Football in Russia can move from Europe to Asia, how the AFC Champions League works, with whom the RPL teams would play, what kind of money
Russian football is closer than ever to the transition from Europe to Asia. It is expected that already on December 27, the RFU will announce its withdrawal from UEFA, a limited step – an application for entry into the Asian Football Confederation. If the transition from Europe to Asia does take place, then the clubs will have the prospect of playing in the Champions League. True, not in the one where Bayern and Bayern are being implemented, but in the other – Asia. As it will be? Let’s figure it out.
“We have to think of ourselves.” It seems that the issue of the transition of Russian football to Asia has been resolved
How is the Asian Champions League structured?
not at all like the European one. Firstly, competitions are now taking place according to the “spring-autumn” system, although in 2023 they will switch to “autumn-spring”. Secondly, there are more participants in the main tournament here – 40 instead of 32 (10 groups of four teams). The main difference from the UEFA Champions League: cyclists’ clubs are evaluated in two conditional baskets – West (Western, South and Central Asia) and East (East Asia and Oceania). The reason is obvious: this is not Europe, and the geography is too vast for the team to fly to each other on any tour. So the groups and the playoff bracket are divided into two parts – clubs from different pots meet only in the final.
And not everyone gets into the Champions League. The warning applies only to clubs from countries that are in the top 12 special rankings of the national leagues. Each basket has its own, but there is also a common one. Physical condition scores regardless of the results – infrastructure (work, religious activities), attendance, light levels and other indicators are taken into account.
![AFC Champions League final AFC Champions League final](https://img.championat.com/i/s/i/1671913662937685602.jpg)
AFC Champions League final
Photo: Salah Malkawi/Getty Images
By the way, the playoff system is also interesting. The group winners and the top three runners-up get to the 1/8 finals, and the final consists of two matches. And if in Europe the most titled club is Real Madrid, then the annual favorite of the Asian Champions League is Al-Hilal from Saudi Arabia.
With whom would he play the champion of Russia and how much would he earn?
In order not to complicate the conditions (the number of participants from our country is now impossible to count), let’s take Zenit as an example. The participation of our optimal team in the main club tournament in Asia depends on the place of Russia in the ranking. So:
1. Saudi Arabia – 100 points
2. South Korea – 95,362 people.
3. Japan – 93,412
4. Iran – 77,792
5. Qatar – 75,131
6. Uzbekistan – 64,712 people
7. China – 59,948
8. UAE – 52,588
9. Thailand – 51.92
10. Information – 46 131
UEFA for Asia. Is it really worth it?
But you can get into which basket Zenit would have got. chose the geography and attitude of some countries from the Eastern basket (Japan, South Korea, Australia) towards Russia, our champion would certainly have reached the West, no matter how ironic it may sound in terms of leaving UEFA. So before the final game of Sergei Semak, with a high probability, rivals would come across, including from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Uzbekistan.
As for earnings, a deplorable situation happens here if it collides with Europe. The Asian Champions League receives these prize payouts and they are awarded as follows:
- victory in the match (all stages of the main tournament are taken into account, except for the final) – $ 50,000;
- a draw in the group stage match – $10,000;
- participation in the 1/8 finals – $ 100 thousand;
- participation in the quarterfinals – $150,000;
- participation in the semi-final – $ 250 thousand;
- second place – $ 2 million;
- victory in the final – $ 4 million.
For understanding: in the European Champions League, even the team that lost in the playoffs of qualification and did not win in the group stage gets more than $ 5 million. That is, for example, Krasnodar, which failed to pass the PAC in two matches in the summer of 2020 , earned an amount that he repeated with the one that received the best club in Asia.
To be fair, there is one “but” here. It is possible that the sponsors of the AFC and, accordingly, the Asian Champions League, were joined by the conditional Gazprom, which lost its contract with UEFA. In such cases, the prize money would certainly have increased. Rarely – a question, because now there are large players on the list: the National Bank of Qatar, the Emirates airline and others.
Football in Russia will be killed on Tuesday
Are there other tournaments in Asia?
Of course! There is an analogue of the Europa League – the AFC Cup. True, in terms of the speed of the tournament, this tournament is unlikely to reach even the European Conference League. Participate in a team from countries below the coveted top 12 rating. India, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Syria are among the lucky ones.
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