India has little to cheer in revised AFC slot allocations

Panaji: Despite an increase in the number of teams for the AFC Champions League Elite from 24 to 32, Indian clubs will continue to feature in the second tier of Asian club football.
Chaired by Asian legend Park Ji-sung, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Professional Football Committee has confirmed the revised allocations for 2026-27 season with seven top member associations from each zone finding a spot in Asian football’s top-tier club competition. For the West zone, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Iran, Uzbekistan, Iraq and Jordan will compete for elite honours, while the next three – Bahrain, Oman and India – have been handed a direct and playoff spot in the AFC Champions League Two.
Turkmenistan and Kuwait have one playoff spot each in ACL2 and a direct spot in the AFC Challenge League, the third tier of Asian club competitions.
Despite the revised allocation, Indian clubs are unlikely to be handed a direct spot in the group stages of the AFC Champions League Two for next season. A truncated Indian Super League (ISL) with just 13 matches in the top tier for each team means AFC is likely to convert the direct spot into an indirect one.
According to AFC’s Member Association Eligibility Criteria, any country that fails to meet the criteria “shall be eligible to be allocated only indirect slots for the relevant AFC Club Competition.” In such cases, the number of direct slots for the relevant country in the relevant club competition shall be wholly converted into indirect slots.
“We will have to seek clarity from the AFC about the (direct) slot as shown in the revised allocation,” a senior official told TOI on Friday.
The revised allocation assumes significance given that AIFF had already announced ACL2 playoff spot for this season’s ISL champions. Defending champions Mohun Bagan SG are banned from participation in Asian competitions for two years, while Super Cup winners FC Goa have already confirmed their playoff spot in ACL2.
Should Bagan (20pts) and Goa (19) both finish among the top two – as the table stands on Friday – the third-placed team will walk away with the continental spot.
Crucially, all countries that aspire to play in the top tier of Asian football will have to mandatorily introduce Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system in the domestic top division leagues.
The minimum requirements for domestic competition formats, as well as the minimum number of matches each club must play in domestic competitions for member associations in the AFC Challenge League, have also been adjusted to reflect the current landscape.