AFC Champions League Two

The AFC Champions League Two (previously known as the AFC Cup, abbreviated as the ACL Two) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC Champions League Elite and above the AFC Challenge League.

AFC Champions League Two

Organising body	AFC
Founded	2004; 20 years ago (2004) (as AFC Cup)
Region	Asia
Number of teams	32 (group stage)
Qualifier for	AFC Champions League Elite
Related competitions	AFC Champions League Elite (1st tier) AFC Challenge League (3rd tier)
Current champions	Central Coast Mariners (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Al-Kuwait Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (3 titles each)
Website	www.the-afc.com
2024–25 AFC Champions League Two

The tournament was founded in 2004 as the AFC Cup, which was played primarily among clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying slots to the top-tier AFC Champions League. In 2024, the AFC introduced a revamped second-tier club competition under the name AFC Champions League Two, with the records and statistics of the AFC Cup transferring to the new competition.

Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in national leagues and cup competitions. Participation in the competition is open to clubs from the top 12 nations in the East and the West region based on the AFC club competitions ranking. The participant from each nation ranked 1–6 in each region is the highest-placed club in that nation that did not qualify for the AFC Champions League Elite. The nations ranked 7–12 in each region enter their top club(s) directly to the AFC Champions League Two.

The current champions are Central Coast Mariners, who defeated Al-Ahed in the 2024 final. Al-Kuwait and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya are the most successful clubs in the competition's history, having won three titles each. Clubs from Kuwait have won four titles, making them the most successful nation in the competition.

The winner of the AFC Champions League Two will be allocated an indirect preliminary stage slot for the next AFC Champions League Elite season, if they have not qualified through domestic competition.

History

Winners

Season	Winners
AFC Cup
2004	Al-Jaish
2005	Al-Faisaly
2006	Al-Faisaly (2)
2007	Shabab Al-Ordon
2008	Al-Muharraq
2009	Kuwait SC
2010	Al-Ittihad Aleppo
2011	Nasaf Qarshi
2012	Kuwait SC (2)
2013	Kuwait SC (3)
2014	Qadsia
2015	Johor Darul Ta'zim
2016	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2017	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (2)
2018	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (3)
2019	Al-Ahed
2020	Cancelled [1]
2021	Al-Muharraq (2)
2022	Al-Seeb
2023–24	Central Coast Mariners
AFC Champions League Two
2024–25

The AFC Cup began in 2004 as a second-tier competition to relate back to the AFC Champions League, as 14 countries that had developing status competed in the first competition, with 18 teams being nominated. The winners and three runners-up would then head to the knock-out stage. Al-Jaish took the first AFC Cup after they defeated fellow Syrian opponents Al-Wahda on away goals.

In 2005, 18 teams competed from nine nations with the nations still being allowed to choose from one or two teams entering. After Syrian teams left the AFC Cup to try at the AFC Champions League for four years, Al-Faisaly defeated Nejmeh in the final. With it, Jordanian teams would win the next two AFC Cup seasons with Bahrain joining the league while Bangladesh was relegated to the AFC President's Cup until the tournament's abolition in 2014.

Al-Muharraq would break the trend in 2008 as they competed in the last two-legged final before it headed back into a one-leg system, a rule that was never changed till the termination of this tournament.

On 23 December 2022, it was announced that the AFC competition structure would change from the established formats from the 2024–25 season. A new second-tier tournament called the AFC Champions League Two would be introduced.^[2] Meanwhile, a new third-tier competition was also launched under the name AFC Challenge League.^[3][4][5]

On 24 May 2024, AFC announced that the records and statistics of the preceding AFC club competitions will be recognised and integrated within the revamped club competitions, with the data from the AFC Cup transferring to the AFC Champions League Two.^[6]

Format

Map of AFC countries whose teams reached the group stage of the AFC Cup/ACL Two

  AFC member country that has been represented in the group stage

  AFC member country that has not been represented in the group stage

Some changes were applied in terms of teams and format for the 2017 AFC Cup. A total of 36 teams participated in the group stage (12 each from West Asia and ASEAN, and 4 each from East Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia). The final is played as a one-off match.

Allocation

The allocation of group stage teams by member country was listed below; asterisks represent occasions where at least one team was eliminated in qualification for the group stage. Those who had not reached the group stage but had only played in qualification are not bolded.

