Unlike the top-tier Asian Champions League Elite, which uses a league phase similar to the newly reformatted UEFA club competitions, the second-tier Champions League 2 still runs the old 'group stage' system with eight groups of four clubs - four from AFC West and four from AFC East - playing one another at home and away.
The group stage will run over six matchdays from September 15-16 to December 8-9, presenting both the Reds and the Victory with a significant challenge in balancing continental football and the lengthy travel involved with their A-League ambitions.
Both teams are making their debut in the second-tier of Asian club competitions, which prior to 2023/24 did not allocate any positions to Australian teams.
Melbourne Victory's last Asian football was in the Covid-impacted Champions League of 2020/21, losing 3-0 to South Korea's Ulsan Hyundai in the Round of 16.
Adelaide United missed an opportunity to reach the league stage of the top-tier Champions League Elite when they lost last week's qualifier at home to Stefan Mauk's Cong An Ha Noi FC (Vietnam) and will be partaking in AFC football for the first time since 2017/18.
They were runners-up in the 2008 AFC Champions League, losing a two-legged final to Japan's Gamba Osaka.
AFC West groups
Group A: Al Wahda (UAE), PFC Nasaf (Uzbekistan), Kuwait SC (Kuwait), Al Khaldiya (Bahrain)
Group B: Al Jazira (UAE), Golgohar Sirjan (Iran), Al Muharraq (Bahrain), FC Arkadag (Turkmenistan)
Group C: Al Taawoun (Saudi Arabia), Al Rayyan (Qatar), Al Faisaly (Jordan), Al Nahda (Oman)
Group D: Al Hussein (Jordan), Al Shorta (Iraq), Al-Seeb (Oman), East Bengal (India)
AFC East groups
Group E: FC Seoul (South Korea), Melbourne Victory (Australia), The Cong-Viettel FC (Vietnam), Playoff winner (Persib v Manila Digger)
Group F: Adelaide United (Australia), BG Pathum United (Thailand), Lion City Sailors (Singapore), Tai Po (Hong Kong)
Group G: Machida Zelvia (Japan), Shanghai Shenhua (China), PKR Svay Rieng (Cambodia), Tampines Rovers (Singapore)
Group H: Gangwon FC (South Korea), Kuching City (Malaysia), Kitchee SC (Hong Kong), Phnom Penh Crown (Cambodia)
Aaron Murphy has been with Flashscore since 2018 and, as the founding editor of the Australian newsdesk, has reported on-site at several major events in Melbourne including the Australian Open, State of Origin, A-League, NBL and international cricket. You can read his pieces here and contact him on X or LinkedIn.
