AFC Competitions
Stage set for #ACLElite and #ACLTwo preliminary battles
The ACL Elite and ACL Two will mark their return to action with the Preliminary Stage for the 2025/26 season, which gets underway on August 12 (Tuesday).
Four teams will vie for the two available League Stage berths in the ACL Elite while six contenders will do likewise for three Group Stage berths in the ACL Two, as confirmed by the finalised slot allocations in June.
ACL Elite
The battle to reach the League Stage in the East will take place at the Phoenix Hill Sports Park Football Stadium in Chengdu at 7.35pm, where Chengdu Rongcheng FC of China PR welcome Thailand’s Bangkok United.
A third-place league finish in 2024 their best ever sealed the home side’s entry at this stage, which will mark their first ever Continental match. Founded in 2018, Chengdu Rongcheng steadily worked their way up from the fourth tier to reach the top flight in 2022, and currently sit third in the midst of the 2025 league campaign.
Meanwhile, the visitors last appeared in the tournament proper in 2023/24, where they reached the Round of 16. The 2024/25 Thai league runners-up are aiming for a third qualification and this will be their fourth participation in the preliminary rounds, having been eliminated in each of those previous instances (2017, 2019, 2024/25).
In the West, Qatar’s Al Duhail SC and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan SC go head-to-head at 7pm at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan for the right to progress to the League Stage.
Both teams’ last involvement came in 2023/24, with Al Duhail targeting a 13th appearance while Sepahan are eyeing a 15th; the duo are also each featuring in the preliminary rounds for a second time, with the former succeeding in 2014 while the latter stumbled in 2024/25.
Semi-finalists in 2022, Al Duhail finished as 2024/25 Qatari league runners-up and hold a superior head-to-head record against the away side, winning three of their four previous encounters all in the ACL Group Stage (2012 and 2022). Sepahan, 2007 finalists and 2024/25 league runners-up in IR Iran, will hope to overturn the losing streak.
The two Preliminary Stage winners will join the 22 teams that were granted direct entry to the League Stage, while the losing pair will enter the ACL Two Group Stage directly.
ACL Two
The sole Group Stage spot up for grabs in the East for the ACL Two 2024/25 will be claimed by either Indonesia’s Persib Bandung or Manila Digger FC of the Philippines, who square off on August 13 at 7pm at the Gelora Bandung Lautan Api Stadium in Bandung.
The home side, winners of a joint-record fourth Indonesian league title last season, are targeting a third participation, having reached the Round of 16 in 2015 and the Group Stage in 2024/25. Meanwhile, their opponents, who missed out on the league title by just one point in only their second top-flight season in 2024/25, are set to contest their first ever Continental match.
Two more Preliminary Stage fixtures on the same day will decide who progresses to the Group Stage in the West, starting with the 5pm kick-off at the Central Stadium of Tursunzoda between FC Regar-TadAZ of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan’s Ahal FC, who are both in the midst of their latest domestic campaigns.
The home side, who lifted a seventh domestic cup trophy in 2024, were the first Tajik team to win a Continental title in 2005 in the AFC President’s Cup the first of a record three triumphs and last featured in an AFC competition in the AFC Cup™ 2013. Runners-up in the league last season, the visitors’ best achievement was reaching the Zonal Finals in 2021 on their third participation, and they are taking part in the Preliminary Stage for a third instance.
The second match features FC Goa of India and Oman’s Al Seeb Club, who will clash at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa at 7.30pm.
Runners-up in the league and winners of the domestic cup for a second time in 2025, FC Goa’s sole previous experience in AFC competition came in the AFC Champions League™ Group Stage in 2021, while Al Seeb Club’s Continental debut in 2022 ended in glory as they lifted the AFC Cup™. The visitors, who clinched a fourth league title in 2024/25, are eyeing a second tournament involvement.
The victorious trio from the Preliminary Stage will advance to the Group Stage, joining 29 sides that were granted direct entry, with the three eliminated teams to enter the AFC Challenge League™ 2025/26 Group Stage.
All times indicated are in respective local times.