Associations	Spots
	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023–24	2024–25
EAFF
China	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Chinese Taipei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	1	1*	1	1	2*	0
Guam	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hong Kong	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	2	1	2	2	0	2
Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Macau	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	1	0	1	0	0	1*	0
Mongolia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	0*	0*	0*	1	0*	1	0
North Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1*	0	0	0	0	0
South Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	5
AFF
Australia	Part of OFC			0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
Brunei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0*	0	0*	0
Cambodia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1*	1	1	1	2	2	1*	0
Indonesia	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	2	1	2	2	2	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2*	1
Laos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0*	0*	1	1*	0*	1	0*	0
Malaysia	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	0	0	2	2	2	1
Myanmar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	1*	0
Philippines	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1*	2	2	2	2	2	0	1	2	2
Singapore	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2
Thailand	0	0	0±	1	0	2	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3*
Timor-Leste	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	0	0	0
Vietnam	0	0	0	1	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1
Total	4	4	4	6	4	8	8	7	10	10	10	10	9	11	12	12	12	11	11	12	11
SAFF
Bangladesh	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	1*	1*	1	1*	1*	1*	1*	0
Bhutan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0
India	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2	2	2*	1*
Maldives	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2	2	2	2	1*	1*	0	2	1*	1*	1*	0
Nepal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0*	0	1	0	0*	0*	0*	0
Pakistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sri Lanka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0*	0*	0*	0*	0	0
Total	5	6	6	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	1
CAFA
Afghanistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Iran	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2*
Kyrgyzstan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0*	0*	2	1*	1*	2	2	2	1*	0
Tajikistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	1*	1*	1*	1*	2	2	2	2	1*	2
Turkmenistan	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1*	1*	1*	2	1*	2	2	2	2*	1*
Uzbekistan	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	1
Total	2	2	2	2	0	1	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	7	7	7	4	6
WAFF
Bahrain	0	0	1	1	2	2	1	0	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	1*
Iraq	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	1
Jordan	0	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	1	2
Kuwait	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	3	3	2	2	2	0	0	0	2	2	1	2	2	1*
Lebanon	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0
Oman	1	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2	2	2	1*	1*	0	2	1*	0
Palestine	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1*	2	0*	0*	1	1	2	2	1*	0
Qatar	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Saudi Arabia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Syria	2	0	0	0	0	2	3	3	2	1*	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2*	0
United Arab Emirates	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2*
Yemen	1	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0*	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	6	4	6	10	10	17	16	17	16	14	14	14	14	12	12	12	12	11	12	12	9
Total
Finals	18	18	20	24	20	32	31	32	32	32	32	32	32	34	36	36	39	37	37	36	32
Qualifying	18	18	20	24	20	32	31	32	33	33	34	41	40	50	44	43	48	43	43	49	36

Prize money

The prize money for the 2024–25 AFC Champions League Two is as follows:^[7]

Round	Teams	Amount
		Per team	Total
Final (Champions)	1	$2.5m	$2,500,000
Final (Runners-up)	1	$1m	$1,000,000
Semi-finals	4	$240k	$960,000
Quarter-finals	8	$160k	$1,280,000
Round of 16	16	$80k	$1,280,000
Group stage	32	$300k	$9,600,000
Total	32	$16,620,000

Marketing

Sponsorship

The tournament has been sponsored by a group of multinational corporations, in contrast to the single main sponsor typically found in national top-flight leagues.

Official Global Partners

• Neom^[8]
• Qatar Airways^[9][10]
• Visit Saudi

Official Global Supporters

• Konami^[11]
• Molten^[12]
• Tecno Mobile^[13]

