The inaugural Asian Women’s Champions League is to start in August, with 22 teams competing for the top prize of US$1.3 million, the biggest payout for women’s club soccer on the continent, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said yesterday.
One club each from 22 countries across the continent are to play in the new competition, including Taichung Blue Whale, who were last year’s Taiwan Mulan Football League champions.
Blue Whale and reigning Asian Women’s Club Championship winners the Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies from Japan qualified automatically for the group phase as representatives of the eight highest-ranked member associations, with the others being North Korea, Australia, China, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Blue Whale were handed the eighth automatic qualifier berth, as Taiwan’s women’s team are No. 8 in Asia.
Blue Whale head coach Lu Kuei-hua in April said that the team were targeting the semi-finals.
“In the AFC Champions League, we hope to advance to at least the top eight and then the second goal is to hope that we can fight to the top four,” she told gogoal.com.tw.
The remaining 14 clubs are to play in a preliminary round that sees teams divided into four groups held in a centralized format from Aug. 25 to 31, with matches to be played in Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.
The four group winners are to join the other eight teams in the next phase, where three groups of four face off in hubs in China, Vietnam and an as yet undecided third venue from Oct. 6 to 12.
The top two finishers plus the two best runners-up advance to the quarter-finals, which are to be played in March next year, while the semi-finals and final are scheduled for May 21 and 24 next year.
Clubs participating in the group phase are to receive a minimum of US$100,000, with prize money increasing according to finishing position.
The champions are to net a minimum of US$1.3 million, more than what is on offer to the women’s league champions in Japan, Australia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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