31-607: The K4 League is the fourth-highest division in the South Korean football league system . It is regarded as the successor to the K3 League Basic, the second division of amateur K3 League founded in 2017. Since 2021, Korea Football Association has allowed reserve teams of the K League to join the K4 League. All participating clubs play home and away season in the K4 League. The promotion and relegation system exists between
62-399: A centralised Finals tournament. If the aggregate score of the two games is tied after 180 minutes, the clubs play extra time . If still tied after extra time, the tie is decided by a penalty shoot-out . The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final matches all feature cross-regional pairings, and are played in a single-leg format at centralised venue. Teams from 24 AFC countries have reached
93-579: A tournament for the champions of AFC nations in a meeting held on 21 April 1963, with its Secretary Lee Wai Tong announcing the AFC's intention to hold a competition similar to the European Cup . The competition started in 1967 as the Asian Champion Club Tournament and had a variety of different formats in its first few years, with the inaugural tournament staged as a straight knock-out format, and
124-469: Is the K League 1 , which was founded in 1983. K League 2 was founded in 2013 and is currently a second division. Below the level of the professional leagues are the semi-professional K3 League , which was founded in 2007 and refounded in 2020, and the K4 League , which was founded in 2020, and serve as the third division and fourth division, respectively. There was no avenue for progression between any of
155-762: The Asian Champion Club Tournament , the competition rebranded as AFC Champions League in 2002 following the merger of the Asian Club Championship, the Asian Cup Winners' Cup and the Asian Super Cup . It was rebranded again in 2024 to its current name. A total of 24 clubs compete in the league stage of the competition, divided into East and West regions (12 teams each). The winner of the AFC Champions League Elite qualifies for
186-589: The FIFA Intercontinental Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup , and also for the next edition of the AFC Champions League Elite league stage if they have not already qualified through their domestic performance. The most successful club in the competition is Al-Hilal with a total of four titles. Al Ain are the current champions, having beaten Yokohama F. Marinos in the 2024 final . The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) first discussed launching
217-474: The Iranian government . In 2019, Iranian women were first allowed to watch football at stadiums, but not during ACL games. Before that, FIFA had pressured Iran to let women into the stadiums; Iran relented, but capped the number of women to watch the 2018 final . In 2021, the AFC investigated the matter, in the hope of allowing unrestricted attendance whenever Iranian clubs are involved. On 23 December 2022,
248-757: The K3 League and the K4 League, but does not exist between the K4 League and amateur league K5 League. The champions and runners-up can be directly promoted to the K3 League, and third and fourth-placed teams qualify for the first round of the promotion playoffs. The following clubs are not in the K4 League as of the 2024 season . South Korean football league system The South Korean football league system contains two professional leagues, two semi-professional leagues, and various amateur leagues for Korean football clubs. The highest level of football in South Korea
279-507: The ACL Elite. In December 2023, Saudi Arabia were awarded hosting duties for the final stage for the first two seasons. As of the 2024–25 edition of the tournament, the AFC Champions League Elite uses a league stage format of 24 teams, which is preceded by qualifying matches for teams that do not receive direct entry to the competition proper. Teams are also split into East and West zones. The number of teams that each association enters into
310-529: The AFC Champions League Elite is determined annually through criteria as set by the AFC Competitions Committee. The criteria, which is a modified version of the UEFA coefficient , measures such thing as marketability and stadia to determine the specific number of berths that an association receives. The higher an association's ranking as determined by the criteria, the more teams represent the association in
341-519: The AFC Champions League name were Al-Ain , defeating BEC Tero Sasana 2–1 on aggregate. In 2004 , 29 clubs from fourteen countries participated and the tournament schedule was changed to March–November. In the group stage, the 28 clubs were divided into seven groups of four on a regional basis, separating East Asian and West Asian clubs to reduce travel costs, and the groups were played on a home and away basis. The seven group winners along with
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#1732855985542372-494: The AFC Pro-League Committee. The assessment criteria and ranking for participating associations are revised by AFC every two years. The old format saw the eight group winners and eight runners-up qualify to the round of 16, in which group winners played host to the runners-up in two-legged series, matched regionally, with away goals, extra time, and penalties used as tie-breakers. The regional restriction continues all
403-447: The AFC announced that their club football structure would undergo an overhaul, with the top club competition shrinking from 40 teams in the main stage to 24 teams, divided into East and West regions (12 teams each), with each team in the East and West regions playing eight other teams from their region (four teams at home and four teams away). The top eight teams from each region would advance to
434-439: The Asian Club Championship and Asian Cup Winners' Cup playing against each other. The 2002–03 season saw the Asian Club Championship, Asian Cup Winners' Cup and Asian Super Cup combine to become the AFC Champions League. League champions and cup winners would qualify for the qualifying playoffs with the best eight clubs from East Asia and the eight best clubs from West Asia progressing to the group stage. The first winners under
465-623: The National League could compete in the National League Championship , but both were abolished. At present, four South Korean sides qualify automatically for the AFC Champions League . Three top teams from K League 1 automatically gains entry to the AFC Champions League . The Korean FA Cup winners also qualify for the AFC Champions League only. However, if the champions of Korean FA Cup are not members of K League,
496-473: The competition for 14 years, while Israel would be expelled from the AFC in 1974. Asia's premier club tournament made its return in 1985 as the Asian Club Championship. In 1990, the Asian Football Confederation introduced the Asian Cup Winners' Cup , a tournament for the cup winners of each AFC nation, while the 1995 season saw the introduction of the Asian Super Cup , with the winners of
