AFC Champions League
Organising bodyAFC
Founded1967 (1967)
(rebranded in 2002)
RegionAsia
Number of teams40 (group stage)
Qualifier forFIFA Club World Cup
FIFA Intercontinental Cup
Related competitionsAFC Cup (2nd tier)
Current championsJapan Urawa Red Diamonds (3rd title)
Most successful club(s)Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal (4 titles)
Websitethe-afc.com/champions-league
2023–24 AFC Champions League

The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition in Asian football, played by the national league champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) of their national associations.[1]

Introduced in 1967 as the Asian Champion Club Tournament, the competition rebranded and took on its current name in 2002 as a result of the merger between the Asian Club Championship, the Asian Cup Winners' Cup and the Asian Super Cup.

A total of 40 clubs compete in the round-robin group stage of the competition. Clubs from Asia's strongest national leagues receive automatic berths, with clubs from lower-ranked nations eligible to qualify via the qualifying playoffs, and they are also eligible to participate in the AFC Cup. The winner of the AFC Champions League qualifies for the FIFA Club World Cup.

The most successful club in the competition is Al-Hilal with a total of four titles. Urawa Red Diamonds are the current champions, having beaten Al-Hilal in the 2022 final.

History

Winners
SeasonWinners
Asian Champion Club Tournament
1967Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
1969Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
1970Iran Taj Tehran
1971Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
1972Cancelled
1973–1984: Not held
Asian Club Championship
1985–86South Korea Daewoo Royals
1986Japan Furukawa Electric
1987Japan Yomiuri FC
1988–89Qatar Al-Sadd
1989–90China Liaoning
1990–91Iran Esteghlal
1991Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
1992–93Iran PAS Tehran
1993–94Thailand Thai Farmers Bank
1994–95Thailand Thai Farmers Bank
1995South Korea Ilhwa Chunma
1996–97South Korea Pohang Steelers
1997–98South Korea Pohang Steelers
1998–99Japan Júbilo Iwata
1999–2000Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
2000–01South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings
2001–02South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings
AFC Champions League
2002–03United Arab Emirates Al-Ain
2004Saudi Arabia Al-Ittihad
2005Saudi Arabia Al-Ittihad
2006South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
2007Japan Urawa Red Diamonds
2008Japan Gamba Osaka
2009South Korea Pohang Steelers
2010South Korea Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
2011Qatar Al-Sadd
2012South Korea Ulsan Hyundai
2013China Guangzhou Evergrande
2014Australia Western Sydney Wanderers
2015China Guangzhou Evergrande
2016South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
2017Japan Urawa Red Diamonds
2018Japan Kashima Antlers
2019Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
2020South Korea Ulsan Hyundai
2021Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
2022Japan Urawa Red Diamonds
2023–24
AFC Champions League Elite
2024–25

1967–1972: Asian Champion Club Tournament

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) first discussed launching a tournament for the champions of AFC nations in a meeting held on 21 April 1963, with its Secretary Lee Wai Tong announcing the AFC's intention to hold a competition similar to the European Cup.[2] The competition started in 1967 as the Asian Champion Club Tournament and had a variety of different formats in its first few years, with the inaugural tournament staged as a straight knock-out format and the following three editions consisting of a group stage.

While Israeli clubs dominated the first four editions of the competition, this was partly due to the refusal of Arab clubs to play them:

  • In 1970, Lebanese club Homenetmen refused to play Hapoel Tel Aviv in the semi-final, which was scratched with Hapoel advancing to the final.
  • In 1971, Aliyat Al-Shorta of Iraq refused to play Maccabi Tel Aviv on three occasions: in the preliminary round (which was redrawn), in the group stage, and in the final, which was scratched with Maccabi being awarded the championship.[3] During the award ceremony for Maccabi, Aliyat Al-Shorta players waved the Palestinian flag around the field, while the Iraqi media considered Aliyat Al-Shorta as the tournament's winners, with the team holding an open top bus parade in Baghdad.[4]

After the 1972 edition had to be cancelled by the AFC for various reasons, including two Arab clubs being excluded for refusing to commit to playing against Israeli club Maccabi Netanya, the AFC suspended the competition for 14 years, while Israel would be expelled from the AFC in 1974.

