FOOTBALL – Bahrain champions Al Khaldiya were yesterday drawn in a challenging group for the opening round of the all-new Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Two.
The kingdom’s representatives are in Group B in the second-tier AFC competition alongside Al Taawoun FC of Saudi Arabia, Air Force SC of Iraq, and Altyn Asyr FC of Turkmenistan.
The official draw for the tournament’s group stages was held yesterday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It divided the 32 participating clubs into eight groups – four each for West and East Asia.
Other participating clubs from West Asia are from Qatar, Iran, India, Tajikistan, the UAE, Jordan, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait. From East Asia, the teams taking part are from Japan, Australia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, and Malaysia.
Khaldiya head coach Ali Ashoor was upbeat following yesterday’s draw results. “We are in a good group; it is a balanced group,” Ashoor told the GDN. “Taawoun are a very good team and Air Force are one of the best teams in Iraq.
“We don’t have much information about the Turkmenistan team and we will take the matches step by step.”
The action commences on September 17. The AFC has yet to announce the complete schedule for the preliminaries.
Khaldiya earned their spot in the ACL Two as champions of the 2023-24 Nasser Bin Hamad Bahrain Premier League. Taawoun were fourth in last season’s Saudi Pro League and reached the quarter-finals of Saudi’s King’s Cup. Air Force were second in the Iraq Stars League last season, while Altyn Asyr were also second-placers in the 2023-24 Turkmenistan Yokary Liga.
The ACL Two, formerly known as the AFC Cup, is the new second-tier continental club tournament. It is one level below the AFC Champions League Elite and one above the AFC Challenge League.
Bahrain’s Al Ahli Club also attempted to secure a spot in the event, but came up short in their bid to qualify after losing to Kuwait SC of Kuwait 0-1 at home in the single-game play-off earlier this week.
ACL Two group fixtures will be played in home-and-away format until December of this year. The top two from each division then move on to the round of 16 knockouts, to be held in 2025. This stage, along with the quarter-finals and semi-finals, will be played in two legs. That will set up the thrilling match-up in the final, which will be a single match on May 17 next year.
Participating teams in the 2024-25 ACL Two group stage are guaranteed a minimum of $300,000 in prize money, with additional bonuses available based on their eventual placings. The champions will receive at least $3.28 million, according to the AFC.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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