[Official] K League gap with Saudi Arabia and Japan widens... Maintains 3rd place in AFC rankings

*This content was translated by AI.

The K League of professional soccer maintained its third-place ranking in the AFC men's club competition standings. However, the gap with first-place Saudi Arabia and second-place Japan has widened more than in the previous season.

On the 19th, the AFC unveiled new AFC Club Competition Season Rankings reflecting results from the 2025-2026 season. The rankings were compiled by converting the performance of each team in AFC club competitions, including the AFC Champions League Elite (ACLE) and AFC Champions League 2 (ACL2), into points and summing them up. The 2025-2026 season results were weighted most heavily, with the weight decreasing for each prior season, reflecting a total of eight seasons' results back to the 2017 season.

The K League managed to earn only 14.333 points in the 2025-2026 season, keeping its total at 87.334 points. In the 2025-2026 ACLE, Kangwon FC and FC Seoul reached the round of 16, and in ACL2, Pohang Steelers also reached the round of 16, but none advanced further, resulting in low point totals. The K League's acquisition of only 14.333 points in a single season is the lowest in five years since 13.6 points in 2019.

In contrast, Saudi Arabia accumulated a staggering 31.1 points in this season alone, followed by Japan (30.375 points), the United Arab Emirates (UAE·19.55 points), Australia (17.667 points), Thailand (16.208 points), Iran (16.102 points), Qatar (15.896 points), and Singapore (14.5 points), with Korea in the next position. The K League's performance in this season's AFC club competitions was lower than that of the Thai and Singaporean leagues.

Saudi Arabia accumulated the most points, with Al-Ahli winning the ACLE and Al-Nassr finishing as runners-up in the ACL2 in the 2025-2026 season, bringing their total to 132.545 points. Japan also added 30.375 points, reflecting results such as Machida Zelvia's runner-up finish in the ACLE and Gamba Osaka's championship in the ACL2, bringing their total to 120.41 points.

The K League maintained its third-place position in Asia thanks to the inclusion of past results, but the gap with Saudi Arabia and Japan has widened, and it now faces strong pursuit from other teams. In the previous season, Saudi Arabia had 119.957 points, Japan had 107.663 points, and Korea had 90.982 points, but the gap between Korea and Saudi Arabia and Japan has significantly widened this season.

Following Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Korea, the top 10 were ranked as follows: UAE (total 79.47 points), Iran (71.449 points), Qatar (69.347 points), Thailand (62.846 points), China (49.483 points), Australia (498.178 points), and Uzbekistan (47.251 points). The AFC club competition rankings are divided into East and West Asia regions and also affect the number of participating teams in the next season's AFC club competitions. For Japan, the top-ranked team in East Asia, three teams will directly enter the ACLE group stage, two teams will enter the playoffs, totaling five teams (3+2), and one team will also participate in the ACL2 group stage. Korea, ranked second, has one fewer ACLE spot than Japan (3+1), and one team will participate in the ACL2 group stage.

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*This content was translated by AI.