How Far Are Cambodia from the AFC Champions League?
With our national champions Phnom Penh Crown now through to the next qualifying round of the AFC Cup, it begs the question, why are we not in the AFC Champions League? The answer is a little bit controversial, but also shows us what we need to do to get to the next level.
To read about Phnom Penh Crown vs Young Elephants click here.
What are the AFC Champions League coefficients?
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) much like UEFA uses what is known as coefficients, or rankings to decide whoo qualifies for what. This means how many entrants each country is allowed in the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup.
Unlike Europe though “small” nations are not entered in the Champions League preliminary rounds, but instead go into the AFC Cup. Currently Cambodia has one entrant in both competitions, with Phnom Penh Crown being the reps this year.
Quire tightly this has led many within the Kingdom to question the fairness of this. So, how can we get more entrants.
To read about the Phnom Penh Crown match click here.
Improving the Cambodian coefficient
Previously the cooecfcient was decided through two different ways, firstly through the performance of clubs in AFC tournaments, but Alsop secondly on national team results. Sadly under Honda this was a disadvantage. This though is now no longer the case, quite ironic as results have since improved under Felix.
To read our interview with Coach Felix click here.
The good news though is that we really are not that far off of the mark. For context the Philippines, whose league is much less popular and one might argue inferior to the Cambodian Premier League have one entrant in the AFC Champions League, as well as one in the AFC Cup.
Cambodia have not only defeated the Philippines internationally a number of times, but Phnom Penh Crown as mentioned also recently beat Herb Cebu of the Philippines convincingly 3-0 away. The Philippines are currently rated 19th in the AFC rankings.
Hong Kong, who Cambodia recently matched are ranked even higher at 11th with 3 entrants to the Champions League, while Macau who we trounced are ranked 30th and have two AFC Cup entrants.
So, where do Cambodia fit into all this?
We are currently ranked 34th, one below Kyrgyzstan and one above Oman. To gain one more entrant Cambodia simply need to move up one solitary position, which is now all but guaranteed. This would give us one automatic AFC Cup place, as well as one in the qualifiers a in 1+1 rather than our current 0+1.
For a Champions League qualifying place we would need to attain at least 25th, a spot currently held for context by Indonesia, while getting an automatic berth would requite getting to 19th/20th, or the same as the Philippines and Malaysia.
So, essentially as it stands we are all, or at least should be rooting for Phnom Penh Crown in the AFC Cup, for it is only with their success that more teams from the Kingdom can participate in regional competitions, one of the key aims of both Satoshi and the Cambodian Premier League.
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Author: Gareth Johnson
Gareth Johnson is the founder of Young Pioneer Tours and has visited over 180+ countries. His passion is opening obscure destinations to tourism and sharing his experience of street food.
