.
AFC General Secretary Dato’ Windsor John said: “The AFC is focused on its commitment to develop women’s football at the national and club level. The AFC Women’s Club Licensing will instil professionalism, similar to men’s club football, which is essential for Clubs who want to compete in the AFC Women’s Champions League.”
The AFC is planning two pilot club tournaments, in 2021 and 2022, before the full launch of its Women’s Champions League in 2023. Competition regulations for the pilot tournaments (being called the AFC Women’s Club Championship) have been issued this week and national associations invited to nominate their champion women’s teams for entry.
It is envisaged the pilot tournaments will begin with group stages before progressing to knock out rounds, though no detail has been released of dates or number of groups. Qualification criteria looks likely at this stage be based on clubs showing they can fulfil licensing criteria, or at least a progression towards fulfilling the criteria.
In 2019 an AFC pilot tournament, held in South Korea with four clubs from four member associations, was won by Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza from Japan. The covid pandemic prevented a follow-up tournament in 2020. However, the AFC has now put its foot on the gas to speed up progression to the 2023 Champions League launch.
“Women’s football in Asia has enjoyed rapid growth in recent years and our national teams are among the best in the world,” said John.
“The AFC, as part of our Vision and Mission, aspires to raise the standards of women’s football by creating world-class club competitions, which in turn, will inspire more Member Associations to professionalise their domestic leagues.”
The AFC said that it will be supporting member associations and clubs on the implementation of the AFC Women’s Club Licensing via a series of workshops en route to the 2023 AFC Women’s Champions League launch.
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