AFC Champions League Two

AFC Champions League Two
Organising body	AFC
Founded	2004; 20 years ago; (rebranded in 2024)
Region	Asia
Number of teams	32 (group stage)
Qualifier for	AFC Champions League Elite
Related competitions	AFC Champions League Elite (1st tier); AFC Challenge League (3rd tier)
Current champions	Central Coast Mariners (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Al-Kuwait; Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya; (3 titles each)
	2024–25 AFC Champions League Two

The AFC Champions League Two (previously known as the AFC Cup, abbreviated as the ACL Two) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC Champions League Elite and above the AFC Challenge League.

The tournament was founded in 2004 as the AFC Cup, which was played primarily among clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying slots to the top-tier AFC Champions League. In 2024, the AFC introduced a revamped second-tier club competition under the name AFC Champions League Two, with the records and statistics of the AFC Cup transferring to the new competition.

Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in national leagues and cup competitions. Participation in the competition is open to clubs from the top 12 nations in the East and the West region based on the AFC club competitions ranking. The participant from each nation ranked 1–6 in each region is the highest-placed club in that nation that did not qualify for the AFC Champions League Elite. The nations ranked 7–12 in each region enter their top club(s) directly to the AFC Champions League Two.

The current champions are Central Coast Mariners, who defeated Al-Ahed in the 2024 final. Al-Kuwait and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya are the most successful clubs in the competition's history, having won three titles each. Clubs from Kuwait have won four titles, making them the most successful nation in the competition.

History

Winners
Season	Winners
AFC Cup
2004	Al-Jaish
2005	Al-Faisaly
2006	Al-Faisaly
2007	Shabab Al-Ordon
2008	Al-Muharraq
2009	Kuwait SC
2010	Al-Ittihad
2011	Nasaf
2012	Kuwait SC
2013	Kuwait SC
2014	Al-Qadsia
2015	Johor Darul Ta'zim
2016	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2017	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2018	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2019	Al Ahed
2021	Al-Muharraq
2022	Al-Seeb
2023–24	Central Coast Mariners
AFC Champions League Two
2024–25

The AFC Cup began in 2004 as a second-tier competition to relate back to the AFC Champions League as 14 countries that had developing status competed in the first competition with 18 teams being nominated. The winners and three runners-up would then head to the knock-out stage where it was a random draw in who was going to play. Al-Jaish took the first AFC Cup after they defeated fellow Syrian opponents Al-Wahda on away goals.

In 2005, 18 teams competed from nine nations with the nations still being allowed to choose from one or two teams entering. After Syrian teams left the AFC Cup to try at the AFC Champions League for four years, Al-Faisaly defeated Nejmeh in the final. With it, Jordanian teams would win the next two AFC Cup seasons with Bahrain joining the league while Bangladesh was relegated to the AFC President's Cup until the tournament's abolition in 2014.

Al-Muharraq would break the trend in 2008 as they competed in the last two-legged final before it headed back into a one-leg system, a rule that was never changed till the termination of this tournament.

On 23 December 2022, it was announced that the AFC competition structure would change from the established formats from the 2024–25 season. A new second-tier tournament called the AFC Champions League Two would be introduced.^[1] Meanwhile, a new third-tier competition was also launched under the name AFC Challenge League.^[2]^[3]^[4]

On 24 May 2024, AFC announced that the records and statistics of the preceding AFC club competitions will be recognised and integrated within the revamped club competitions, with the data from the AFC Cup transferring to the AFC Champions League Two.^[5]

Format

Some changes were applied in terms of teams and format for the 2017 AFC Cup. A total of 36 teams participated in the group stage (12 each from West Asia and ASEAN, and 4 each from East Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia). The final is played as a one-off match.

Allocation

The allocation of group stage teams by member country was listed below; asterisks represent occasions where at least one team was eliminated in qualification for the group stage. Those who had not reached the group stage but had only played in qualification are not bolded.