1985–2002: Return as the Asian Club Championship

Asia's premier club tournament made its return in 1985 as the Asian Club Championship.[5]

In 1990, the Asian Football Confederation introduced the Asian Cup Winners' Cup, a tournament for the cup winners of each AFC nation, while the 1995 season saw the introduction of the Asian Super Cup, with the winners of the Asian Club Championship and Asian Cup Winners' Cup playing against each other.

2002–2024: AFC Champions League

Japan's Kashima Antlers and Singapore's Warriors FC during a group stage game during the 2009 season at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

The 2002–03 season saw the Asian Club Championship, Asian Cup Winners' Cup and Asian Super Cup combine to become the AFC Champions League. League champions and cup winners would qualify for the qualifying playoffs with the best eight clubs from East Asia and the eight best clubs from West Asia progressing to the group stage. The first winners under the AFC Champions League name were Al-Ain, defeating BEC Tero Sasana 2–1 on aggregate. In 2004, 29 clubs from fourteen countries participated and the tournament schedule was changed to March–November.

In the group stage, the 28 clubs were divided into seven groups of four on a regional basis, separating East Asian and West Asian clubs to reduce travel costs, and the groups were played on a home and away basis. The seven group winners along with the defending champions qualified to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals were played as a two-legged format, with away goals, extra time, and penalties used as tie-breakers.

Expansion

The 2005 season saw Syrian clubs join the competition, thus increasing the number of participating countries to 15, and two years later, following their transfer into the AFC in 2006, Australian clubs were also included in the tournament. However, many blamed the low prize money at that time and expensive travel cost as some of the reasons. The Champions League was expanded to 32 clubs in 2009 with direct entry to the top ten Asian leagues. Each country received up to 4 slots, though no more than one-third of the number of teams in that country's top division, rounded downwards, depending on the strength of their league, professional league structure, marketability, financial status, as well as other criteria set by the AFC Pro-League Committee.[6] The assessment criteria and ranking for participating associations are revised by AFC every two years.[7]

FIFA president Gianni Infantino and around 100,000 others watching the 2018 AFC Champions League Final at Azadi Stadium.

The old format saw the eight group winners and eight runners-up qualify to the round of 16, in which group winners played host to the runners-up in two-legged series, matched regionally, with away goals, extra time, and penalties used as tie-breakers. The regional restriction continues all the way until the final, although clubs from the same country couldn't face each other in the quarterfinals unless that country has three or more representatives in the quarterfinals. Since 2013, the final has also been held as a two-legged series, on a home and away basis.[8][9]

In 2021, the group stage was expanded from 32 to 40 teams, with both the West and East Regions having five groups of four teams. The slot allocation for the top six member associations in each region remained unchanged. The 10 group winners and top 3 runners-up per region are now seeded based on a combination table for the round of 16, with the games still matched regionally until the final.[10]

On 25 February 2022, it was announced that the AFC Champions League would go back to an inter-year (autumn to spring) schedule starting with the 2023–24 season. In addition, the existing "3+1" rule for foreign players during matches (3 foreign players and 1 Asian foreigner) was expanded to "5+1" (5 foreign players and 1 Asian foreigner).[11]

Women's rights in Iranian football

By 2021, the various problems with the Iranian sides were attracting media attention; international Arabic and English-language media reported the violation of women's rights in the stadiums of Iranian sides.

On top of that, Iranian women were banned from football stadiums for about 40 years, by the Iranian government.[12][13] In 2019, Iranian women were first allowed to watch football at stadiums, but not during ACL games.[13][14] Before that, FIFA had pressured Iran to let women into the stadiums; Iran relented, but capped the number of women to watch the 2018 final.[13][15] In 2021, the AFC investigated the matter, in the hope of allowing unrestricted attendance whenever Iranian clubs are involved.[16]

