AFC officially addresses Vietnam's slot in the Asian Champions League playoff

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) representative has officially dismissed the circulating information regarding the allocation of slots for the AFC Champions League Elite 2026/27 season being finalized.

According to confirmation from AFC, the organization's competitions committee has only made the decision to expand the number of participating teams in the continent's top club competition from 24 to 32 teams.

Previously, numerous social media posts claimed that the participation slots had been specifically allocated. Accordingly, Vietnam was said to receive two slots for Asian club competitions, including one playoff slot for ACLE (Asian Champions League) and one direct slot for ACL2 (Asian Cup 2). However, AFC asserts this is merely one of many proposed options, not an official decision.

General Secretary AFC, Windsor Paul John responded to New Straits Times: “I have seen the posts on social media. That is just one of the proposals regarding the expansion of ACLE, and there are other proposals concerning this expansion as well," he stated.

He also emphasized that expanding the competition aims to enhance competitive quality, given that many Asian clubs are investing heavily and demonstrating clear progress, particularly from the AFC Champions League 2 platform. "The proposal to increase participation slots aims to improve the ACLE competition, as clubs in the region have shown development in ACL2. Many clubs are investing strongly to compete."

It is anticipated that this proposal will be discussed at the Professional Football Committee meeting before being submitted to the AFC Executive Committee for review and approval.

"However, this proposal will be discussed at the Professional Football Committee meeting on Friday (April 24) before being forwarded to the AFC Executive Committee for finalization... nothing has been definitively decided yet," the Asian football federation leader affirmed.