Industry Odisha Bureau, April 14: In a bid to reportedly “promote inclusivity and excellence”, the executive committee of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has reportedly made up its mind to go in for an expansion of teams from 24 to 32.
The AFC has informed media that the “landmark expansion” will be effective from the next season.
As per media reports, the competition has been divided into two groups named East and West prior to the knockout rounds, while each group would go up to 16 teams from the 2026-27 season instead of the previous 12 teams that used to be in each group. Hence, the grand total of the number of teams would shoot up to 32.
While the tourney has reportedly been adorned with the nomenclature AFC Champions Elite since 2024-25, the campaign of 2025-26’s last 16 and quarter-final matches have reportedly been scheduled in Saudi Arabia’s popular port city of Jeddah this week.
