The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual

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al club

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competition organised 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 ( ...

. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below 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 ...

and above the AFC Challenge League. The competition was founded in 2004 as the AFC Cup, it was played primarily among clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying slots to the top-tier AFC Champions League. The competition rebranded to its current name in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. In a bid to increase competitivenes, its format was also changed to include clubs from higher ranked AFC member associations. The prize money was also increased. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in national leagues and cup competitions. Participation in the competition is open to clubs from the top 12 nations in the

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and the

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region based on the AFC club competitions ranking. The participant from each nation ranked 1–6 in each region is the highest-placed club in that nation that did not qualify for the AFC Champions League Elite. The nations ranked 7–12 in each region enter their top club(s) directly to the AFC Champions League Two. The winner of the AFC Champions League Two will be allocated an indirect preliminary stage slot for the next AFC Champions League Elite season, if they have not already qualified through domestic competition. The current champions of the competition is

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, who defeated Al-Ahed in the 2024 final. Al-Kuwait and

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya () is an Iraqi sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Iraq, Rusafa District, Baghdad that competes in the Iraq Stars League, the top-flight of Football in Iraq, Iraqi football. Founded in 1931, it is the oldest existing club in Iraq. ...

are the most successful clubs in the competition's history, having won three titles each. Clubs from

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

have won four titles, making them the most successful nation in the competition.

History

The AFC Cup began in 2004 as a second-tier competition to relate back to the

AFC Champions League 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 ...

, as 14 countries that had developing status competed in the first competition, with 18 teams being nominated. The winners and three runners-up would then head to the knock-out stage. Al-Jaish took the first AFC Cup after they defeated fellow Syrian opponents Al-Wahda on away goals. In 2005, 18 teams competed from nine nations with the nations still being allowed to choose from one or two teams entering. After Syrian teams left the AFC Cup to try at the AFC Champions League for four years, Al-Faisaly defeated Nejmeh in the final. With it, Jordanian teams would win the next two AFC Cup seasons with Bahrain joining the league while Bangladesh was relegated to the

AFC President's Cup The AFC Challenge League (previously known as the AFC President's Cup, abbreviated as ACGL) is an annual third-tier continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. The competition is played among clubs from n ...

until the tournament's abolition in 2014. Al-Muharraq would break the trend in 2008 as they won the last two-legged final before it headed back into a one-leg system, a rule that was never changed until now. On 23 December 2022, it was announced that the AFC competition structure would change from the established formats from the 2024–25 season. A new second-tier tournament called the AFC Champions League Two would be introduced. Meanwhile, a new third-tier competition was also launched under the name AFC Challenge League. On 24 May 2024, AFC announced that the records and statistics of the preceding AFC club competitions will be recognised and integrated within the revamped club competitions, with the data from the AFC Cup transferring to the AFC Champions League Two.

Format

Some changes were applied in terms of teams and format for the 2017 AFC Cup. A total of 36 teams participated in the group stage (12 each from

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and

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, and 4 each from

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

, and

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

). The final is played as a one-off match.

Allocation

The allocation of group stage teams by member country was listed below; asterisks represent occasions where at least one team was eliminated in qualification for the group stage. Those who had not reached the group stage but had only played in qualification are not bolded.

Prize money

The prize money as of the 2024–25 AFC Champions League Two are as follows, in

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(USD):

Marketing

Sponsorship

The tournament has been sponsored by a group of multinational corporations, in contrast to the single main sponsor typically found in national top-flight leagues. Official Global Partners *

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Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. (, ''al-Qaṭariyya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the flag carrier of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke network, flying to over 170 internatio ...

* Visit Saudi Official Global Supporters *

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

* Midea * Molten * Tecno Mobile *

Visa Inc. Visa Inc. () is an American multinational payment card services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded credit cards, debit c ...

Records and statistics

Results

Performance by clubs

Performance by nations

Top scorers

Most Valuable Player

Winning coaches

Top goalscorers

Notes

References

External links

AFC Cup
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:AFC Champions League Two AFC Champions League Two Asian Football Confederation club competitions Recurring sporting events established in 2004 2004 establishments in Asia Multi-national professional sports leagues