Records and statistics

Results

Main article: List of AFC Cup and AFC Champions League Two finals

List of AFC Cup and AFC Champions League Two finals

Season	Nation	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Nation	Venue	Attendance
AFC Cup era (2004–2024)
Two-legged format
2004	Syria	Al-Jaish	3–2	Al-Wahda	Syria	Abbasiyyin Stadium, Damascus, Syria
			0–1			Abbasiyyin Stadium, Damascus, Syria
	Aggregate 3–3, Al-Jaish won on away goals.
2005	Jordan	Al-Faisaly	1–0	Nejmeh	Lebanon	Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan
			3–2			Rafic Hariri Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon
	Al-Faisaly won 4–2 on aggregate.
2006	Jordan	Al-Faisaly	3–0	Al-Muharraq	Bahrain	Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan	7,000
			2–4			Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa, Bahrain	3,000
	Al-Faisaly won 5–4 on aggregate.
2007	Jordan	Shabab Al-Ordon	1–0	Al-Faisaly	Jordan	Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan	5,500
			1–1			Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan	7,500
	Shabab Al-Ordon won 2–1 on aggregate.
2008	Bahrain	Al-Muharraq	5–1	Safa	Lebanon	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa, Bahrain	6,000
			5–4			Sports City Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon	2,000
	Al-Muharraq won 10–5 on aggregate.
Single match format
2009	Kuwait	Al-Kuwait	2–1	Al-Karamah	Syria	Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait	17,400
2010	Syria	Al-Ittihad	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Al-Qadsia	Kuwait	Jaber International Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait	58,604
2011	Uzbekistan	Nasaf	2–1	Al-Kuwait	Kuwait	Markaziy Stadium, Qarshi, Uzbekistan	15,753
2012	Kuwait	Al-Kuwait	4–0	Erbil	Iraq	Franso Hariri Stadium, Erbil, Iraq	30,000
2013	Kuwait	Al-Kuwait	2–0	Al-Qadsia	Kuwait	Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait	10,000
2014	Kuwait	Al-Qadsia	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Erbil	Iraq	Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai, UAE	5,240
2015	Malaysia	Johor Darul Ta'zim	1–0	Istiklol	Tajikistan	Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe, Tajikistan	18,000
2016	Iraq	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1–0	Bengaluru	India	Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar	5,806
2017	Iraq	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1–0	Istiklol	Tajikistan	Hisor Central Stadium, Hisor, Tajikistan	20,000
2018	Iraq	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2–0	Altyn Asyr	Turkmenistan	Basra International Stadium, Basra, Iraq	24,665
2019	Lebanon	Al-Ahed	1–0	April 25	North Korea	Kuala Lumpur Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	500
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.[14]
2021	Bahrain	Al-Muharraq	3–0	Nasaf	Uzbekistan	Al-Muharraq Stadium, Arad, Bahrain	9,060
2022	Oman	Al-Seeb	3–0	Kuala Lumpur City	Malaysia	Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	27,722
2023–24	Australia	Central Coast Mariners	1–0	Al-Ahed	Lebanon	Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat, Oman	1,930
AFC Champions League Two era (2024–present)
2024–25			v

Performance by clubs

Performances in the AFC Cup and AFC Champions League Two by club

v t e Club	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years runners-up
Al-Kuwait	3	1	2009, 2012, 2013	2011
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	3	0	2016, 2017, 2018
Al-Faisaly	2	1	2005, 2006	2007
Al-Muharraq	2	1	2008, 2021	2006
Al-Qadsia	1	2	2014	2010, 2013
Nasaf Qarshi	1	1	2011	2021
Al-Ahed	1	1	2019	2023–24
Al-Jaish	1	0	2004
Shabab Al-Ordon	1	0	2007
Al-Ittihad	1	0	2010
Johor Darul Ta'zim	1	0	2015
Al-Seeb	1	0	2022
Central Coast Mariners	1	0	2023–24
Erbil	0	2		2012, 2014
Istiklol	0	2		2015, 2017
Al-Wahda	0	1		2004
Nejmeh	0	1		2005
Safa	0	1		2008
Al-Karamah	0	1		2009
Bengaluru	0	1		2016
Altyn Asyr	0	1		2018
April 25	0	1		2019
Kuala Lumpur City	0	1		2022

Performance by nations

Nation	Titles	Runners-up	Total
Kuwait	4	3	7
Iraq	3	2	5
Jordan	3	1	4
Syria	2	2	4
Bahrain	2	1	3
Lebanon	1	3	4
Uzbekistan	1	1	2
Malaysia	1	1	2
Oman	1	0	1
Australia	1	0	1
Tajikistan	0	2	2
India	0	1	1
Turkmenistan	0	1	1
North Korea	0	1	1

