Al Gharafa and four other clubs begin their quest to climb to the top of Asia’s men’s club competition this month, when they contest the preliminary round of the 2024-25 AFC Champions League from August 6-13.
The Asian Football Confederation announced in a report on its official website that after indirect seats were allocated to each of them to participate in the prestigious tournament, Al Gharafa, Foolad Sepahan of Iran, and Shabab Al Ahli of the Emirates will compete for one seat qualifying for the league stage (West Zone), while Shandong Taishan of China will face its Thai counterpart Bangkok United to determine the qualifier for the league stage in the East Zone.
The two winning teams join the 22 clubs that qualified directly for the league stage, while the three losing teams move directly to the group stage of the AFC Champions League 2.
The first preliminary round of the 2024 AFC Champions League Elite will kick off next Tuesday, August 6, in the West Zone, when Foolad Sepahan hosts Shabab Al-Ahli at Naghsh-e Jahan Stadium in Isfahan.
The winner of this match will qualify to face Al Gharafa on August 13 to decide qualification to the league stage (West Region), with the match set to kick off at 6:30 pm Doha time at Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor.
Al Gharafa, who have won the league title eight times, finished third in the 2023-24 season and are looking to return to the forefront of continental competition after missing out on the AFC Champions League last season. Al Gharafa have previously participated in the AFC Champions League nine times, with their most notable achievement being reaching the quarter-finals in 2010.
After the 24-team roster is determined, a draw will be held on 16 August to determine the group stage matches, which will be distributed between the West and East zones – each zone comprising 12 teams. The competitions will take place from 16 September 2024 to 19 February 2025, with each team playing against eight different opponents within its zone in a system of four home and four away matches.
List of qualified candidates
Below is the list of the 22 teams that qualified directly for the league stage of the 2024-2025 AFC Champions League Elite:
– West Zone: Al Sadd, Al Rayyan (Qatar), Al Hilal, Al Nassr, Al Ahli (Saudi Arabia), Persepolis, Esteghlal (Iran), Al Ain, Al Wasl (UAE), Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan), Al Shorta (Iraq).
– East Zone: Vissel Kobe, Kawasaki Frontale, Yokohama F. Marinos (Japan), Ulsan, Pohang Steelers, Guangzhou (Republic of Korea), Shanghai Port, Shanghai Shenhua (China), Buriram United (Thailand), Central Coast Mariners (Australia), Johor Darul Ta’zim (Malaysia).
The top eight clubs from each region qualify for the round of 16, followed by an exciting knockout stage held in a group format in Saudi Arabia.
