The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has officially announced a massive structural overhaul to the AFC Champions League Two 2025/26. Due to the ongoing conflict and instability in the Middle East, the West Zone’s knockout stages will undergo a drastic, sudden-death format shift.
With the West Zone Quarter-finals previously stalled by the regional crisis, the AFC has taken decisive action to keep the tournament alive, turning the remainder of the bracket into a high-stakes pressure cooker.
The traditional two-legged ties have been completely scrapped for the Western half of the draw. Here is how the competition will proceed:
The home-and-away format is gone. Teams will now face off in a single-match, elimination format, and the Centralized Hub will be located at one of the four remaining West Zone clubs—hailing from the UAE, Jordan, and Qatar—selected to host the centralized matches.
This single-venue, sudden-death format will be strictly used for Quarter-finals, Semi-finals between 19-22 April, and Final on 16 May.
While the East Zone remains completely unaffected by the AFC’s emergency pivot, Japan’s Gamba Osaka and Thailand’s Bangkok United will still clash in their highly anticipated Semi-final using the standard home-and-away format on 8 and 15 April.
Whoever survives the East Zone gauntlet will have to pack their bags for the ultimate showdown. Because the East Zone hosted last season’s Final, the 2025/26 ACL Two Final will be officially played in the newly designated host nation of the West Zone.
Credit Photo : AFC