Associations	Spots
Associations	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023–24
East
China	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chinese Taipei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	1	1*	1	1	2*
Guam	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hong Kong	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	2	1	2	2	0
Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Macau	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	1	0	1	0	0	1*
Mongolia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	0*	0*	0*	1	0*	1
North Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1*	0	0	0	0
South Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	4	4	4	4	3	4
ASEAN
Australia	Part of OFC			0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Brunei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0*	0	0*
Cambodia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1*	1	1	1	2	2	1*
Indonesia	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	2	1	2	2	2	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2*
Laos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0*	0*	1	1*	0*	1	0*
Malaysia	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	0	0	2	2	2
Myanmar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	1*
Philippines	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1*	2	2	2	2	2	0	1	2
Singapore	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*
Thailand	0	0	0±	1	0	2	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Timor-Leste	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	0	0
Vietnam	0	0	0	1	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	1	1
Total	4	4	4	6	4	8	8	7	10	10	10	10	9	11	12	12	12	11	11	12
South
Bangladesh	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1	1*	1*	1	1*	1*	1*	1*
Bhutan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*	0*
India	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2	2	2*
Maldives	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2	2	2	2	1*	1*	0	2	1*	1*	1*
Nepal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0*	0	1	0	0*	0*	0*
Pakistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sri Lanka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0*	0*	0*	0*	0
Total	5	6	6	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Central
Afghanistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0
Iran	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kyrgyzstan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0*	0*	2	1*	1*	2	2	2	1*
Tajikistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	1*	1*	1*	1*	2	2	2	2	1*
Turkmenistan	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1*	1*	1*	2	1*	2	2	2	2*
Uzbekistan	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0
Total	2	2	2	2	0	1	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	7	7	7	4
West
Bahrain	0	0	1	1	2	2	1	0	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*
Iraq	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	2
Jordan	0	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	1
Kuwait	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	3	3	2	2	2	0	0	0	2	2	1	2	2
Lebanon	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Oman	1	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1*	2	2	2	1*	1*	0	2	1*
Palestine	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0*	1*	2	0*	0*	1	1	2	2	1*
Qatar	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Saudi Arabia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Syria	2	0	0	0	0	2	3	3	2	1*	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2*
United Arab Emirates	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Yemen	1	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0*	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	6	4	6	10	10	17	16	17	16	14	14	14	14	12	12	12	12	11	12	12
Total
Finals	18	18	20	24	20	32	31	32	32	32	32	32	32	34	36	36	39	37	37	36
Qualifying	18	18	20	24	20	32	31	32	33	33	34	41	40	50	44	43	48	43	43	49

Prize money

The prize money for the 2023–24 AFC Cup:^[6]

Phase	Purse (USD)	Travel subsidy (per match)
Preliminary stage	N/A	$40,000
Play-offs	N/A	$40,000
Group stage	N/A	$40,000
Knockout stage	Zonal champions: $100,000	$40,000
Final	Champions: $1.5 million Runners-up: $750,000	$40,000

Marketing

Sponsorship

The tournament has been sponsored by a group of multinational corporations, in contrast to the single main sponsor typically found in national top-flight leagues.

The tournament's main sponsors were:^[7]

Results and statistics

Finals

List of AFC Cup and AFC Champions League Two finals
Season	Nation	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Nation	Venue	Attendance
AFC Cup era (2004–2024)
Two-legged format
2004	Syria	Al-Jaish	3–2	Al-Wahda	Syria	Abbasiyyin Stadium, Damascus, Syria
	Syria	Al-Jaish	0–1	Al-Wahda	Syria	Abbasiyyin Stadium, Damascus, Syria
	Aggregate 3–3, Al-Jaish won on away goals.
2005	Jordan	Al-Faisaly	1–0	Nejmeh	Lebanon	Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan
	Jordan	Al-Faisaly	3–2	Nejmeh	Lebanon	Rafic Hariri Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon
	Al-Faisaly won 4–2 on aggregate.
2006	Jordan	Al-Faisaly	3–0	Al-Muharraq	Bahrain	Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan	7,000
	Jordan	Al-Faisaly	2–4	Al-Muharraq	Bahrain	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa, Bahrain	3,000
	Al-Faisaly won 5–4 on aggregate.
2007	Jordan	Shabab Al-Ordon	1–0	Al-Faisaly	Jordan	Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan	5,500
	Jordan	Shabab Al-Ordon	1–1	Al-Faisaly	Jordan	Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan	7,500
	Shabab Al-Ordon won 2–1 on aggregate.
2008	Bahrain	Al-Muharraq	5–1	Safa	Lebanon	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa, Bahrain	6,000
	Bahrain	Al-Muharraq	5–4	Safa	Lebanon	Sports City Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon	2,000
	Al-Muharraq won 10–5 on aggregate.
Single match format
2009	Kuwait	Al-Kuwait	2–1	Al-Karamah	Syria	Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait	17,400
2010	Syria	Al-Ittihad	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Al-Qadsia	Kuwait	Jaber International Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait	58,604
2011	Uzbekistan	Nasaf	2–1	Al-Kuwait	Kuwait	Markaziy Stadium, Qarshi, Uzbekistan	15,753
2012	Kuwait	Al-Kuwait	4–0	Erbil	Iraq	Franso Hariri Stadium, Erbil, Iraq	30,000
2013	Kuwait	Al-Kuwait	2–0	Al-Qadsia	Kuwait	Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait	10,000
2014	Kuwait	Al-Qadsia	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Erbil	Iraq	Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai, UAE	5,240
2015	Malaysia	Johor Darul Ta'zim	1–0	Istiklol	Tajikistan	Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe, Tajikistan	18,000
2016	Iraq	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1–0	Bengaluru	India	Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar	5,806
2017	Iraq	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1–0	Istiklol	Tajikistan	Hisor Central Stadium, Hisor, Tajikistan	20,000
2018	Iraq	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2–0	Altyn Asyr	Turkmenistan	Basra International Stadium, Basra, Iraq	24,665
2019	Lebanon	Al-Ahed	1–0	April 25	North Korea	Kuala Lumpur Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	500
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.^[8]
2021	Bahrain	Al-Muharraq	3–0	Nasaf	Uzbekistan	Al-Muharraq Stadium, Arad, Bahrain	9,060
2022	Oman	Al-Seeb	3–0	Kuala Lumpur City	Malaysia	Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	27,722
2023–24	Australia	Central Coast Mariners	1–0	Al-Ahed	Lebanon	Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat, Oman	1,930
AFC Champions League Two era (2024–present)
2024–25			v