Top scorers Year Player Club Goals 2004 Indra Sahdan Daud Home United 7 Egmar Goncalves Home United 2005 Mo'ayyad Salim Al-Faisaly 9 2006 Mahmoud Shelbaieh Al-Wehdat 8 2007 Odai Al Saify Shabab Al-Ordun 5 Mohammed Ghaddar Nejmeh 2008 Rico Al-Muharraq 19 2009 Robert Akaruye Busaiteen 8 Mohamad Hamwi Al-Karamah Jehad Al Hussain Al-Kuwait Huỳnh Kesley Alves Bình Dương 2010 Afonso Alves Al-Rayyan 9 2011 Ivan Bošković Nasaf Qarshi 10 2012 Amjad Radhi Erbil 9 Raja Rafe Al-Shorta 2013 Issam Jemâa Al-Kuwait 16 2014 Juan Belencoso Kitchee 11 2015 Daniel McBreen South China 8 Riste Naumov Ayeyawady United 2016 Hammadi Ahmed Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 16 2017 Kim Yu-song April 25 9 2018 An Il-bom April 25 12 2019 Bienvenido Marañón Ceres–Negros 10 2020 Bienvenido Marañón Ceres–Negros 5 2021 Khusayin Norchaev Nasaf Qarshi 7 2022 Jasur Hasanov Sogdiana Jizzakh 5 Paulo Josué Kuala Lumpur City Pedro Paulo Viettel 2023–24 Marco Túlio Central Coast Mariners 8 Most Valuable Player Year Player Club 2011 Artur Gevorkyan Nasaf Qarshi 2012 Rogerinho Al-Kuwait 2013 Bader Al-Mutawa Al-Qadsia 2014 Saif Al Hashan Al-Qadsia 2015 Safiq Rahim Johor Darul Ta'zim 2016 Hammadi Ahmed Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 2017 Manuchekhr Dzhalilov Istiklol 2018 Hammadi Ahmed Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 2019 Mehdi Khalil Al-Ahed 2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia 2021 Abdulwahab Al-Malood Al-Muharraq 2022 Eid Al-Farsi Al-Seeb 2023–24 Mikael Doka Central Coast Mariners Winning coaches Year Club Coach 2004 Al-Jaish Costică Ștefănescu 2005 Al-Faisaly Branko Smiljanić 2006 Al-Faisaly Adnan Hamad 2007 Shabab Al-Ordon Nizar Mahrous 2008 Al-Muharraq Salman Sharida 2009 Al-Kuwait Mohamad Abdulla 2010 Al-Ittihad Valeriu Tița 2011 Nasaf Qarshi Anatoliy Demyanenko 2012 Al-Kuwait Marin Ion 2013 Al-Kuwait Marin Ion 2014 Al-Qadsia Antonio Puche 2015 Johor Darul Ta'zim Mario Gomez 2016 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Basim Qasim 2017 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Hussam Al Sayed 2018 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Basim Qasim 2019 Al-Ahed Bassem Marmar 2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia 2021 Al-Muharraq Isa Sadoon Al-Hamdani 2022 Al-Seeb Rashid Jaber 2023–24 Central Coast Mariners Mark Jackson Top goalscorers As of 11 March 2020[15] Rank Player Club Goals 1 Bienvenido Marañón Ceres–Negros 35 2 Mahmoud Shelbaieh Al-Wehdat 34 3 Aleksandar Đurić Geylang United, Singapore Armed Forces, Tampines Rovers 32 Amjad Radhi Erbil SC, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 32 5 Bader Al-Mutawa Qadsia SC 30 Rico Al-Muharraq, Al-Riffa, Al-Hidd 30 7 Ali Ashfaq Club Valencia, New Radiant, VB Sports Club 29

See also

• AFC Champions League Elite
• AFC Challenge League
• List of association football competitions
• Bangladeshi clubs in the AFC Cup
• Hong Kong clubs in the AFC Cup
• Indian clubs in the AFC Cup
• Indonesian clubs in the AFC Cup
• Syrian clubs in the AFC Cup
• Thai clubs in the AFC Cup
• Vietnamese clubs in the AFC Cup

References

1. The competition was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2. "History beckons for AFC Cup 2023/24 contenders as final edition of popular competition kicks off". the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
3. "AFC Competitions Committee recommends strategic reforms to elevate Asian club football". theAFC.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
4. "AFC Executive Committee approves biggest prize purse in Asian club football history from 2024/25; announces AFC Women's Champions League". AFC. 14 August 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
5. "AFC Club Competitions 2024/25 Slot Allocation" (PDF). Football Association of Singapore. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
6. "Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee". the-AFC. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
7. The AFC Hub (2024-06-19). AFC Champions League Two™ 2024/25. Retrieved 2024-06-20 – via YouTube.
8. "AFC and NEOM announce global multi-year partnership extension". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
9. Long, Michael (18 December 2023). "AFC lands six-year Qatar Airways sponsorship deal". SportsPro. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
10. "AFC and Qatar Airways announce global partnership". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 16 December 2023. Archived from the original on 9 May 2024. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
11. "AFC and KONAMI sign new sponsorship and licensing deal". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 25 January 2021. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
12. "AFC appoints world-leading ball manufacturer Molten as official match ball supplier". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 5 May 2018. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
13. "TECNO becomes Official Global Supporter of AFC Club Competitions". the-AFC. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
14. "AFC Executive Committee announces updates to 2020 competitions calendar". AFC. 10 September 2020. Archived from the original on 5 October 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
15. "AFC Cup: Marañón leads all-time top scorers". the-afc.com. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2020.

External links

• AFC Cup on RSSSF