My appolgies for perhaps jumping the gun a touch however I think the current A-League Super thread format is beyond its used by date. And god dammit its time for change. We have a black man as the president of the USA, we need to move on as well.

I do propose maybe letting the current thread run out the season then move on over to this guy.

Anyhow the reason I want to start this tread is because the '09 ACL groups have been announced. Mainly of interest to Newy Jets and Central Coasties but still important.

Group A

Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan)
Al-Ahli (United Arab Emirates)
Saba Battery (Iran)

Group B

Persepolis (Iran)
Al-Shabab (Saudi Arabia)
Al-Gharafa (Qatar)
Winner of Play Off: Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) v Dempo (India)

Group C

Al-Jazira (United Arab Emirates)
Esteghlal (Iran)
Al-Ittihad (Saudi Arabia)
Umm-Salal (Qatar)

Group D
Bunyodkor (Uzbekistan)
Al-Shabab (United Arab Emirates)
Sepahan (Iran)
Al-Ettifaq (Saudi Arabia)

Group E

Ulsan Horang-i (South Korea)
Newcastle Jets (Australia)
Beijing Guoan (China)
Nagoya Grampus (Japan)

Group F

Gamba Osaka (Japan)
Seoul (South Korea)
Sriwijaya (Indonesia)
Shandong Luneng (China)

Group G

Shanghai Shenhua (China)
* See Below (Play Off Spot)
Kashima Antlers (Japan)
Suwon Bluewings (South Korea)

Group H

Central Coast Mariners (Australia)
Tianjin Teda (China)
Kawasaki Frontale (Japan)
Pohang Steelers (South Korea)

Play Off Spor For Group G:
Provincial Electricity Authority (Thailand) Plays Singapore Armed Forces (Singapore)
Winner Plays PSMS Medan (Indonesia)
Winner of that second match then progresses to the group stage.


Gamba Osaka got back in due to them winning the Emporers Cup in Japan

I don't know much about the other leagues however from an Aussie prospective they seemed to have faired OK. They missed getting the Japan super powers Kashima Antlers and Gamaba Osaka, however you don't get 1,2,3 in the J-League by luck.

Actually looking closer Newcastle got what I would call the easiest group possible. Nagoya Grampus were the third team in the J-League (ie sorta last except the cup winner), Beijing Guoan came third in the Chinese League, The CCM's opponents came fourth. Ulsan Horang-i also came third in the K-League however like Japan they have a cup winner so its probably the lowest entrant.

First Matchday is March 10/11. Not sure who is playing when that isn't obvious atm.

As for tipping a winner, well it will come from East Asian (Groups E - H), thats all I am saying. Might be better to predict which A-League team will go further, will either make it out of the group stage? I just have a feeling, and it's not a smart one, that the Newcastle Jets might just sneak out of the group stage, on some stodgy defending and a couple of miracle goals to get results (aka J Griffiths). Mariners will really need to reign in the attacking flair and 4-3-3 formations to get anywhere, because defending is vital in the ACL, Adelaide showed that.

So heres to a new start


EDIT: Just made this an Asian Champions League thread to maintain the status quo around here and not rock the boat.

A new A-League thread on Austadiums?

I don't know if I can handle the change, the original thread is part of the furniture!

let this be the ACL thread.

Is it me or are Aussie teams always going to be in the same group as Japanese, Chinese and Korean teams? How many East Asian countries can qualify for the ACL??

Not just you.

With the way the ACL has been revamped, for the next few seasons the Australian teams will havea group with 1 Japanese team, 1 Korean team and 1 Chinese team.

No more trips to Thailand, Vietnam or Indonesia for us.

There's an Indon team in Group F so it is possible to make trips to these places. They weren't in it last format due to a fixturing irregularity with the AFC.

Also teams that come through the qualifying stage are those second-tier nations like Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam so in the future we could still line up against them.

At this stage, only in the knockout phases could we end up playing these guys. Japan, Korea, China all have 4 spots each and you can't have two teams from the same country in the same group. Could get interesting in the future, if we say earn the right in the minds of the AFC to have 3 teams in the competition, we would probably take a spot of China, as Indonesia would be unlucky to lose their only full spot.

The final assessment rankings show how much stronger the Eastern Asian Leagues are over the Western Asian Leagues. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFC_Champions_League_2009
In two years time (IE the time we would be nominating winners from our first 10 team comp) we should have 3 teams especially when compared to those from the West.

New Newcastle Jest Shirt for the ACL.


And this was the Mariners new shirt for the ACL:

Who the f*ck approved that hideous looking thing for Newcastle.

You'll go a long way to see a worse shirt than that. Putrid.

I certainly agree with that statement. Looks crap.

NJ - I've seen it before on other forums and it looks too silver in the above photo. Although the pattern is a bit weird I do like that they've increased the amount of red in their uniform.

it's not bad, but way too much grey.

So the Mariners are competing in the champions league and Newcastle's off to a Star Trek convention.

I think that's the size of it.

dibo you know the reason behind the Mariners kit having an Aussie flag on the left sleeve? I noticed the Jets didn't.

Is it a sudden dose of patriotism?

Good to see Gosford and Wyong councils being a joint sponsor with the state government in regards to a major sponsor for their champions league venture.