2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite

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.

The quarter-finals onwards (referred to as the 'AFC Champions League Elite Finals') 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 16 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.

Association team allocation

2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite

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

Teams

2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite

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.

<table><thead><tr><th>Entry round</th><th>West Region</th><th>East Region</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>League stage</td><td>Team</td><td>Qualifying method</td><td>App. (last)</td><td>Team</td><td>Qualifying method</td><td>App. (last)</td></tr><tr><td>Al-Ahli</td><td>2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite title holder</td><td>15th (2024–25)</td><td>Vissel Kobe</td><td>2024 J1 League champions and 2024 Emperor's Cup winners</td><td>4th (2024–25)</td></tr><tr><td>Al-Ittihad</td><td>2024–25 Saudi Pro League champions and 2024–25 King's Cup winners</td><td>13th (2023–24)</td><td>Sanfrecce Hiroshima</td><td>2024 J1 League runners-up</td><td>6th (2019)</td></tr><tr><td>Al-Hilal</td><td>2024–25 Saudi Pro League runners-up</td><td>21th (2024–25)</td><td>Machida Zelvia</td><td>2024 J1 League third place</td><td>1st</td></tr><tr><td>Shabab Al Ahli</td><td>2024–25 UAE Pro League champions and 2024–25 UAE President's Cup winners</td><td>13th (2024–25)</td><td>Ulsan HD</td><td>2024 K League 1 champions</td><td>13th (2024–25)</td></tr><tr><td>Sharjah</td><td>2024–25 UAE Pro League runners-up 2024–25 AFC Champions League Two title holder</td><td>7th (2023–24)</td><td>Gangwon FC</td><td>2024 K League 1 runners-up</td><td>1st</td></tr><tr><td>Al Wahda</td><td>2024–25 UAE Pro League third place</td><td>13th (2021)</td><td>FC Seoul</td><td>2024 K League 1 fourth place</td><td>9th (2020)</td></tr><tr><td>Al Sadd</td><td>2024–25 Qatar Stars League champions</td><td>20th (2024–25)</td><td>Shanghai Port</td><td>2024 Chinese Super League champions and 2024 Chinese FA Cup winners</td><td>9th (2024–25)</td></tr><tr><td>Al-Gharafa</td><td>2025 Emir of Qatar Cup winners</td><td>14th (2024–25)</td><td>Shanghai Shenhua</td><td>2024 Chinese Super League runners-up</td><td>11th (2024–25)</td></tr><tr><td>Tractor</td><td>2024–25 Persian Gulf Pro League champions</td><td>7th (2021)</td><td>Buriram United</td><td>2024–25 Thai League 1 champions 2024–25 Thai FA Cup champions</td><td>13th (2024–25)</td></tr><tr><td>Nasaf</td><td>2024 Uzbekistan Super League champions</td><td>9th (2023–24)</td><td>Melbourne City</td><td>2024–25 A-League Men regular season runners-up</td><td>3rd (2023–24)</td></tr><tr><td>Al-Shorta</td><td>2024–25 Iraq Stars League champions</td><td>7th (2024–25)</td><td>Johor Darul Ta'zim</td><td>2024–25 Malaysia Super League champions</td><td>11th (2024–25)</td></tr><tr><td>Qualifying play-off participants</td><td>Al-Duhail</td><td>2024–25 Qatar Stars League runners-up</td><td>12th (2023–24)</td><td>Chengdu Rongcheng</td><td>2024 Chinese Super League third place</td><td>1st</td></tr><tr><td>Sepahan</td><td>2024–25 Persian Gulf Pro League runners-up</td><td>16th (2024–25)</td><td>Bangkok United</td><td>2024–25 Thai League 1 runners-up</td><td>6th (2024–25)</td></tr></tbody></table>

Schedule

2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite

The quarter-finals for the West region have been postponed due to the impacts from the 2026 Iran War.

