September 7 – The draw for the AFC Women’s Club Championship 2023 has pitched top-seeded Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies of Japan against Chinese Taipei’s Hualien Women, Bangkok FC of Thailand and India’s Sree Gokulam Kerala in Group A.
Urawa Reds women are bidding to emulate the success of their men’s team who are the current AFC Champions League holders and have won that competition three times.
Group A will be hosted in Thailand and will be played November 6 to 12. Group B will be hosted in Uzbekistan and played on the same dates.
In Group B of the AFC’s invitational club women’s tournament – that will give way to an inaugural Women’s Champions League in 2023/24 – Australia’s Sydney FC will face Korea Republic’s Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC, and FC Nasaf of Uzbekistan and Islamic Republic of Iran’s Bam Khatoon.
A one-round league format will see the four teams play against each other in the two groups. The two group winners will qualify for the final.
DRAW RESULT
Group A: Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (JPN), Hualien Women’s Football Team (TPE), Bangkok FC (THA), Sree Gokulam Kerala Football Club (IND)
Group B: Sydney FC (AUS), Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC (KOR), FC Nasaf (UZB), Bam Khatoon (IRN)
Women’s Champions League launch
The format for the first edition of the AFC Women’s Champions League will kick off with a preliminary qualification stage in August 2024 before progressing to a group stage in October 2024.
For the 2024/25 to 2027/28 seasons, each national federation will be allowed one club entry. This allows clubs time to work towards implementation of AFC club licensing criteria which will now be enforced from the 2028/29 season.
The 12 clubs in the group stage in 2024 will be divided into three groups of four teams, with matches played in a centralised single round robin format in each group.
The top two and the two best third-placed sides will advance to the quarter-finals, which will be decided over a single leg tie at the venue of the higher ranked/seeded club in March 2025.
The semi-finals and final will also be single-leg contests to be played in a centralised venue, 21-24 May 2025.
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