AFC Women's Champions League
Featuring a record cast of 19 teams, the battles will take place across five centralised groups and only six sides—all group winners and the best-placed runner-up overall—will progress to the Group Stage.
They will join the Continent’s top six clubs, namely Melbourne City FC (AUS), Suwon FC Women (KOR), Tokyo Verdy Beleza (JPN), Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC (CHN), Ho Chi Minh City Women’s FC (VIE) and Bam Khatoon FC (IRN)—as per the AFC Women’s Club Competition Ranking 2024/25—to form the 12-strong line-up for the Group Stage, which will commence in November.
The Preliminary Stage features five Member Associations that will be represented in Continental club action for the first time: Cambodia, DPR Korea, Guam, Kyrgyz Republic and Mongolia, who will be represented by Phnom Penh Crown FC, Naegohyang Women’s FC, Strykers FC, SDYUSHOR SI – Asiagoal and Khovd Western FC respectively. A further five clubs will make their AFC competition debut: Kaohsiung Attackers FC (TPE), Stallion Laguna FC (PHI), East Bengal FC (IND), Kelana United FC (MAS) and Master FC (LAO).
Melaka’s Hang Jebat Stadium is the setting for the first match: a Group C fixture between Jordan’s Etihad Club and Singapore’s Lion City Sailors at 4.45pm. The former enjoyed a stellar 2024 campaign, winning all 15 league games to lift a second straight title and added a first-ever cup triumph; meanwhile, the latter stormed to a third consecutive league crown in 2024. Both met at the same stage in 2024/25, with Etihad winning 5-0, although neither advanced eventually.
The second group match sees home side Kelana United, who won their first league title in 2024, taking on SDYUSHOR SI – Asiagoal at 8.45pm. The visitors boast a stellar domestic record, claiming a ninth league title and fourth in a row in 2024; they have lost just once across the past three league seasons, winning 55 of 60 matches.
Group D, staged at the Lao National Stadium KM16 in Vientiane, gets underway at 4pm between Chinese Taipei’s Kaohsiung Attackers FC, winners of a maiden league trophy in 2024, and RTC FC of Bhutan, who pulled off a perfect 2024 league season to retain the crown—their second title—and seal their return to this stage. At 7.30pm, two-time DPR Korea league champions Naegohyang Women’s FC will face home team Master FC, who clinched their first Laotian league crown in 2024.
Having placed third at the AFC Women’s Club Championship™ 2022 - Pilot Tournament (East), ISPE WFC will feature in AFC competition for a second time when they open Group A at the Thuwunna Stadium in Yangon. The 4pm kick-off pits the joint-record three-time Myanmar league champions, who were unbeaten in the 2024 season, against Guam’s Strykers FC, whose fourth league title in 2025 was also secured amid an unbeaten campaign.
At 7pm, the Philippines’ Stallion Laguna FC, whose 2024 PFF Women’s Cup triumph was their first major title, will clash with Mongolian outfit Khovd Western FC, who won their maiden league title in 2024 in only their second top-flight season.
Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Crown FC, winners of a second league title in 2024/25, start their Group E journey at home with a 7pm showdown at the National Sports Complex of Cambodia against East Bengal FC, who earned their maiden league crown in 2024/25. Three days later on August 28 at 7pm, Crown welcome Kitchee SC, who won a third straight league title and fourth overall in 2024/25 off the back of an unbeaten season. The Hong Kong, China visitors, who are participating in their second AWCL Preliminary Stage, also lifted the domestic cup to complete a double.
The first matchday concludes in Uzbekistan, where the Markaziy Stadium in Qarshi hosts Group B. At 5.30pm, the College of Asian Scholars, who featured in last season’s Group Stage and won their seventh league crown in 2025, come up against Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr Club, the champions of all three editions of the domestic league played to date since its establishment in 2022.
Drawn in the same Preliminary Stage group for a second straight campaign, PFC Nasaf of Uzbekistan and Nepal’s APF FC will renew their rivalry at 8.30pm. The home side’s domestic double in 2024 extended their record league and cup title hauls to 16 and 14 respectively, while their opponents also possess a formidable domestic record with six league triumphs—the last four were won back-to-back and in unbeaten fashion.
All times indicated are in respective local times.
