AFC Champions League

The AFC Champions League is Asia's top annual continental club football competition between the champions and cup winners of the top 14 Asian leagues. The domestic champions of the 14 top Asian nations qualify automatically for the tournament, along with the respective cup winners of the same federations. Teams which are not in the top 14 federations go into the AFC Cup. The tournament holders receive a bye into the quarter-finals. The qualifying teams are split on a regional basis into 7 groups of 4 teams. The teams play each other home and away, and the top team from each group qualifies for the quarterfinals, where they join the reigning holders. The quarters, semis and final are played on a home-and-away basis in a knockout competition format.