matt wrote: ↑Wed Sep 25, 2024 23:45
Recently i stumbled upon an article comparing AFC Champions league and UEFA Champions league new formats.
Basically the first league phase is the same, with 2/3 of the teams advancing after facing 8 different teams.
The different thing is that after the round of 16 there's a final eight in a neutral venue with knock-out games, like in the World Cup, EURO or Asian Cup.
It's really weird: 96 games to eliminate 8 teams out of 24, then 16 games to eliminate 8 teams and 7 games to eliminate 7 teams and find the winner
Oh, and the neutral venue chosen is Saudi Arabia (to increase CR7 team chances to win the Cup?)
Would have replied earlier but I was a bit occupied (well, I am always occupied), but here are some of my thoughts of this new format (so far), compared with the old format.
Competitive balance
One thing very different with the UEFA format change, where the Swiss system is introduced together with a slight expansion from 32 to 36 teams, the AFC elite competition has actually been contracted, from 40 to 24 teams.
The previous expansion of the tournament in 2021 from 32 to 40 teams creates a competitive imbalance, since the four teams in each region, coming from associations ranked 7-10, are simply too weak to compete with the top teams.
So now AFC is going in another direction. By reducing the number of teams and ushering some of these less "worthy" teams into the new ACL2, the league stage is likely to see more competitive matches (wait, I sound like Ceferin). As you said, playing 96 matches to eliminate 8 teams do not offer a lot of immediate jeopardy for each match, but the level of teams are close enough that teams have to take most matches seriously if they are eyeing the next stage.
East-West matchups
Until 2013, the quarter-finals were an open draw, so teams from the East and West could meet each other starting from this round. But from 2014, they changed the rules so that the East and West teams did not meet each other until the final. Of course this was due to the long distance between the two zones and eliminating the time-consuming travel, but the problem was that this made the ACL like two separate tournaments until the East-West final. As a result, fans from the East rarely paid attention to the matches in the West, and vice versa. And with only one East vs West matchup each season, you don't get enough variety of matches prior to the final, with the same matchups appearing too often.
With the new format, it is already stated in the regulations that all quarter-finals will be East vs West matchups, so we can now see more cross-regional matches.
"Final-eight" tournament
All confederations have to make a decision on their club competition final: do they make it one single leg, or over two legs? AFC tried the single leg final between 2009 and 2012 (first two years at neutral venues, next two years at one of the finalists decided by draw), before reverting to two-legged final after that. But the two-legged final can feel very anti-climatic, especially if the first leg is a blow-out. And fans are not in particularly willing to travel long distance to an away match knowing that there is a home match you can see easily.
So AFC have made the bold decision to introduce this "final-eight" tournament, the only confederation to do so. Are there potential pitfalls? Certainly, as it is likely that matches not involving the host country may see low attendance. But perhaps there is some attractiveness to supporters that, well, you are travelling to see three matches, all in a "win-or-go-home" decisive manner, that winning them all bring your club the continental title.
Also, this tournament will be held earlier than usual, at the end of April and beginning of May. This is to avoid coinciding with the end of the domestic season of the clubs, as they have to play ACL Elite matches for more than one week possibly. And by moving the final away from the usual end of May or beginning of June, it avoids being at around the same time as the UEFA Champions League final, which simply dominates football coverage during that period.
As for the hosts, the Saudis are big sponsors of AFC these days, so no surprise they get the hosting rights for the first two seasons (and potentially the next three seasons also if AFC deems them successful hosts:
https://www.the-afc.com/en/club/afc_cha ... /xx_1.html). It will of course help the chances of Saudi clubs like Al Hilal or Al Nassr of winning it, but well, CR7 have only won one title (2023 Arab Club Champions Cup) since arriving there (even fewer than ETH's Man Utd!), so I won't hold my breath of him conquering Asia this season.
pic.twitter.com/vr1Zfhk0Nc
