The Lion City Sailors will face opposition from China, Thailand, and Indonesia in the rebranded 2024/25 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL) Two competition.
This was confirmed earlier this afternoon (16 August) following the official Group Stage draw which took place in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
The Sailors, who qualified for the competition after finishing as the top-ranked local side in the 2023 Singapore Premier League (SPL) season, have been placed in Group F (East Region) along with 2023 Chinese Super League second runners-up Zhejiang Professional, 2023/24 Thai League 1’s third-placed side Port FC, and reigning Indonesia Liga 1 champions Persib Bandung.
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The new tournament in Asia consists of eight groups — four in the West and four in the East — each with four teams in the Group Stage. Matches will be played in a home-and-away round-robin format from 17 September to 5 December.
The top two sides from each group will advance to the Round of 16, which will be played in February next year. The tournament will then conclude with a one-off final on 17 May 2025.
Looking ahead to the Sailors’ first-ever ACL Two Campaign, Head coach Aleksandar Ranković has backed his charges to be competitive and represent Singapore with pride and distinction.
“The club has achieved some impressive results in the ACL over the past few years. I can only speak for last season when I was in charge – we showed in the majority of those matches that we can be very competitive, and that we can go toe-to-toe with the best of Asia,” said the Serb.
“The target for this season is to build on that foundation and outdo ourselves at this level. Our players are extremely motivated, and you can see that from our strong start in the domestic league. All of them are very eager to prove themselves, and we’ll be looking to make Singapore proud with some solid performances.”
