The maximum number of slots for each MA is one-third of the total number of clubs in the top division (e.g., Australia can only get a maximum of three total slots as there are only nine Australia-based clubs in the A-League). The AFC Competitions Committee finalised the slot allocation for the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC Champions League. AFC confirms slot allocation of AFC champions League 2021. Author: Message: greenlionii. Posted Last Month #2935609. Dec 24, 2020 FIFA has since worked closely with the confederations to formulate a proposal for the allocation of slots and the Bureau of the FIFA Council has today confirmed the following berths for the 2023 edition: Direct slot allocation (29 of the 32 participation slots) 6 direct slots for the AFC; 4 direct slots for CAF; 4 direct slots for Concacaf. AFC has finalized the slot allocations for the 2017 edition of the AFC Champions League (ACL). Korea Republic, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran lead the way with three teams from each country gaining direct access to the AFC Champions League group stage, while the quintet will each have one representative in the competition’s initial.

• Afc Champions League Slot Allocation Strategy
• International Afc Champions League
• Afc Champions League Slot Allocation Rules

Indian clubs are set to get an additional slot in AFC competitions in 2021, possibly with a direct entry into the AFC Champions League (ACL) group stages. It would be the first time an Indian team would feature in Asia's elite club competition in more than 30 years -- Goa-based Salgaocar were the last team to feature in group games of the erstwhile Asian Club Championship in 1990-91.

Afc Champions League Slot Allocation Strategy

This would mean apart from the one slot for the ACL, India would get two slots for the AFC Cup.

As of now, two Indian clubs qualify for Asian club competitions -- the I-League champions Chennai City FC will feature in the ACL preliminary rounds in January 2020, while BFC enter the AFC Cup from the playoff stages a month later. With the ISL elevated to India's top division, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) had swapped the competitions for the two league winners for the season to follow, with a further clarification that the ISL regular season group topper would make the ACL, and not the winner of the final.

Interestingly, the AFC has also decided that the winner of the AFC Cup would get an ACL playoff slot for the following season.

These decisions weres taken during AFC competitions committee's meeting in Tokyo on Saturday.

Here's a simple deconstruction of what it means for Indian football.

Where does the extra slot fit in?

India have an extra AFC Cup slot now from 2021, with a playoff slot retained by the I-League winners, and one undetermined slot now confirmed for AFC Cup's group stages.

The ISL group stage winners will be incorporated into the ACL, but as of now, ESPN understands they are only assured of a playoff slot, though India's performance and rankings in 2020 could help convert that into a group stage entry.

International Afc Champions League

AFC have also increased the number of teams in the ACL group stages from 32 to 40, with countries like Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore now getting a chance to enter the group stages of the ACL alongside India.

Afc Champions League Slot Allocation Rules

How do the Indian performances in 2020 influence their rankings?

AFC has a simple system of awarding points for member associations -- a 90 percent weightage for each result in AFC competitions, and 10 percent for their national team's performances in the FIFA world rankings.

India have dropped from 13th to 15th in the club rankings for 2019, with both Minerva Punjab and Chennaiyin failing to advance beyond the AFC Cup group stages this year, and the national team also having won just two matches the whole year.

What else remains to be decided?

If India's club and national team performances can string together some wins, then the ISL champions will have a chance of competing with Asia's elite. What will also be of interest will be who gets the second AFC Cup slot -- do the AIFF give that to the ISL final winners? Or do they incentivise the Super Cup for I-League clubs and ISL teams alike by leaving one slot open for the winners of the knockout competition?

Football Federation Australia CEO James Johnson joined SEN's The Sporting Capital on Tuesday evening to discuss the upcoming changes to the FFA Cup in 2021.

Earlier on Tuesday, it was announced that several changes will be made to the FFA Cup from 2021, including the Semi Finals and Final to be played on stand-alone weekends, the introduction of an AFC Champions League slot for the Winners of the competition, the Cup Final to be played at a neutral venue, and a potential name change to the competition.

The changes were well received by the Australian football community, and Johnson joined the radio program to discuss some of them in further detail.

On the introduction of a pathway into the AFC Champions League, Johnson told The Sporting Capital:

'What we're trying to do here is provide more opportunities for clubs all around the country to participate more at a national level, and also at an international level. And we think this change with the AFC Champions League slot allocation will incentivise clubs to grow, because now they have an opportunity to play both locally at a national level, but also globally in the Champions League.

'We think that in order for clubs to grow, they need to be incentivised. If the clubs want to participate in the Champions League, they will need to go through a club licensing process. Clubs all across the country, whether they're in the A-League or in the NPL (need to go through this process), and that is a system that the AFC, the Asian Football Confederation, has designed. And what it really is about, is about meeting certain criteria which are really benchmarks that our clubs can grow and aspire to. So we think this will provide a strategic framework for our clubs to grow into. So I think the clubs across the country are very happy with this change.'

On the FFA Cup Final being played at a neutral venue, Johnson said:

'It's really about sporting integrity. And what we mean by a neutral venue is that the destination (of the Final) will be decided before the competition starts. What we're trying to do is really differentiate from different competition models. We want to be very much focused on integrity, sporting integrity, and we want to ensure that no club, or no competitor, has a sporting advantage in the Final and in a knockout competition, I think this works quite nicely.

'Ultimately, if you make the Final and you play it at a neutral venue, there will be no home field advantage in this new competition format. And this is a concept that works very well in many of the leading sporting competitions, not only in Australia, but also around the world, the FA Cup, the UEFA Champions League, the League Cup, even the Super Bowl in the NFL, these are all competitions that use a neutral venue format for this purpose.'

On the Semi Finals and Finals on stand-alone weekends, Johnson said:

'We really want this competition to develop its own identity. And of course, if these important matches are played on weekends as opposed to mid-week, then it really is symbolic in terms of the level of importance that we're creating for this competition.

'We're also in parallel, talking with our stakeholders about a national football calendar. We're in this funny situation in our code where the A-League and the rest of the code play at different season times, and we're trying to align the seasons. So not only would this competition be played Semi Finals and Finals on the weekends, but we want these games to be the last matches of the football season.'

On the renaming of the FFA Cup, Johnson said:

'It's not just a revamp of a competition, it's a broader strategy to really transform the entire sport. One thing that is really crucial to us is that we understand our people, our community, our fans better. And this is exactly why we've gone through the consultation process in the rename.

'We've changed to Football Australia from Football Federation Australia, so naturally the FFA Cup will change name as well. But we want to hear from our fans, we want to hear from our community, and that will be very informative when we sit down and take a decision on what this great competition will be named.'