(Star News | Reporter Kim Myung -seok)
/Photo = Korean Professional Football Federation Provided
The AFC Champions League Elite Daejin and a certain lottery will be held on the 15th of next month. In the K -League this season, Ulsan HD, Gangwon FC and FC Seoul will participate.
AFC announced on August 15 that the 2025 ~ 2026 ACLE, League stage and AFC Champions League 2 (ACL2) group stage will be held at the InterContinental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on August 15.
ACL, a club competition hosted by AFC, will be divided into three competitions, including ACLE, ACL2, and AFC Challenge League (ACGL) since last season. Compared to the European Football Federation (UEFA) club competition, the Champions League, the Europa League, and the Europa Conference League.
ACLE in the 2025-2026 season, the top competition, will attend three K -League teams including Ulsan, Gangwon and Seoul.
Ulsan won the K -League 1 championship team in the 2024 season, and Kangwon won the ACLE wins for each runner -up team. Kim Cheon, who was in third place, did not qualify for ACLE, and instead, the right to play the ACLE Playoffs (PO) was returned to Seoul. Ulsan is two consecutive seasons, and Gangwon and Seoul are the first ACLE. Ulsan is the 13th and Seoul is the 9th based on ACL. Gangwon will be in the first AFC club competition.
In addition to the three K -League teams, Visel Kobe, Sanfreche Hiroshima, Machida Zelvia (Japan), Shanghai Port, Shanghai Sunhwa (China), Buriram United (Thailand, Melbourne City (Australia), and Malaysia (Malaysia) confirmed the finals. He returns to the PO Victory Team between Bangkok United (Thailand).
Last year, the Asian Football Federation (AFC) Champions League Elite quarter -final tournament held in Jedda, Saudi Arabia. /Photo = Korean Professional Football Federation Provided
As in last season, the finals will be divided into the East and West Asia without the group stage, and 12 teams will play the league. In the league stage, he plays eight games in four home and expeditions per team and does not meet with the same league teams. The league stage schedule will be finalized for each team, such as the opponent, home and expedition, through the Daejin and schedule lottery next month.
League Stage will be held in mid -September and mid -February next year, and the top eight teams in East and West Asia will be in the round of 16. The round of 16 will be held in March next year in home and away. From the quarter -finals, all teams will gather in Saudi Arabia to play, and the tournament will be determined by drawing lottery regardless of the east and West Asian regions. Saudi Arabia will hold tournaments this season following last season.
The winning team wins only $ 12 million (approximately 16.7 billion won), except for participation in the tournament or group league and tournament allowances. Last season, Ulsan, Pohang Steelers and Gwangju FC participated in the K -League, but Ulsan and Pohang were eliminated from the league stage and Gwangju in the quarter -finals. Last season, Kleyuli (Saudi) defeated the Kawasaki Frontalet (Japan) and won the ACLE first championship.
Meanwhile, the ACL2 draw will also be held last year’s Korea Cup (former FA Cup). Unlike ACLE, 32 teams participate in the past, like ACL in the past, divided into eight groups of four teams, and the group stage will be held in a group league and covering the winning team through the round of 16. Last season, Jeonbuk Hyundai participated in the tournament but dropped out of the quarterfinals. The winning prize is $ 3.28 million except for various allowances.
By Kim Myung -seok, reporter elcrack@mtstarnews.com