AFC Women's Club Championship

Summary

The AFC Women's Club Championship is the top-tier women's football club competition in Asia. It involves the top clubs from countries affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).[1] Designed as pilot or invitational tournaments, the format will change in 2024–25 with the launch of the AFC Women's Champions League.[2]

AFC Women's Club Championship
Organising bodyAFC
Founded2019; 5 years ago (2019)
RegionAsia
Number of teams8
Current championsSouth Korea Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels
Japan Urawa Red Diamonds
(1st title each)
Most successful club(s)Jordan Amman SC
Japan Tokyo Verdy Beleza
Thailand College of Asian Scholars
Uzbekistan Sogdiana Jizzakh
(1 title each)
Television broadcastersYouTube
Websitethe-afc.com
2023 AFC Women's Club Championship

The joint current champions are South Korea's Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels and Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds, who were the group winners before the final was cancelled by the AFC.[3]

History edit

The concept of an Asian women's club competition was first recommended in 2018.[4] The inaugural championship in 2019 was held as a round-robin tournament among four teams from the east region.[5] This was followed by the 2021 championship among four teams from the west region.[6] For 2022, seven teams would be split between the east and west regions, with winners from the two regions facing off in the final on 22 October 2022.[7]

Transition to an AFC Women's Champions League edit

From 2024–25, the AFC Women's Champions League will feature 12 teams in a group stage followed by a knock-out stage. Each association gets one team to enter.[8]

Key principles for the new competition were released by the AFC on 20 August 2023.[9] The 2024–25 competition will comprise a Preliminary stage, a Main tournament with 12 teams featuring in the Group Stage, followed by a Knockout stage. From the first four seasons there will be one entry per participating member association, with allocation based on the FIFA ranking of participating member associations up to 2027–28. Thereafter, an AFC Women's Club Competition Ranking will be used.

Results edit

AFC Women's Club Championship finals
Edition Year Zone Format Winners Runners-up Venue Number of teams
1 2019 RR   Tokyo Verdy Beleza   Jiangsu Yongin, South Korea 4
2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2 2021 RR   Amman   Shahrdari Sirjan Amman, Jordan 4
3 2022 East RR   College of Asian Scholars   Taichung Blue Whale Chonburi, Thailand 5
West TL   Sogdiana Jizzakh   Bam Khatoon Qarshi, Uzbekistan
4 2023 Group A RR   Urawa Red Diamonds   Gokulam Kerala FC Chonburi, Thailand 8
Group B RR   Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels   Sydney FC Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Key
  • RR - round-robin
  • TL - two-legged tie

Records and statistics edit

Performances by club edit

Performances in the AFC Women's Club Championship by club
Club Winners Runners-up Years won Years runners-up
  Tokyo Verdy Beleza 1 0 2019
  Amman 1 0 2021
  College of Asian Scholars 1 0 2022[a]
  Sogdiana Jizzakh 1 0 2022[b]
  Urawa Red Diamonds 1 0 2023[c]
  Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels 1 0 2023[d]
  Jiangsu 0 1 2019
  Shahrdari Sirjan 0 1 2021
  Taichung Blue Whale 0 1 2022[a]
  Bam Khatoon 0 1 2022[b]
  Gokulam Kerala FC 0 1 2023[c]
  Sydney FC 0 1 2023[d]

Performances by nation edit

Performances in the AFC Women's Club Championship by club
Nation Winners Runners-up
  Japan 2 0
  Jordan 1 0
  South Korea 1 0
  Thailand 1 0
  Uzbekistan 1 0
  Iran 0 2
  Australia 0 1
  China 0 1
  India 0 1
  Chinese Taipei 0 1

Top scorers by year edit

Year Top scorer(s) Club(s) Goals
  Mina Tanaka   Tokyo Verdy Beleza
4
2
  Su Yu-hsuan   Taichung Blue Whale
2
  Kiko Seike   Urawa Red Diamonds
6

See also edit

AFC Men's

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b East zone
  2. ^ a b West zone
  3. ^ a b Group A
  4. ^ a b Group B

References edit

  1. ^ "AFC Women's Football Committee approves AFC Women's Club Championship". AFC. 27 September 2019. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  2. ^ "AFC Women's Football Committee approves AFC's world-class competitions' roster". the-AFC. 5 February 2022. Archived from the original on 25 October 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  3. ^ "AFC Women's Club Championship 2023 – Invitational Tournament 決勝について" (in Japanese). WE League. 22 March 2024.
  4. ^ "AFC Women's Football Committee recommends women's club competition". AFC. 20 April 2018. Archived from the original on 1 November 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  5. ^ McCullagh, Kevin (30 September 2019). "AFC to pilot women's club championship in November". Sport Business. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  6. ^ "India recommended as host for AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022". AFC. 19 February 2020. Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  7. ^ "Uzbekistan to host AFC Women's Club Championship 2022 – Pilot Tournament in the West". the-AFC. Archived from the original on 2022-05-26. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
  8. ^ "AFC unveils format for new Women's Champions League and revamps national team dates". Inside World Football. 2023-08-21. Archived from the original on 2023-08-23. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  9. ^ "Key principles of landmark AFC Women's Champions League approved by AFC Women's Football Committee". AFC. 20 August 2023.

External links edit

  • AFC Women's Club Championship, the-AFC.com
  • AFC Women's Club Championship at the RSSSF