Live broadcast on August 14-on August 14, local time in Kuala Lumpur, the executive committee of the Asian Football Association held an online meeting to announce the “new era” of Asian club football “, the names of the three new Asian club competitions after the restructuring were announced. At the same time, the funds of 76 participating teams were greatly increased, and the introduction of the FIFA Women’s Champions League was announced. These three pioneering initiatives aim to push Football Asia to new heights and promote greater growth and inclusiveness. These reforms will take effect from the /2025 season. The top League of Asian club football, which will be attended by the top 24 clubs in the Asian continent, will be named the AFC Champions League Elite (ACLE), in addition, the second level competition composed of 32 teams will be called the AFC Champions League 2 (ACL2 for short), and the last level competition will be won by 20 clubs, it is named AFC Challenge League (ACGL). The Champions League of the Asian Football Association will receive a total prize of 12 million dollars, which is a huge increase compared with the upcoming Prize of 4 million dollars for the Champions League of the 2023/24 season. On the other hand, the runner-up of the FIFA Champions League will get 6 million dollars, which is 4 million dollars more than the prize of the Champions League runner-up in the /24 season, and they can only get 2 million dollars this season. The bonuses and benefits of the FIFA Champions League 2 and the FIFA challenge League will also be comprehensively improved. As for the newly established FIFA Women’s Football Champions League, which will feature top competitions, all eligible FIFA women’s football clubs will be invited to participate and adopt the financial distribution mode, the specific allocation of this model will be announced in due course. The AFC has successfully organized two pilot sessions of the FIFA Women’s Club Championship in 2021 and 2022, and the third session will be held later this year. The president of the Asian Football Association, Shaikh Salman, said at the meeting: “Our club competition is already one of the best and most profitable competitions on the mainland. Today, the Asian Football Association is starting a new historical era, these forward-looking measures are carried out in Asian men’s and women’s club football.” “FIFA has always believed that we have the responsibility and obligation to reward winners. In recent years, the increase of bonuses and travel subsidies has had a lasting impact on our club, we fully believe that the strategic reform and the new economic model will further improve the intensity, status and quality of Asian club competitions.” “The FIFA Women’s Champions League is an important step consistent with our strategy. We provide a platform to show the talents of women players on the Asian mainland stage, we believe that this competition will empower football Asia women, promote gender equality, break social barriers, and have a positive impact on the development of women’s football.” This latest improvement also represents a series of major investments made by FIFA in the development of top club competitions in recent years. The championship prize of the Asian Champions League increased from $1.5 million in 2015 to $4 million in 2018, more than doubled. Similarly, the prize for the Asian Cup champion also increased from $350000 in 2015 to $1.5 million in 2018, an increase of nearly five times. In 2019, the Asian Football Association also doubled the travel allowance for all stages of these two events. (Causimo)
