Japanese media: China's influence in the AFC Champions League has accelerated and will pay a price in the future
According to the Japanese media "Tokyo Sports" report: China's influence in the AFC Champions League is accelerating decline. The AFC Champions League Eastern Division group stage, which was held intensively in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, will end on May 1. Due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, Shanghai Haigang and Changchun Yatai withdrew, and the Shandong and Guangzhou teams representing China did not send a main lineup, and sent a second team mainly composed of young people. As a result, the Guangzhou team lost 0-8 Kawasaki forward, the two teams were eliminated in the group stage.
The impact of the devastating failure of the Super League not only exists in this game, but will also pay the price in the future. Chinese media reported that by the end of 2022, China's AFC club ranking will drop to 15th (7th in East Asia). The ranking is determined based on the results of the AFC Champions League in the past 4 years.
Therefore, until next year's AFC Champions League, China will still have two direct promotion places and two play-off places, but starting from 2024, due to ranking reasons, there will only be one direct promotion place for the main match. The Chinese have been competing with Japanese and Korean clubs for the supremacy of the East Zone of the AFC Champions League, such as Guangzhou Evergrande in 2013 and 2015, but this may be a thing of the past.
In this AFC Champions League, the Southeast Asian teams have made great progress. Johor Bahru beat the J-League champion Kawasaki and the 2020 AFC champion Ulsan Hyundai to win the first place in the group, although it has home court advantage. In Group G held in Thailand, Pathum United also won the first place in the group, and the power map of the AFC Champions League may be further changed in the future
