With every Matchday featuring something worth playing for, from the League and Group Stages through to the Finals, the games are built around the message “Own the Matchday”, giving fans a fresh opportunity to compete every Matchday, with new challenges, tactical choices and prizes available throughout the season.

 

Both games are free to play and open to fans worldwide, with a single account providing access to every game across both competitions.

 

The AFC Champions League Elite 2026/27™ Matchday Fantasy introduces a Matchday-based format in which fans select a new six-player squad for every Matchday within a $50 million budget, comprising one goalkeeper and five outfield players.

 

Every player in the game is assigned a virtual price, and participants must build their squad within the budget. A maximum of two players may be selected from any single club, and fans are free to choose any formation they wish, provided the squad contains one player from each position. Those who prefer a quicker route can use Auto Pick, which generates a valid squad in a single click, and can then be adjusted.

 

Participants nominate one of their six players as captain, and that player scores double points for the Matchday.

 

Points are awarded based on players’ real performances. Fans earn points for appearances, goals, assists, clean sheets, penalties saved and goalkeeper saves, with goals weighted by position. For example, a goal scored by a defender is worth more than one scored by a forward. Yellow cards, red cards, penalties missed, own goals and goals conceded carry deductions. Points update live as the matches are played, with final standings confirmed shortly after the last match of the Matchday.

Boosters add a further tactical layer. A booster is an optional bonus that a participant activates for a single Matchday, applied on top of the standard points. Three boosters are made available each Matchday and participants may select one of them; boosters cannot be carried over to a later round. Free Kick Glory, for example, triples the points for any goal scored directly from a free kick, while The Wall allows a participant to nominate one defender, and if that defender keeps a clean sheet, every defender in the squad receives the clean sheet bonus. The boosters on offer change from Matchday to Matchday, making each round a different decision.

There are no transfer deductions or carry-over transfers, meaning every Matchday provides a fresh opportunity to build a team and challenge for the Matchday prize, or climb the overall leaderboard.

Meanwhile, the AFC Champions League Elite 2026/27™ Matchday Predictor gives fans the chance to make up to five predictions on each Matchday. Each fixture in the round carries its own outcome to predict, and participants build a slip by choosing between one and five of them.

Participants may be presented with outcomes to predict such as match results, half-time results, first and anytime goalscorers, total goals, both teams to score, assists, clean sheets, corners, shots on goal, goalkeeper saves and ball possession, among others. The questions available vary from Matchday to Matchday, as they are set according to the fixtures in that round.

Each question is assigned a difficulty rating of easy, medium or hard, worth 10, 20 or 30 points respectively. Difficulty is determined ahead of each Matchday based on the fixtures. Predicting the winner of a match between a leading side and a lower-ranked opponent may be rated easy, while predicting the exact number of goals in a match, or whether a named player will provide an assist, may be rated hard.

Matchday Predictor introduces a risk-and-reward scoring system. The more predictions a participant includes on their slip, the larger the multiplier applied to their base points if every selection is correct: two predictions carry a 1.5x multiplier, three a 2x, four a 3.5x, and five a 6x. A slip of four predictions worth 10, 20, 10 and 30 points, for example, would total 70 base points and score 245 with the 3.5x multiplier applied.

Every prediction on the slip must be correct for the multiplier to apply. If any prediction is incorrect, the slip scores zero. Fans therefore choose between a smaller, safer slip and a larger one with a significantly higher return.

To balance this, the Locked Prediction allows participants to secure the base points from their most confident selection, even if another prediction on the slip is incorrect. Only one prediction may be locked per slip, and it cannot be changed once the deadline has passed. Where every prediction on a slip is correct, the Locked Prediction simply scores as part of the slip.

Participants are also asked an optional tie-breaker question before submitting: how many goals will be scored in total across the Matchday. It carries no points, and is used only to separate participants who finish level, with the closest answer ranking higher.

The same Matchday Predictor format will also feature in the AFC Champions League Two 2026/27™, giving supporters another opportunity to test their football knowledge across Asia’s second-tier club competition.

Every participant appears on the global leaderboard for their game automatically. Alongside it, leaderboards are also available by country, allowing fans to see how they compare with supporters from their country.

Fans can also create private leagues to compete directly with friends, family or colleagues. A private league is created from the Leagues section of the game, and anyone can join using the league code shared by its creator.

Each game carries both a Matchday leaderboard and an overall leaderboard. The Matchday leaderboard shows rankings for the current or most recently completed round and is updated once scoring has been processed. The overall leaderboard tracks participants’ cumulative points across the Matchdays in which they take part.

The League and Group Stages of each competition will feature eight and six Matchday winners respectively, with one winner crowned every Matchday.

For both the AFC Champions League Elite™ and AFC Champions League Two™, each Matchday winner will receive two tickets to a Knockout Stage match of the current 2026/27 season, a team-signed jersey and a US$50 e-gift card.

The opportunities continue into the Knockout Stage, with prizes also available for the Round of 16, Quarter-finals, Semi-finals and Final. The Round of 16 winner will receive two tickets to the 2026/27 Final, a team-signed match ball and a US$50 e-gift card.

Winners are determined by the highest score at each stage. Matchday winners are the highest scorers for that Matchday, Knockout Stage winners are the highest scorers across the matches in that round, and the Grand Winner of each game is the participant with the highest cumulative points across the entire season.

The Grand Winner of each game will receive a three-day, two-night trip, including flights and accommodation, to attend the opening match of the following 2027/28 season, together with a team-signed match ball, team-signed jersey, and a US$50 e-gift card.

Alongside the Matchday prizes, the overall leaderboard in each game will track participants’ cumulative points across the Matchdays they participate in. Each Matchday, participants can also challenge for the top position on the Matchday leaderboard, providing an additional incentive to stay engaged throughout the campaign. While the overall leaderboard rewards consistency across the season, every Matchday remains a fresh opportunity to compete and win.

Fans can access the games through the-AFC.com and the AFC LIVE App. Participation is free and requires a single registered account, which covers every game across both competitions.

For Matchday Fantasy, participants create a new six-player squad, select their captain, choose a booster and submit their team before the deadline, which closes at kick-off of the first match of the Matchday. Squads can be changed as often as a participant wishes up until that point.

For the Matchday Predictor, fans can create and adjust a prediction slip containing up to five selections before the first fixture of the Matchday kicks off. One slip may be submitted per Matchday. Once the Matchday begins, submissions are locked.

With a fresh Fantasy squad or prediction slip available every Matchday, fans can start again, make new decisions and compete for new prizes throughout the campaign.

Head to the AFC Game Hub to experience the games and put your football knowledge to the test. For more information, including eligibility, prizes, and participation details, please see the Terms and Conditions.