Has China ever won the AFC Champions League?
The AFC Champions League will be reorganized in 2009, and eventually 32 teams will participate. Plus the previous play-offs, the scale is unprecedented. China's four teams have been formed. Because there is no cup, Shandong Luneng, Shanghai Shenhua, Beijing Guoan and Tianjin TEDA, the top four in the league, have all qualified for the AFC Champions League, among which Beijing and Tianjin, the third runner-up, are the lucky ones in this year's restructuring.
According to the grouping rules of this year's AFC Champions League, the East and West Asian regions will hold regional competitions first, and the 16 teams in each region will be divided into four groups. China's fourth team is in Group E-Group H, namely China, Japan, Korea and Australia; China, Japan, South Korea, Australia; China, Japanese, Korean and Indonesian; The winner pattern of China, Japan, Korea and the qualifiers.
This means that 10 Japanese, Korean and Australian qualifying teams will all be opponents of China, but which team will eventually fall on will be determined when drawing lots.
Among China's main rivals, the Australian Super League is the only one that has achieved the inter-annual competition system, so the two teams participating in the competition are also the earliest, coming from the end of the 2007-2008 season. By then, Newcastle and the Central Coast Mariners will win the championship and runner-up respectively, and they will also represent Australia in the newly reorganized AFC Champions League. For China, these two teams are completely strangers, but in the past two years, the Chinese team did not suffer a lot against the Australian Super Team.
South Korea's fourth team was also produced at the end of 65438+February. The final finalist was Posco, which represented South Korea in the 2009 AFC Champions League Cup. After the K League, the top three players in the AFC Champions League have also been automatically selected, namely Samsung of Shui Yuan, FC of Seoul and Ulsan Hyundai.
For China, among the four teams, only FC Seoul is a new face, and the other three teams have played against each other. However, these finalists in the 2009 AFC Champions League did not have much psychological advantage against these Korean teams. Shandong Luneng once lost 0-6 to Samsung of Shui Yuan, and Beijing Guoan once lost 0-5 to Samsung of Shui Yuan. Shanghai Shenhua once beat Nanyihe 3-0 in A3 League, but this team failed to qualify for AFC Champions League this time.
Three of Japan's four teams are from the J League and one is from the Emperor Cup. After last season's J League, the top three players, Kashima Antlers, Kawasaki Striker and Nagoya Whale Eight, have automatically qualified for the 2009 AFC Champions League. The most interesting thing is the process of the fourth place.
According to past practice, AFC Champions can automatically enter the final stage of the next AFC Champions League, or even directly enter the quarter-finals. However, after this reorganization, the defending champion can't get special treatment, and Gamba Osaka, the champion of the 2008 AFC Champions League, may even face the dilemma of missing the 2009 AFC Champions League because J League failed to win the top three.
The final of Imperial Cup in 2009 was their last straw, which also benefited from the reform of AFC Champions League and the gradual integration of Japanese domestic cups. In the past, Japan always sent one year's Imperial Cup champion to participate in the second year's AFC Champions League. Such a cup champion often confirmed the AFC Champions League qualification a year ago. After the reform this year, it is completely synchronized with the new AFC Champions League. Gamba Osaka, the cup champion who emerged a week ago, became a lucky finalist.
China in Group G will also face the challenge of Indonesia, and the opponent is also a cross-year league, so the 2007-2008 Indonesian League champion Srivijaya FC has definitely become the opponent of China.
China's other opponent in Group H is relatively complicated. In the AFC Champions League qualifiers held on February 18 and February 25, the Thai League champion Provincial Electric Power Bureau challenged the Vietnamese League champion Pingyang, while the Singapore League champion Singapore Corps will face the AFC Champions League runner-up Lebanese Safa. After the winners of the two groups compete again, the final winner will become the opponent of China in Group H..
Among the teams of Japan, South Korea and Australia, except Australia, many teams of Japan and South Korea were once enemies of China. China in Group E and Group F will be the most passive, and will face the challenges from Japanese, Korean and Australian teams respectively, which can be regarded as the absolute death group, and the competition for qualifying places is very difficult. China in Group G and Group H has a better schedule. After all, they have a relatively weak opponent. In the case of two teams qualifying in the group stage, as long as one strong team is eliminated, the hope of qualifying will be greatly increased.
According to the regulations of the AFC, the lottery ceremony for the AFC Champions League will be held on October 7th, 65438 this year. The 32 teams participating in the competition are divided into 8 groups with 4 teams in each group. At that time, the exact opponents of China teams will be produced, and they can also prepare for the AFC Champions League in advance.