2024–25 onwards: AFC Champions League Elite

On 23 December 2022, the AFC announced that their club football structure would undergo an overhaul, with the top club competition shrinking from 40 teams in the main stage to 24 teams, divided into East and West regions (12 teams each), with each team in the East and West regions playing eight other teams from their region (four teams at home and four teams away). The top eight teams from each region would advance to the knockout stage, where only the round of 16 would be played over two legs, with all matches from the quarter-finals onward being played in a single-leg format at a centralised venue.[17] On 14 August 2023, it was confirmed that the new format would come into effect from the 2024–25 season, with the name of the competition changing to AFC Champions League Elite.[18] In December 2023, Saudi Arabia has been awarded hosting duties for the final stage for the first two seasons.[19]

Format

Qualification

Map of AFC countries whose teams reached the group stage of the AFC Champions League
  AFC member country that has been represented in the group stage
  AFC member country that has not been represented in the group stage

As of the 2021 edition of the tournament, the AFC Champions League has commenced with a double round-robin group stage of 40 teams, which is preceded by qualifying matches for teams that do not receive direct entry to the competition proper. Teams are also split into east and west zones to progress separately in the tournament.

The number of teams that each association enters into the AFC Champions League is determined annually through criteria as set by the AFC Competitions Committee.[20] The criteria, which is a modified version of the UEFA coefficient, measures such thing as marketability and stadia to determine the specific number of berths that an association receives. The higher an association's ranking as determined by the criteria, the more teams represent the association in the Champions League, and the fewer qualification rounds the association's teams must compete in.

Tournament

The tournament proper begins with a group stage of 40 teams, divided into ten groups. Seeding is used whilst making the draw for this stage, with teams from the same country not being drawn into groups together. The group stage is divided into two zones; the first zone is the five East Asian groups and the other zone is the five West Asian groups. Each team meets the others in its group home and away in a round-robin format. The winning team from each group (five in each zone) and the six best runners-up (three from each zone) then progress to the next round.

For this stage, three group winners plays against the three best runners-up from another group from their zone of the group stage while the other two group winners from each zone play against each other. The tournament uses the away goals rule: if the aggregate score of the two games is tied after 180 minutes, then the team who scored more goals at their opponent's stadium advances. If still tied the clubs play extra time, where the away goals rule is no longer applied. If still tied after extra time, the tie shall be decided by a penalty shootout. Winners of each tie advance to the next round, with the East and West zones continue to be kept part until the final.[20]

The group stage and round of 16 matches are played through the first half of the year (February–May), whilst the knock-out stage thereafter is played during the second half of the year (August–November). The knock-out ties are played in a two-legged format, including the final.

Allocation

Teams from 24 AFC countries have reached the group stage of the AFC Champions League. The allocation of teams by member countries is listed below; asterisks represent occasions where at least one team was eliminated in qualification prior to the group stage. 32 AFC countries have had teams participate in qualification, and countries that have never had teams reach the group stage are not shown.

Associations Entrants
2002–03 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023–24
East Asia
Australia Australia Part of OFC 2 2 2 2 2 3 1* 3 2* 2* 3 2* 2* 3 0 2* 1
China China PR 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 3* 4 4 4 2* 2 3*
Hong Kong Hong Kong 0* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0* 0* 0* 1* 1* 0* 0* 1 1 1*
Indonesia Indonesia 0* 2 2 0 2 0 1* 1* 1* 0* 0 0 0* 0 0 0* 0* 0* 0 0 0*
Japan Japan 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3* 4 4 4
South Korea South Korea 2 2 2 2 3 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Malaysia Malaysia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0* 0* 0* 0* 1* 1* 1 1 1
Philippines Philippines 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0* 0* 0* 0* 2 1* 1
Singapore Singapore 0* 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0* 0* 0* 0* 0* 0* 0* 1 1 1
Thailand Thailand 2 2 2 0 1 2 0* 0* 0* 1* 2 1* 1* 1* 1* 1* 1* 1* 4 2* 3*
Vietnam Vietnam 0* 2 2 2 1 2 0 0* 0 0 0 0* 1* 1* 0* 0* 0* 0* 1 1 1*
Total 8 12 12 8 13 13 16 16 15 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 20 19 20
West Asia
Bahrain Bahrain 0* 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0* 0* 0 0 0* 0 0* 0* 0 0
India India 0* 0 0 0 0 0 0* 0* 0* 0 0 0* 0* 0* 0* 0* 0* 0* 1 1 1
Iran Iran 2 2 2 2 1 2 4 4 4 3* 3* 4 4 3* 4 4 3* 4 4 2 3*
Iraq Iraq 1* 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0* 0 0 0 0 1* 1* 2* 1* 1
Jordan Jordan 0* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0* 0* 0* 0* 0* 0* 0* 1 1 1*
Kuwait Kuwait 0* 1 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0* 0* 0 0 0 0* 0* 0* 0 0
Qatar Qatar 1* 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 2* 2* 2* 4 3* 2* 3* 4 2*
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 1* 2 3 3 2 2 4 4 4 3* 4 4 4 4 4 2 4 4 3* 4 4
Syria Syria 0* 0 2 2 2 2 0 0* 0* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0* 0
Tajikistan Tajikistan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0* 0* 1 1 1
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan 1* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 1* 3 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 3* 2* 3* 4 4 3* 4 3* 3* 2*
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan 1* 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3* 2* 1* 4 4 2* 2* 2* 1* 2 2 4
Total 8 14 17 17 15 16 16 16 17 17 17 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 20 20 20
Total
Finals 16 26 29 25 28 29 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 40 39 40
Qualifying 53 26 29 25 28 29 35 37 36 37 35 47 49 45 47 46 51 52 45 46 53

