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April 11, 2021

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Asian Champions League for women set to kick off in 2023

A women鈥檚 AFC Champions League will be launched in 2023, Asia鈥檚 football governing body says, with the new international club tournament aiming to increase the strength of the female game across the continent.

Japan won the Women鈥檚 World Cup in 2011 and Asia has other strong nations such as Australia and China.

But at club level the popularity of women鈥檚 football in Asia lags far behind Europe and the United States.

At the last Women鈥檚 World Cup in France in 2019, no Asian team reached the quarter-finals 鈥 for the first time since the tournament began in 1991.

But the Asian Football Confederation is now preparing to launch a female version of the Champions League in two years, said the governing body鈥檚 head of women鈥檚 football, Bai Lili.

鈥淭hat is going to definitely boost women鈥檚 football,鈥 said Bai, who played for China at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

鈥淚f we are organizing a club competition, that means the participants need to meet the criteria for the club licensing, the leagues need to be well organized.

鈥淭hat is definitely going to help the domestic leagues. It will give exposure to the non-national team players.鈥

The AFC has started laying the groundwork.

In 2019, they organized the first pilot Women鈥檚 Club Championship in South Korea, with four sides from Australia, China, Japan and South Korea competing over several days.

The second edition will take place this year and there will be a third in 2022, before the launch of the Women鈥檚 Champions League proper in 2023.

Bai said the details were still being worked out.

But it was not clear yet how many teams would participate in the debut edition of the Champions League or its exact format.

The men鈥檚 Champions League, which will this year involve 40 clubs from the world鈥檚 most populous continent, sees group stages and knockout rounds split into east and west zones, before the winners of each zone meet in the final.

There is already a Women鈥檚 Asian Cup, in which national teams compete every four years.

But Bai hopes a major club competition will strengthen the women鈥檚 game in Asia the way it has in Europe.

The 42-year-old believes the UEFA Women鈥檚 Champions League, which began life in 2001 in a cup format, has been key to the development of the game there.

European women鈥檚 football has become 鈥渞eally advanced鈥 due to the tournament, she said, but added that 鈥渋t still took them 20 years.鈥

There remain major challenges in developing women鈥檚 football in a vast region home to myriad cultures and countries at different stages of development.

The AFC鈥檚 47 member associations range from booming East Asia, where most of the best women鈥檚 teams are based, to Middle Eastern countries such as Iran and war-torn Yemen.

鈥淭he level is quite uneven, the biggest job for us is to bridge the gap,鈥 said Bai, adding barriers to women playing football include social stigma and different religious beliefs.

But Bai said during five years as Asian women鈥檚 football chief, she had seen 鈥減ositive developments鈥 in Middle Eastern countries and the number of women getting into the game was rising.

The AFC provides training, support and funding to help boost women鈥檚 football in the region.

Even for Bai, becoming a footballer was not easy and her family were initially reluctant.

鈥淐hinese are very keen on academic study ... My family tried to stop me several times,鈥 she said.

But she persevered and went on to have a successful playing career, only to see it cut short by injury in the 2006 Women鈥檚 Asian Cup. After this, she worked in coaching in China, before getting the AFC job.

And for women looking to get into football, she has an upbeat message.

鈥淔ootball can be a life-long career for all girls and women,鈥 she said.

鈥淚f you love it ... just go for it. Nobody, nothing can stop you pursuing your dream.鈥


 

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