The Asian Club Championship football tournament has reached the finals in both the smaller and larger competitions.
The “ACL ELITE” final will be held first on the night of 25 Apr, with Al Ahli (Saudi Arabia) set to defend their title against Machida Zelvia (Japan).
By reputation, the "defending champions" have a clear advantage with a full squad of quality foreign players.
However, the "challengers" have already shown that the standard of the "J League" is impressive; if they were not strong, they would not have reached the final.
Meanwhile, in "ACL TWO," Al Nassr (Saudi Arabia) will compete for the championship against Gamba Osaka (Japan) on 17 May.
Whether Cristiano Ronaldo will win the Asian club championship remains to be seen.
As for the summary of Thai clubs this Asian season, their performance has been excellent.
Buriram United, in the "ACL ELITE," reached the stage they previously achieved—the quarterfinals—maintaining a good standard.
True Bangkok United progressed very far in "ACL TWO," making history by reaching the semifinals.
Ratchaburi is another team worthy of praise for creating history by reaching the round of 16 in "ACL TWO" for the first time.
BG Pathum United was the only team that did not advance past the first round of "ACL TWO."
Looking ahead to next season's Asian Club Championship, Thai clubs are expected to be just as competitive as this season.
Currently, many clubs are focusing on the Asian tournament because the prize money is enticing—potentially more than winning the entire Thai League season, which is quite ironic.
An interesting point is the widely discussed news in Thai football circles that "ACL ELITE" will expand to 32 teams in the 2026/2027 season.
This news is still "unofficial" because the Football Association of Thailand has confirmed they have not yet received formal notification from the AFC.
However, the trend seems to be that the expansion will happen, as the AFC has posted this news on their official page.
Details such as the competition format and Thai club quotas will have to wait for official confirmation.
Based on inquiries with the Football Association of Thailand, which has been working closely with the AFC, some directions are becoming clearer.
Simply put, the "ACL ELITE" will increase from 24 to 32 teams.
Both zones will increase from 12 teams each to 16 teams in the East Zone and 16 teams in the West Zone.
However, the League Stage format will remain the same: all teams play 8 matches within their zone, 4 at home and 4 away.
From the League Stage, the top 8 teams from each zone will advance to the round of 16 as before.
The change is that instead of the top 8 from each zone automatically advancing, now only the top 6 will advance directly.
Teams ranked 7th to 10th will play playoffs to compete for 2 additional spots from each zone to enter the round of 16.
The round of 16 matches will still be played within each zone as before, without cross-zone matchups.
From the quarterfinals onward, the two zones will merge and matches will be held in Saudi Arabia up to the final, following the existing format.
Regarding Thai club quotas, if the "ACL ELITE" expands, adjustments will be necessary, but the number of Thai teams in Asian tournaments likely will not increase.
According to AFC rules, each country can have a maximum of 4 teams in Asian club competitions.
Currently, Thailand already has a full quota of 4 teams; to gain a fifth team, the AFC would need to increase quotas for Japan and South Korea, whose leagues have higher rankings than Thailand.
Therefore, gaining additional teams will be difficult, but the quotas for next season, currently 2+1+1, are expected to change to 3+1.
Instead of having to go through playoffs, 3 Thai clubs would directly qualify for the League Stage.
The additional +1 quota will remain as the spot in "ACL TWO," unchanged.
This is the preliminary plan discussed, but official confirmation is still awaited to see if these changes will be implemented.
"Bubble"