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2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite
The 2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite (ACL Elite) is the 44th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the second under the AFC Champions League Elite title.
| Column 1 |
|---|
| The King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah will host the final |
| Qualifying: 12 August 2025 Competition proper: 15 September 2025 – 25 April 2026 |
| Competition proper: 24 (from 12 associations) |
| 106 |
| 279 (2.63 per match) |
| 1,273,406 (12,013 per match) |
| Houssem Aouar Adil Boulbina Rafa Mújica(6 goals each) |
| ← 2024–25 2026–27 → |
| All statistics correct as of 14 April 2026. |
The 2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite (ACL Elite) is the 44th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the second under the AFC Champions League Elite title.
The Round of 16 for the West region and the quarter-finals onwards will be played as single-match knockout ties in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (King Abdullah Sports City Stadium and Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City Stadium) from 13 to 25 April. The tournament winner will qualify for the 2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup and 2029 FIFA Club World Cup. Additionally, the winner will enter the league stage of the 2026–27 AFC Champions League Elite, if they have not already qualified through their domestic performance.
Al-Ahli are the defending champions.
The associations are allocated slots according to their club competitions ranking which was published after the 2023–24 competitions were completed. Slots were subject to later re-balancing based on the 2024–25 competition results.
| Participation for 2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite | |
|---|---|
| Participating | |
| Not participating |
In the following table, the number of appearances and last appearance count since the 2002–03 season, when the competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League.
| Entry round | West Region | East Region | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Ahli | 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite title holder | 15th (2024–25) | Vissel Kobe | 2024 J1 League champions and 2024 Emperor's Cup winners | 4th (2024–25) |
| Al-Ittihad | 2024–25 Saudi Pro League champions and 2024–25 King's Cup winners | 13th (2023–24) | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 2024 J1 League runners-up | 6th (2019) |
| Al-Hilal | 2024–25 Saudi Pro League runners-up | 21th (2024–25) | Machida Zelvia | 2024 J1 League third place | 1st |
| Shabab Al Ahli | 2024–25 UAE Pro League champions and 2024–25 UAE President's Cup winners | 13th (2024–25) | Ulsan HD | 2024 K League 1 champions | 13th (2024–25) |
| Sharjah | 2024–25 UAE Pro League runners-up2024–25 AFC Champions League Two title holder | 7th (2023–24) | Gangwon FC | 2024 K League 1 runners-up | 1st |
| Al Wahda | 2024–25 UAE Pro League third place | 13th (2021) | FC Seoul | 2024 K League 1 fourth place | 9th (2020) |
| Al Sadd | 2024–25 Qatar Stars League champions | 20th (2024–25) | Shanghai Port | 2024 Chinese Super League champions and 2024 Chinese FA Cup winners | 9th (2024–25) |
| Al-Gharafa | 2025 Emir of Qatar Cup winners | 14th (2024–25) | Shanghai Shenhua | 2024 Chinese Super League runners-up | 11th (2024–25) |
| Tractor | 2024–25 Persian Gulf Pro League champions | 7th (2021) | Buriram United | 2024–25 Thai League 1 champions2024–25 Thai FA Cup champions | 13th (2024–25) |
| Nasaf | 2024 Uzbekistan Super League champions | 9th (2023–24) | Melbourne City | 2024–25 A-League Men regular season runners-up | 3rd (2023–24) |
| Al-Shorta | 2024–25 Iraq Stars League champions | 7th (2024–25) | Johor Darul Ta'zim | 2024–25 Malaysia Super League champions | 11th (2024–25) |
| Al-Duhail | 2024–25 Qatar Stars League runners-up | 12th (2023–24) | Chengdu Rongcheng | 2024 Chinese Super League third place | 1st |
| Sepahan | 2024–25 Persian Gulf Pro League runners-up | 16th (2024–25) | Bangkok United | 2024–25 Thai League 1 runners-up | 6th (2024–25) |
Notes.
The quarter-finals for the West region have been postponed due to the impacts from the 2026 Iran War.
The schedule of the competition is as follows.
| Stage | Round | Draw date | West region | East region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary stage | Preliminary round | No draw | 12 August 2025 | |
| League stage | Matchday 1 | 15 August 2025 | 15–16 September 2025 | 16–17 September 2025 |
| Matchday 2 | 29–30 September 2025 | 30 September–1 October 2025 | ||
| Matchday 3 | 20–21 October 2025 | 21–22 October 2025 | ||
| Matchday 4 | 3–4 November 2025 | 4–5 November 2025 | ||
| Matchday 5 | 24–25 November 2025 | 25–26 November 2025 | ||
| Matchday 6 | 22–23 December 2025 | 9–10 December 2025 | ||
| Matchday 7 | 9–10 February 2026 | 10–11 February 2026 | ||
| Matchday 8 | 16–17 February 2026 | 17–18 February 2026 | ||
| Round of 16 | No draw | 13–14 April 2026 | 3–11 March 2026 | |
| Finals | Quarter-finals | 18 March 2026 | 16–18 April 2026 | |
| Semi-finals | 20–21 April 2026 | |||
| Final | 25 April 2026 at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, Jeddah |
The two winners of the play-off round (one from West Region and one from East Region) advanced to the league stage to join the 22 direct entrants. The losers of the qualifying play-offs entered the group stage of the 2025–26 AFC Champions League Two.
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|
| West Region | ||
| Al-Duhail | 3–2 | Sepahan |
| East Region | ||
| Chengdu | 3–0 | Bangkok United |
The league phase draw took place on 15 August 2025 (at 17:00 UTC+8), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The West Region round of 16 fixtures were postponed indefinitely by the AFC due to the impacts from the 2026 Iran war. The first legs were originally scheduled to be played between 2 and 4 March, with the second legs between 9 and 11 March. Later the AFC decided that the West Region ties would change to a single-leg format on 13 and 14 April in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The first legs for the East Region were played on 3 and 4 March, with the second legs played on 10 and 11 March.
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|
| West Region | ||
| Al Hilal | 3–3 (a.e.t.)(2–4 p) | Al Sadd |
| Al-Ahli | 1–0 (a.e.t.) | Al-Duhail |
| Tractor | 0–3 | Shabab Al Ahli |
| Al-Ittihad | 1–0 (a.e.t.) | Al Wahda |
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Region | ||||
| Gangwon FC | 0–1 | Machida Zelvia | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| FC Seoul | 1–3 | Vissel Kobe | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim | 3–2 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 3–1 | 0–1 |
| Melbourne City | 1–1 (2–4 p) | Buriram United | 1–1 | 0–0 (a.e.t.) |
As of 14 April 2026
Note
-
Goals scored in the qualifying play-offs and matches voided by AFC are not counted when determining top scorer (Regulations Article 64.4)
-
2025–26 AFC Champions League Two
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2025–26 AFC Challenge League
-
2025–26 AFC Women's Champions League
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AFC Champions League Elite – 2025–26 Competition Regulations
-
AFC Calendar 2025–26 (Updated on 4 Aug 2025) (Archive1)
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