Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to discover ACL Two Round of 16 opponents on Dec. 12 | OneFootball

The stage is set for the 16 remaining sides in the AFC Champions League Two™ (ACL Two) 2024/25 to discover their Knockout Stage fate at the draw ceremony on Thursday, December 12 at 3pm at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.

Eight teams each from the West and East regions successfully progressed from the Group Stage, which concluded on Thursday, to seal their Round of 16 berths in the 20th edition of the Continent’s second-tier men’s tournament and keep their hopes of glory alive.

Three sides have reached the Knockout Stage of an AFC club competition for the first time: Al Khaldiya SC of Bahrain, Al Wakrah SC of Qatar, and Nam Dinh FC of Vietnam.

The draw, which will chart the pathway to the Final for the contenders, will see the eight teams of each region placed into two pots – Pot 1 for the group winners and Pot 2 for the runners-up – as below:

West

Pot 1: Tractor FC (IRN), Al Taawoun FC (KSA), Sharjah FC (UAE), Shabab Al Ahli (UAE)

Pot 2: Al Wakrah SC (QAT), Al Khaldiya SC (BHR), Al Wehdat (JOR), Al Hussein (JOR)

East

Pot 1: Sanfrecce Hiroshima (JPN), Lion City Sailors FC (SGP), Bangkok United (THA),Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC (KOR)

Pot 2: Sydney FC (AUS), Port FC (THA), Nam Dinh SC (VIE), Muangthong United (THA)

Teams from the same group will not be drawn against each other and this group protection principle will be ensured by the draw software, which will also prevent deadlock situations from occurring.

The Round of 16 is scheduled to be played in February 2025, followed by the Quarter-finals in March and Semi-finals in April, before the tournament culminates in a single-leg Final on May 17, 2025.