AFC Rankings: Vietnam Football Leaves Indonesia Far Behind, Cambodia Advances

Two major tournaments at the Asian club level have concluded. Al Ain (UAE) won the AFC Champions League, while Central Coast Mariners (Australia) won the AFC Cup for the first time.

Hanoi FC caused a surprise in the AFC Champions League (Photo: Tuan Bao).

The AFC has announced the Asian club rankings after the two tournaments ended. Vietnam football ranked 14th in Asia, 7th in East Asia and 3rd in Southeast Asia (after Thailand and Malaysia) with 28,657 accumulated points.

In the 2023/24 season, Hanoi FC earned many points thanks to excellent performances in the AFC Champions League group stage, notably winning against defending champions Urawa Reds. Hai Phong FC also had impressive victories in the AFC Cup arena. In total, the two teams brought home 5,400 points.

With this position, Vietnamese football does not have a place to participate in the AFC Champions League but has two places to participate in the AFC Champions League Two (one direct entry, one play-off place).

From the 2024/2025 season onwards, the AFC will apply groundbreaking changes in the organization of club tournaments. Accordingly, the playground of Asian clubs will be restructured into 3 levels.

The top level is the AFC Champions League Elite (ACL Elite), the second level is the AFC Champions League Two (ACL Two) and the third level is the AFC Challenge League (ACGL).

Vietnam football ranked 14th on the AFC rankings (Photo: AFC).

According to the announcement from AFC, ACL Elite will have 24 teams participating in the group stage, including 12 teams from the West region and 12 teams from the East region. Level 2 tournament (ACL Two) includes 32 teams participating in the group stage and also applies the same competition format as the ACL Elite tournament. Level 3 tournament - ACLGL is expected to have 20 teams participating in the group stage and is divided into 5 groups, including 3 groups from West Asia and 2 groups from East Asia.

Indonesian football has made strong progress at the national and U23 levels thanks to a strong squad of naturalized players. However, at the club level, they have been quite mediocre. Bali United lost heavily in the first qualifying round of the AFC Champions League. PSM Makassar lost 0-3 to Hai Phong and were eliminated right after the group stage of the AFC Cup. They only earned 3,560 points and were pushed down to 28th place.

Cambodian football has risen rapidly thanks to the excellence of Phnom Penh Crown Club in the AFC Cup. They defeated a very strong opponent from Australia, Macarthur. Thanks to that, Cambodian football earned an additional 5,620 points (equal to all previous seasons combined). They rose to 31st place. In the 2023/24 season alone, Cambodian football won more than Vietnam.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/bang-xep-hang-afc-bong-da-viet-nam-bo-xa-indonesia-campuchia-thang-tien-20240528100535469.htm