Prize money

Tournament's trophy since 2009, following the logo redesign.

The prize money for the 2021 AFC Champions League:[21]

Phase Purse
(USD)		 Travel Subsidy
(USD per match)
Preliminary stage N/A $30,000
Playoff stage N/A $30,000
Group stages Win: $50,000
Draw: $10,000		 $45,000
Round of 16 $100,000 $45,000
Quarter-finals $150,000 $45,000
Semi-finals $250,000 $45,000
Final Champions: $4,000,000
Runners-up: $2,000,000		 $90,000

Marketing

Sponsorship

The AFC Champions League is sponsored by a group of multinational corporations, in contrast to the single main sponsor typically found in national top-flight leagues.

Official Global Partners

Official Global Supporters

Official Regional Partner

Video game

The current license holder for the AFC Champions League video game is Konami with the eFootball series.[28] The license also includes the competing teams.

Records and statistics

Performances by club

Performances in the Asian Club Championship and AFC Champions League by club
Club		 Title(s) Runners-up Seasons won Seasons runner-up
Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal 4 5 1991, 1999–2000, 2019, 2021 1986, 1987, 2014, 2017, 2022
South Korea Pohang Steelers 3 1 1996–97, 1997–98, 2009 2021
Japan Urawa Red Diamonds 3 1 2007, 2017, 2022 2019
Iran Esteghlal 2 2 1970, 1990–91 1991, 1998–99
South Korea Seongnam FC 2 2 1995, 2010 1996–97, 2004
Saudi Arabia Al-Ittihad 2 1 2004, 2005 2009
South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 2 1 2006, 2016 2011
Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv1 2 0 1969, 1971 —
Qatar Al-Sadd 2 0 1988–89, 2011 —
Thailand Thai Farmers Bank2 2 0 1993–94, 1994–95 —
South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings 2 0 2000–01, 2001–02 —
South Korea Ulsan HD 2 0 2012, 2020 —
China Guangzhou 2 0 2013, 2015 —
Japan Júbilo Iwata 1 2 1998–99 1999–2000, 2000–01
United Arab Emirates Al-Ain 1 2 2002–03 2005, 2016
Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv1 1 1 1967 1970
China Liaoning2 1 1 1989–90 1990–91
South Korea Busan IPark 1 0 1985–86 —
Japan JEF United Chiba 1 0 1986 —
Japan Tokyo Verdy 1 0 1987 —
Iran PAS Tehran2 1 0 1992–93 —
Japan Gamba Osaka 1 0 2008 —
Australia Western Sydney Wanderers 1 0 2014 —
Japan Kashima Antlers 1 0 2018 —
Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli 0 2 — 1985–86, 2012
South Korea FC Seoul 0 2 — 2001–02, 2013
Iran Persepolis 0 2 — 2018, 2020
Malaysia Selangor 0 1 — 1967
South Korea Yangzee2 0 1 — 1969
Iraq Aliyat Al-Shorta 0 1 — 1971
Iraq Al-Rasheed2 0 1 — 1988–89
Japan Yokohama F. Marinos 0 1 — 1989–90
Saudi Arabia Al-Shabab 0 1 — 1992–93
Oman Oman Club 0 1 — 1993–94
Qatar Al-Arabi 0 1 — 1994–95
Saudi Arabia Al-Nassr 0 1 — 1995
China Dalian Shide2 0 1 — 1997–98
Thailand Police Tero 0 1 — 2002–03
Syria Al-Karamah 0 1 — 2006
Iran Sepahan 0 1 — 2007
Australia Adelaide United 0 1 — 2008
Iran Zob Ahan 0 1 — 2010
United Arab Emirates Shabab Al-Ahli 0 1 — 2015