Performance by clubs

Performances in the AFC Cup and AFC Champions League Two by club
v t e Club	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years runners-up
Al-Kuwait	3	1	2009, 2012, 2013	2011
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	3	0	2016, 2017, 2018
Al-Faisaly	2	1	2005, 2006	2007
Al-Muharraq	2	1	2008, 2021	2006
Al-Qadsia	1	2	2014	2010, 2013
Nasaf Qarshi	1	1	2011	2021
Al-Ahed	1	1	2019	2023–24
Al-Jaish	1	0	2004
Shabab Al-Ordon	1	0	2007
Al-Ittihad	1	0	2010
Johor Darul Ta'zim	1	0	2015
Al-Seeb	1	0	2022
Central Coast Mariners	1	0	2023–24
Erbil	0	2		2012, 2014
Istiklol	0	2		2015, 2017
Al-Wahda	0	1		2004
Nejmeh	0	1		2005
Safa	0	1		2008
Al-Karamah	0	1		2009
Bengaluru	0	1		2016
Altyn Asyr	0	1		2018
April 25	0	1		2019
Kuala Lumpur City	0	1		2022

Performance by nations

Nation	Titles	Runners-up	Total
Kuwait	4	3	7
Iraq	3	2	5
Jordan	3	1	4
Syria	2	2	4
Bahrain	2	1	3
Lebanon	1	3	4
Uzbekistan	1	1	2
Malaysia	1	1	2
Oman	1	0	1
Australia	1	0	1
Tajikistan	0	2	2
India	0	1	1
Turkmenistan	0	1	1
North Korea	0	1	1

Most Valuable Player

Year	Player	Club
2011	Artur Gevorkyan	Nasaf Qarshi
2012	Rogerinho	Al-Kuwait
2013	Bader Al-Mutawa	Al-Qadsia
2014	Saif Al Hashan	Al-Qadsia
2015	Safiq Rahim	Johor Darul Ta'zim
2016	Hammadi Ahmed	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2017	Manuchekhr Dzhalilov	Istiklol
2018	Hammadi Ahmed	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2019	Mehdi Khalil	Al-Ahed
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
2021	Abdulwahab Al-Malood	Al-Muharraq
2022	Eid Al-Farsi	Al-Seeb
2023–24	Mikael Doka	Central Coast Mariners

Winning coaches

Year	Club	Coach
2004	Al-Jaish	Costică Ștefănescu
2005	Al-Faisaly	Branko Smiljanić
2006	Al-Faisaly	Adnan Hamad
2007	Shabab Al-Ordon	Nizar Mahrous
2008	Al-Muharraq	Salman Sharida
2009	Al-Kuwait	Mohamad Abdulla
2010	Al-Ittihad	Valeriu Tița
2011	Nasaf Qarshi	Anatoliy Demyanenko
2012	Al-Kuwait	Marin Ion
2013	Al-Kuwait	Marin Ion
2014	Al-Qadsia	Antonio Puche
2015	Johor Darul Ta'zim	Mario Gomez
2016	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Basim Qasim
2017	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Hussam Al Sayed
2018	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Basim Qasim
2019	Al-Ahed	Bassem Marmar
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
2021	Al-Muharraq	Isa Sadoon Al-Hamdani
2022	Al-Seeb	Rashid Jaber
2023–24	Central Coast Mariners	Mark Jackson

Top goalscorers

As of 11 March 2020^[9]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Bienvenido Marañón	Ceres–Negros	35
2	Mahmoud Shelbaieh	Al-Wehdat	34
3	Aleksandar Đurić	Geylang United, Singapore Armed Forces, Tampines Rovers	32
3	Amjad Radhi	Erbil SC, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	32
5	Bader Al-Mutawa	Qadsia SC	30
5	Rico	Al-Muharraq, Al-Riffa, Al-Hidd	30
7	Ali Ashfaq	Club Valencia, New Radiant, VB Sports Club	29

References

External links

AFC Cup on RSSSF

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[5]

[6]

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