The AFC Champions League hosted by The Asian Football Confederation is a tournament that is held every year between the top 32 Asian Clubs coming from the top 10 Asian Leagues.
The 32 clubs start in a group stage manner and then the top two teams from each group proceed to the knockout stage of the tournament. The Winner of the tournament also gets to play in The FIFA World Club Cup which is also held every year.
1990-2010 AFC Champions League Winners
The most successful club in the AFC Champions League is Pohang Steelers who have won the cup 3 times. While if the winners were to judge according to their respective Leagues The Korean league K-League is the most successful having won the league a record 9 times.
While in the last 5 years alone 3 of the 5 winners have come from The K-League. Japan and Saudi Arabia take 2 and 3 positions in the all-time list of most AFC Champions League winners from the same country. The Brazilian Leandro of Gamba Osaka holds the Top Scorer record in the league scoring 10 goals in the 2009 season for his club.
Although football is one of the most popular sports in Asia, Asian Champions League still needs to grow in importance, quality, and popularity to gain the attention of the European Champions fan following.