1 In 1974, the Israel Football Association was expelled from the Asian Football Confederation due to political pressure, and became a full UEFA member in 1994. As a result, Israeli clubs no longer participate in AFC tournaments but in their UEFA counterparts instead.
2 Teams that no longer exist.

Performances by nation

Performances in finals by nation
Nation		 Titles Runners-up Total
 South Korea 12 7 19
 Japan 8 4 12
 Saudi Arabia 6 10 16
 Iran 3 6 9
 China 3 2 5
 Israel 3 1 4
 Qatar 2 1 3
 Thailand 2 1 3
 United Arab Emirates 1 3 4
 Australia 1 1 2
 Iraq 0 2 2
 Malaysia 0 1 1
 Oman 0 1 1
 Syria 0 1 1

Performances by region

Federation (region) Titles Total
EAFF (East Asia) East Zone 23 26
AFF (Southeast Asia) 3
WAFF (West Asia) West Zone 9 12
CAFA (Central Asia) 3
SAFF (South Asia) 0

Note: Israeli clubs, winners of the 1967, 1969 and 1971 editions, are not included.

Awards

Most Valuable Player

YearPlayerClubRef.
1996–97South Korea An Ik-sooSouth Korea Pohang Steelers [29]
1997–98Saudi Arabia Ahmed Al-DokhiSaudi Arabia Al Hilal [30]
1998–99Burkina Faso Seydou TraoréUnited Arab Emirates Al-Ain [31]
1999–2000Brazil Sérgio RicardoSaudi Arabia Al Hilal [32]
2000–01Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Zoltan SaboSouth Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings [33]
2001–02—
2002–03Thailand Therdsak ChaimanThailand BEC Tero Sasana [34]
2004Saudi Arabia Redha TukarSaudi Arabia Al-Ittihad [35]
2005Saudi Arabia Mohammed NoorSaudi Arabia Al-Ittihad [36]
2006South Korea Choi Jin-cheulSouth Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors [37]
2007Japan Yuichiro NagaiJapan Urawa Red Diamonds
2008Japan Yasuhito EndōJapan Gamba Osaka
2009South Korea No Byung-junSouth Korea Pohang Steelers [38]
2010Australia Sasa OgnenovskiSouth Korea Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma [39]
2011South Korea Lee Dong-gookSouth Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors [40]
2012South Korea Lee Keun-hoSouth Korea Ulsan Hyundai [41]
2013Brazil MuriquiChina Guangzhou Evergrande [42]
2014Australia Ante CovicAustralia Western Sydney Wanderers [43]
2015Brazil Ricardo GoulartChina Guangzhou Evergrande [44]
2016United Arab Emirates Omar AbdulrahmanUnited Arab Emirates Al-Ain [45]
2017Japan Yōsuke KashiwagiJapan Urawa Red Diamonds [46]
2018Japan Yuma SuzukiJapan Kashima Antlers [47]
2019France Bafétimbi GomisSaudi Arabia Al-Hilal [48]
2020South Korea Yoon Bit-garamSouth Korea Ulsan Hyundai [49]
2021Saudi Arabia Salem Al-DawsariSaudi Arabia Al-Hilal [50]
2022Japan Hiroki SakaiJapan Urawa Red Diamonds [51]

