According to Jam Jam Online, the Asian Football Confederation announced the regulations related to the entry of the 2027-2028 season (version 2026) that the member confederations are required to comply with. Among the important items in this regulation are the deadline for announcing the method of selecting representatives, the deadline for the end of domestic leagues, and a new limit on the selection of domestic teams, which is mentioned in the rest of this article.
Article 7.2
Based on this, the member federations are required to submit their proposed method to introduce their representative clubs in the Asian competitions, no later than March 31 (April 11) before the start of the AFC club competition season, in writing to the AFC General Secretariat.
The domestic league or the elimination cup, which is specified in the proposed method provided by the member federations, must be completed by June 30 (July 9) at the latest. If for any reason the domestic league or FA Cup ends later than 30 June, the proposed method of introduction will be deemed void, unless the AFC decides otherwise in its sole discretion.
Article 7.3
Member federations are required to submit a list of eligible clubs with their respective rankings for AFC club competitions, in accordance with the principles set out in these entry regulations, in writing to the AFC General Secretariat by 31 May at the latest.
Also, only the clubs that are in the top half of the table of the highest level of the domestic league in the final ranking will be eligible to participate in the competition. For example, in the twelve-team league, only the first six teams can participate in the Asian competitions based on the quota. With this rule in place, teams from League One or teams in the bottom half of the top domestic league table cannot participate in AFC club competitions if they win a competition such as the FA Cup.
Also, the presence of VAR technology in this club’s stadium is one of the other requirements of the countries for their representatives to participate in the elite league.