527-427: The competition. The tournament proper begins with a league stage of 24 teams, which are split into two leagues (East and West), with each team playing against eight opponents from their league (four at home and four away). The top eight teams from each league advance to the round of 16. In this phase, each club face another club from its region in a two-legged, home-and-away tie to decide which eight clubs progress to
558-434: The defending champions qualified to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals were played as a two-legged format, with away goals , extra time , and penalties used as tie-breakers. The 2005 season saw Syrian clubs join the competition, thus increasing the number of participating countries to 15, and two years later, following their transfer into the AFC in 2006, Australian clubs were also included in
589-519: The existing "3+1" rule for foreign players during matches (3 foreign players and 1 Asian foreigner) was expanded to "5+1" (5 foreign players and 1 Asian foreigner). By 2021, the various problems with the Iranian sides were attracting media attention; international Arabic and English-language media reported the violation of women's rights in the stadiums of Iranian sides. On top of that, Iranian women were banned from football stadiums for about 40 years, by
620-411: The following three editions consisting of a group stage. While Israeli clubs dominated the first four editions of the competition, this was partly due to the refusal of Arab clubs to play them : After the 1972 edition had to be cancelled by the AFC for various reasons, including two Arab clubs being excluded for refusing to commit to playing against Israeli club Maccabi Netanya , the AFC suspended
651-628: The fourth placed team of the K League 1 receive the entry spot. AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite ) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation , and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs . It is the most prestigious club competition in Asian football, played by the national league champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) of their national associations. Introduced in 1967 as
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#1732855985542682-418: The group stage of the AFC Champions League Elite. The allocation of teams by member countries is listed below; asterisks represent occasions where at least one team was eliminated in qualification prior to the group stage. 32 AFC countries have had teams participate in qualification, and countries that have never had teams reach the group stage are not shown. Starting with the 2024–25 season, the distribution of
713-470: The knockout stage, where only the round of 16 would be played over two legs, with all matches from the quarter-finals onward being played in a single-leg format at a centralised venue. On 14 August 2023, it was confirmed that the new format would come into effect from the 2024–25 season, with the name of the competition changing to AFC Champions League Elite. The AFC has also confirmed that AFC Champions League records and statistics would be carried forward to
744-509: The league system. Relegation from K League 2 to K3 League and K4 League to K5 League from 2027 have been introduced. All K League , K3 League and K4 League sides qualify for the Korean FA Cup tournament. The top eleven sides from the K5 League gained qualification to the 2020 season's FA Cup tournament. The Korean League Cup competition was open to K League teams only, whilst sides from
775-603: The leagues until 2012, when the K League 2 was founded. The highest level of women's football in South Korea is the WK League , which was founded in 2009. Korean National Semi-Professional Football League was a semi-professional football league between corporate teams in South Korea from 1964 to 2002. In 1983, with the establishment of K League which is a professional league, the Semi-professional League became
806-401: The prize money is as follows: The AFC Champions League Elite is sponsored by a group of multinational corporations, in contrast to the single main sponsor typically found in national top-flight leagues. Official Global Partners Official Global Supporters The current license holder for the AFC Champions League video game is Konami with the eFootball series. The license also includes
837-630: The second tier and remained so until it was replaced by the Korea National League in 2003. The third tier K3 League was founded as an amateur league in 2007, and became the fourth tier after K League 2 , the second division of the professional league, was founded in 2013. In 2017, the K3 League was divided into two divisions, the K3 League Advanced and the K3 League Basic. They were relaunched as semi-professional leagues with new names, K3 League and K4 League , in 2020. The National League
868-420: The top six member associations in each region remained unchanged. The 10 group winners and top 3 runners-up per region are now seeded based on a combination table for the round of 16, with the games still matched regionally until the final. On 25 February 2022, it was announced that the AFC Champions League would go back to an inter-year (autumn to spring) schedule starting with the 2023–24 season . In addition,
899-502: The tournament. However, many blamed the low prize money at that time and expensive travel cost as some of the reasons. The Champions League was expanded to 32 clubs in 2009 with direct entry to the top ten Asian leagues. Each country received up to 4 slots, though no more than one-third of the number of teams in that country's top division, rounded downwards, depending on the strength of their league, professional league structure, marketability, financial status, as well as other criteria set by
930-478: The way until the final, although clubs from the same country couldn't face each other in the quarterfinals unless that country has three or more representatives in the quarterfinals. Since 2013, the final has also been held as a two-legged series, on a home and away basis. In 2021, the group stage was expanded from 32 to 40 teams, with both the West and East Regions having five groups of four teams. The slot allocation for
961-543: Was merged into the K3 League. Promotion and relegation takes place within each of three classes (professional, semi-professional and amateur) but at present there is no promotion and relegation between classes. The KFA has announced plans to unify the league system with promotion and relegation between all seven leagues starting from the 2027 season. Outside this league structure, there are university, reserve and youth level competitions. University clubs' U-League and reserve teams' R League are operating independently from