Top scorers

YearPlayerClubGoals
2002–03China Hao HaidongChina Dalian Shide9
2004South Korea Kim Do-hoonSouth Korea Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma9
2005Sierra Leone Mohamed KallonSaudi Arabia Al-Ittihad6
2006Brazil Magno AlvesJapan Gamba Osaka8
2007Brazil MotaSouth Korea Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma7
2008Thailand Nantawat TansopaThailand Krung Thai Bank9
2009Brazil LeandroJapan Gamba Osaka10
2010Brazil Jose MotaSouth Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings9
2011South Korea Lee Dong-gookSouth Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors9
2012Brazil Ricardo OliveiraUnited Arab Emirates Al-Jazira12
2013Brazil MuriquiChina Guangzhou Evergrande13
2014Ghana Asamoah GyanUnited Arab Emirates Al-Ain12
2015Brazil Ricardo GoulartChina Guangzhou Evergrande8
2016Brazil AdrianoSouth Korea FC Seoul13
2017Syria Omar KharbinSaudi Arabia Al-Hilal10
2018Algeria Baghdad BounedjahQatar Al-Sadd13
2019France Bafétimbi GomisSaudi Arabia Al-Hilal11
2020Morocco Abderrazak Hamdallah[52]Saudi Arabia Al Nassr7
2021Kenya Michael Olunga[53]Qatar Al-Duhail9
2022Belgium Edmilson Junior[54]Qatar Al-Duhail8

Fair Play Award winners

YearClub
2007Japan Urawa Red Diamonds
2008Japan Gamba Osaka
2009South Korea Pohang Steelers
2010South Korea Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
2011South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
2012South Korea Ulsan Hyundai
2013South Korea FC Seoul
2014Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
2015China Guangzhou Evergrande
2016United Arab Emirates Al-Ain
2017Japan Urawa Red Diamonds
2018Iran Persepolis
2019Japan Urawa Red Diamonds
2020South Korea Ulsan Hyundai[49]
2021Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal[55]
2022Japan Urawa Red Diamonds

See also

References

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  2. ↑ "Asian nations soccer contest". The Iraq Times. 18 April 1963.
  3. ↑ Amitsur, D. (22 August 1971). "The Arabs' leg up to Israel in Asian football" (in Hebrew). Davar.
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  13. 1 2 3 "زنان در آزادی؛ حاشیه‌ای فراتر از فینال | DW | 11.11.2018". dw.com (in Persian). Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 15 June 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
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  28. ↑ Wicherek, Michael (12 October 2023). "Konami adds huge new license to eFootball 2024". VideoGamer. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
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  42. ↑ "Triple delight for Muriqui". AFC. 10 November 2013. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013.
  43. ↑ "Custodian Covic named Most Valuable Player". AFC. 2 November 2014.
  44. ↑ "Hotshot Goulart adds awards to ACL title success". AFC. 22 November 2015.
  45. ↑ "Omar Abdulrahman lands AFC Champions League 2016 MVP award". AFC. 27 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  46. ↑ "Yosuke Kashiwagi clinches AFC Champions League MVP Award". AFC. 25 November 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  47. ↑ "Yuma Suzuki of Kashima named 2018 MVP". AFC. 10 November 2018.
  48. ↑ "Al Hilal's Gomis wins MVP, Top Scorer awards". Asian Football Confederation. 24 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  49. 1 2 "Ulsan Hyundai's Yoon Bit-garam named 2020 AFC Champions League MVP". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 19 December 2020. Archived from the original on 30 January 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  50. ↑ "Al-Hilal reign in Asia after tale of two Al-Dawsaris in AFC Champions League triumph". Arab News. 24 November 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  51. ↑ "Urawa's Hiroki Sakai crowned Most Valuable Player". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  52. ↑ "Al Nassr's Abderrazak Hamdallah wins 2020 AFC Champions League Top Scorer award". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 19 December 2020. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  53. ↑ "Kenya's Michael Olunga wins AFC Champions League Golden Boot". The East African. 24 November 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  54. ↑ "Al Duhail's Edmilson Junior scoops Top Scorer Award". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  55. ↑ "Salem Al-Dosari is the best player in Asia". Asume Tech. 24 November 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
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