The draw for the group stages of the 2021 AFC Champions League has been made and here we take a look at the West Region part. The competition as a whole will have 40 teams, up from the 32 that contested in the last edition. The usual suspects have qualified- the likes of Al-Hilal, Al-Sadd and Pakhtakor have literally played every season since the tournament was rebranded in 2002-03, but there are some new faces as well.
FC Goa, for instance, will be making their maiden appearance in the competition and will be creating history on the way- they are the first Indian side in the group stage proper. Goa is part owned by Virat Kohli, the captain of the Indian cricket team- the most popular sport in the country.
The club though have been given a tough challenge- they are in the same group as 2020 runners up Persepolis, Qatari club Al-Sadd and a yet to be decided qualifier- the winner of the Al-Wahda Al-Zawraa play-off tie. Al-Sadd are managed by the legendary Xavi and as per stats from Transfermarkt.co.uk, he hasn’t lost a game domestically for around a year now!
There are five groups in either conference. The five winners will go through to the Round of 16, as will the three best runners-up. Only one of the five groups- C consisting of Al-Duhail, Al-Ahli, Esteghlal and Al-Shorta is complete at this stage. The other four have a spot vacant that will be filled by the winners of the four playoff ties. If Saudi club Al-Wehda beat Iraqi outfit Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya in their playoff, they will join FC Goa as debutants in this year’s competition, going into Group B alongside Sharjah, Tractor and Pakhtakor.
Group C, at first glance, also looks like the Group of Death- three of the four teams were in the same group in the last edition, and things ended up very tight indeed, with Al-Ahli finishing on 6 points and Esteghlal and Al-Shorta on 5 each. Joining the trio this year will be Al-Duhail, who participated in the recently concluded Club World Cup.
Betting is forbidden in most of the Middle East according to the review portal ArabianBetting.com– information from the site says it’s not permitted in Saudi Arabia, Iran and and the United Arab Emirates, the three countries that have dominated this competition in the past decade. If it was allowed though, we’re pretty sure that Al Hilal would be one of the favourites in the Gulf markets for the title. The Saudi Arabian club have reached the finals twice in the four last years, and were doing well in their title defence last year before Covid wrecked their plans, rendering them unable to field a full team for their final group game. They were actually top of their group, but were disqualified from taking further part in the competition by the AFC.
Western Region finalists since 2014 (when the competition split into zones)
2014 Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
2015 Al Ahli (UAE)
2016 Al Ain (UAE)
2017 Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
2018 Persepolis (Iran)
2019 Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia, also winners)
2020 Persepolis (Iran)
Together Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabia account for 8 confirmed spots in the group stages, with four others from the same countries also participating in the playoffs. Qatar have 3 group stage participants to their name as well, but the last time a team from their country went all the way was Al Sadd a decade back- they beat South Korean outfit Jeonbuk on penalties in the 2011 edition.
Uzbek champions Pakhtakor could be dark-horses this year. They traditionally fail to get past the group stages, but reached the quarters last year before being eliminated by Persepolis. Pakhtakor also have a relatively easy group- they’ve been drawn alongside Sharjah, Tractor and an unnamed qualifier, and their fans should expect them to progress to the knockout stages this time around.
