HONG KONG, Sept 15 (Askume) – Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates take on Qatar’s Al Sadd in their first game for Hernan Crespo’s side in the Continental Champions League on Monday, kicking off the restructured Asian Champions League Classic.
Crespo’s side defeated Yokohama Marinos in the last final played under the old format in May. Reaching 12 million people.
The long-standing group stage, used in various formats since 2002, has been abandoned in favour of the new Swiss league system, which divides clubs into 12-team East and West Asian leagues, each scheduled to begin in 2019. The eight group stage games begin on Monday.
The league stage will run until early February, with fixtures determined by a computer-assisted draw held in Kuala Lumpur last month.
The top eight teams in each league will advance to the knockout rounds, which will be held in March, followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final, which will be held in Saudi Arabia on May 4.
Al Ain defeated Saudi Arabia’s emerging club team in last year’s competition, with Crespo defeating Cristiano Ronaldo’s home team Al Nasr, and Al-Hilal to reach the final.
The UAE will face these two teams again in the league stage of the 2024–25 season, as well as third-placed Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli, Qatar’s Al-Gharafa and Al-Rayyan, Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor and Iraq’s Al-Shorta.
Al Ain are hoping to become the fifth club to retain the title as they have retained the services of Moroccan striker Soufiane Rahimi, who scored a tournament-high 13 goals last season and played a key role in the team’s success.
Yokohama Marinos, one of the 12 teams in the east zone of the draw, will face South Korea’s Gwangju FC on Tuesday. Harry Kewell, who led the Japanese side to the final in May this year, has already resigned as head coach.
The Australian and the Mariners parted ways in July after the team fell far behind in the J-League title race. He has been replaced on an interim basis by Cavill’s former assistant John Hutchinson.
Former Korean champions Ulsan HD and Pohang Steelers lead the eastern side of the draw, which also features Chinese top three SIPG, Shanghai Shenhua and Shandong Taishan, as well as Japanese champions Vissel Kobe.