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

Qualifying play-offs

2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite

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

League stage

2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite

The league phase draw took place on 15 August 2025 (at 17:00 UTC+8), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

West Region

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Al Hilal	8	7	1	0	17	6	+11	22	Advance to round of 16
2	Al-Ahli	8	5	2	1	21	9	+12	17
3	Tractor	8	5	2	1	12	4	+8	17
4	Al-Ittihad	8	5	0	3	22	9	+13	15
5	Al Wahda	8	4	2	2	11	7	+4	14
6	Shabab Al Ahli	8	3	2	3	14	14	0	11
7	Al-Duhail	8	2	2	4	16	16	0	8
8	Al Sadd	8	2	2	4	12	16	−4	8
9	Sharjah	8	2	2	4	8	16	−8	8
10	Al-Gharafa	8	2	0	6	7	21	−14	6
11	Al-Shorta	8	1	2	5	6	20	−14	5
12	Nasaf	8	1	1	6	9	17	−8	4

East Region

<table><thead><tr><th>Pos</th><th>Team</th><th>Pld</th><th>W</th><th>D</th><th>L</th><th>GF</th><th>GA</th><th>GD</th><th>Pts</th><th>Qualification</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>Machida Zelvia</td><td>8</td><td>5</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>15</td><td>7</td><td>+8</td><td>17</td><td>Advance to round of 16</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Vissel Kobe</td><td>8</td><td>5</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>14</td><td>7</td><td>+7</td><td>16</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Sanfrecce Hiroshima</td><td>8</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>1</td><td>10</td><td>6</td><td>+4</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Buriram United</td><td>8</td><td>4</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>10</td><td>8</td><td>+2</td><td>14</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Melbourne City</td><td>8</td><td>4</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>9</td><td>7</td><td>+2</td><td>14</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Johor Darul Ta'zim</td><td>8</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>8</td><td>7</td><td>+1</td><td>11</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>FC Seoul</td><td>8</td><td>2</td><td>4</td><td>2</td><td>10</td><td>9</td><td>+1</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Gangwon FC</td><td>8</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>3</td><td>9</td><td>11</td><td>−2</td><td>9</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Ulsan HD</td><td>8</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>3</td><td>6</td><td>8</td><td>−2</td><td>9</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Chengdu Rongcheng</td><td>8</td><td>1</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>7</td><td>11</td><td>−4</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Shanghai Shenhua</td><td>8</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>6</td><td>5</td><td>13</td><td>−8</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>Shanghai Port</td><td>8</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>2</td><td>11</td><td>−9</td><td>4</td></tr></tbody></table>

Knockout stage

Round of 16

The West regions 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 AFC decided that West region would change to single-leg format on 13-14 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	13 Apr	Al Sadd
Al-Ahli	13 Apr	Al-Duhail
Tractor	14 Apr	Shabab Al Ahli
Al-Ittihad	14 Apr	Al Wahda

<table><thead><tr><th>Team 1</th><th>Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score</th><th>Team 2</th><th>1st leg</th><th>2nd leg</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>East Region</td></tr><tr><td>Gangwon FC </td><td>0–1</td><td> Machida Zelvia</td><td>0–0</td><td>0–1</td></tr><tr><td>FC Seoul </td><td>1–3</td><td> Vissel Kobe</td><td>0–1</td><td>1–2</td></tr><tr><td>Johor Darul Ta'zim </td><td>3–2</td><td> Sanfrecce Hiroshima</td><td>3–1</td><td>0–1</td></tr><tr><td>Melbourne City </td><td>1–1 (2–4 p)</td><td> Buriram United</td><td>1–1</td><td>0–0 (a.e.t.)</td></tr></tbody></table>

Top scorers

2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite

Rank	Player	Team	MD1	MD2	MD3	MD4	MD5	MD6	MD7	MD8	R16-1	R16-2	QF	SF	F	Total
1	Houssem Aouar	Al-Ittihad			2				3	1						6
Adil Boulbina	Al-Duhail	1			1	3		1
3	Rafa Mújica	Al Sadd						3	1	1						5
4	Karim Benzema	Al-Ittihad / Al Hilal				1	2	1								4
Enzo Millot	Al-Ahli	2		1					1
Krzysztof Piątek	Al-Duhail		1	1		1			1
Breno Cascardo	Shabab Al Ahli			1	1				2
Felipe	Chengdu Rongcheng					1	2		1
9	Multiple players (16)	3

• Goals scored in the qualifying play-offs and matches voided by AFC are not counted when determining top scorer (Regulations Article 64.4)