2016 AFC Champions League

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2016 AFC Champions League
Tournament details
Dates27 January – 26 November 2016
Teams45 (from 17 associations)
Final positions
Champions
Adriano (13 goals)
Best player(s)United Arab Emirates Omar Abdulrahman
Fair play awardUnited Arab Emirates Al-Ain
2015

The 2016 AFC Champions League was the 35th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 14th under the current AFC Champions League title.

Guangzhou Evergrande
were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage.

Association team allocation

The AFC Competitions Committee proposed a revamp of the AFC club competitions on 25 January 2014,[3] which was ratified by the AFC Executive Committee on 16 April 2014.[4] The 46 AFC member associations (excluding the associate member Northern Mariana Islands) are ranked based on their national team's and clubs' performance over the last four years in AFC competitions, with the allocation of slots for the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC club competitions determined by the 2014 rankings:[5]

  • The associations are split into West Zone and East Zone, with 23 associations in each zone:
  • In each zone, there are a total of 12 direct slots in the group stage, with the 4 remaining slots filled through play-offs.
  • The top 12 associations in each zone as per the AFC rankings are eligible to enter the AFC Champions League, as long as they fulfill the AFC Champions League criteria.
  • The top six associations in each zone get at least one direct slot in the group stage, while the remaining associations get only play-off slots:
    • The associations ranked 1st and 2nd each get three direct slots and one play-off slot (in play-off round).
    • The associations ranked 3rd and 4th each get two direct slots and two play-off slots (one in play-off round, one in preliminary round 2).
    • The associations ranked 5th each get one direct slot and two play-off slots (both in preliminary round 2).
    • The associations ranked 6th each get one direct slot and one play-off slot (in preliminary round 2).
    • The associations ranked 7th to 12th each get one play-off slot (in preliminary round 1).
  • The maximum number of slots for each association is one-third of the total number of clubs in the top division (e.g., Australia can only get a maximum of three total slots as there are only nine Australia-based clubs in the
    A-League
    ).

The AFC Competitions Committee finalised the slot allocation for the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC Champions League based on the criteria, including the AFC rankings and the implementation of club licensing regulations, on 28 November 2014.[6][7][8]

The following table shows the slot allocation for the 2016 AFC Champions League, which are adjusted accordingly since some of the slots are unused.

Participation for 2016 AFC Champions League[9]
Fulfills participation criteria
Does not fulfill participation criteria
Notes
  1. ^
    United Arab Emirates had their fourth team entering the play-off round instead of the preliminary round 2 due to unused slots.
  2. ^
    Qatar had their third and fourth teams entering the play-off round instead of the preliminary round 2 due to unused slots.
  3. ^
    Iraq were allocated two preliminary round 2 slots, but were not allowed to participate as none of their teams passed the club licensing requirements.
  4. ^
    Kuwait were allocated one preliminary round 1 slot, but could not participate due to FIFA's suspension of its football association.
  5. ^
    Jordan had their team entering the play-off round instead of the preliminary round 1 due to unused slots.
  6. ^ a b c d
    Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon and Syria were allocated one preliminary round 1 slot, but were not allowed to participate as none of their teams passed the club licensing requirements.
  7. ^
    Indonesia were allocated one preliminary round 2 slot, could not participate in the AFC Champions League due to FIFA's suspension of its football association.
  8. ^ a b
    Myanmar and Malaysia had their team entering the preliminary round 2 instead of the preliminary round 1 due to unused slots.

Teams

The following 45 teams from 17 associations entered the competition.[9]

In the following table, the number of appearances and last appearance count only those since the 2002–03 season (including qualifying rounds), when the competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League. TH means title holders.

Notes
  1. Jiangsu Suning
    had its name changed from "Jiangsu Sainty" in December 2015. They are referred to as "Jiangsu FC" by the AFC in its official reports for the 2016 AFC Champions League.
  • National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam and thus ineligible to represent Singapore in AFC club competitions, their place was taken by Tampines Rovers
    , the league runners-up.
  • ^
    Thailand (THA): Since Suphanburi, the 2015 Thai Premier League 3rd place, failed to pass the club licensing requirements, their place was taken by Chonburi, the league 4th place.[10]
  • Mohun Bagan (p)
    Location of teams of the 2016 AFC Champions League.
    West Zone
    East Zone
    (p) Qualifying play-off participants