Asian Champions League quarter-finals kicks off

AFP - The richest competition in Asian football comes out of hibernation this weekend with 16 teams battling it out for places in the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League.

The revamped tournament, which replaced the Asian Club Championship and Cup Winners Cup, sees four groups of four teams spread across the continent as the round-robin second phase gets underway.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Mohammed bin Hammam is describing the start of the quarter-final round as "the biggest week ever in Asian club football" - and has called on fans to get behind the competition.

"We´re very keen that there´s big support for this," Bin Hammam said. "We really believe in club football because it´s football that represents communities and this is something we want to promote."

Though Asian football has made big strides at international level over the past decade - with South Korea´s rollercoaster ride into the World Cup semi-finals last year the crowning achievement - the club game in the region has not enjoyed as high a profile.

The logistics of organising a tournament which spans a geographical region stretching eastwards from the Mediterranean all the way to the Pacific Ocean caused headaches in the past.

The AFC has moved to solve that problem with a cash injection of three million dollars in prize money. The winners will receive 500,000 dollars, while money is given to every team taking part as an incentive to compete.

Eight teams were automatically seeded into the second round, which kicks off in China on Sunday, with a further eight winning through to the last 16 after qualifiers late last year.

Group A, which is being staged in Bangkok, sees Shanghai Shenhua of China, South Korea´s Taejon Citizen and Thailand´s BEC Tero Sasana attempt to overcome the might of J-League giants Kashima Antlers.

Dalian in northern China is the venue for Group B, which includes Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma of South Korea and Thailand´s Osotspa together with another J-League side, Shimizu S-Pulse. Dalian Shide make up the quartet.

Teams from west and central Asia make up Groups C and D, being hosted in the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan respectively.

In Al Ain, two of the most successful sides in Asian club football - Esteghlal of Iran and Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia - will be favourites to top Group C. Al Ain from the UAE and Al Sadd from Qatar complete the group.

Group D will take place in Tashkent´s 55,000-capacity Pakhtakor Stadium, with home side Pakhtakor looking to capitalise on their surprise qualification to the next phase.

Pirouzi from Iran, Nisa of Turkmenistan and Al Talaba of Iraq are the other teams in the group.