The 2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite (ACL Elite) will be the 44th edition of Asia's premier club

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tournament, organized by the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

(AFC), and the second under the

AFC Champions League Elite The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

title. The finals will be played in

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. The tournament winner will qualify for the

2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup The FIFA Intercontinental Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The first edition took place in 2024. The competition features the club champions of the six confe ...

and

2029 FIFA Club World Cup The 2029 FIFA Club World Cup will be the 22nd edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, an international club football competition organised by FIFA. The tournament is scheduled to be played from June and July 2029. It is planned to be the second under ...

. Additionally, the winner will enter the league stage of the 2026–27 AFC Champions League Elite, if they have not already qualified through domestic performance. Al Ahli are the defending champions.

Association team allocation

The associations are allocated slots according to their club competitions ranking which was published after the 2023–24 competitions were completed. Slots are subject to later re-balancing based on the 2024–25 competition results.

Teams

''In the following table, the number of appearances and last appearance count since the 2002–03 season, when the competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League.'' ;Notes.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows. ;Notes

Qualifying play-offs

The two winners of the play-off round (one from West Region and one from East Region) advanced to the

league stage League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

to join the 22 direct entrants. The losers of the qualifying play-offs will enter the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

of the

2025–26 AFC Champions League Two The 2025–26 AFC Champions League Two will be the 22nd edition of the Asia's second-tier club football tournament, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the second under the AFC Champions League Two title. It will feature 32 t ...

West Region

East Region

League stage

The league phase draw is scheduled to take place on 15 August 2025.

West Region

East Region

References

External links

AFC Champions League Elite – 2025–26 Competition RegulationsArchive1Archive2Archive3

AFC Champions League Elite – 2025–26 Competition Regulations (Updated on 15 May 2025)Archive1Archive2Archive3

AFC Calendar 2025–26 (Updated on 15 May 2025)Archived1Archive2Archive3
1 1 AFC Champions League Elite seasons Scheduled association football competitions Long stubs with short prose {{footy-competition-stub

Association team allocation

Teams

Schedule

Qualifying play-offs

West Region

East Region

League stage

West Region

East Region

See also

References

External links