Haigang refuses to lose to Pathum United-style farce?, Sanjun defends the honor of the Chinese Super League, the newly reformed AFC Champions League begins

September 17th is the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the players of Shanghai Port, Shanghai Shenhua and Shandong Taishan in the Chinese Super League need to fight in the "league stage" of the newly reformed AFC Champions League. Compared with the previous group stage where each opponent played two rounds of home and away games, the AFC Champions League will first adopt the Swiss round format, and after the top 16 are produced, a tournament-style knockout round will be held in Saudi Arabia.

Shanghai Port FC is about to compete in the newly reformed AFC Champions League.

On September 18, Shanghai Haigang, the champion of the 2023 Chinese Super League, will face Johor Bahru, Malaysia, at home in the first round of the AFC Champions League. In the AFC Champions League qualifiers last season, Shanghai Haigang was eliminated by Thailand's Pathum United due to a lack of lineup rotation and poor player performance, and failed to advance to the group stage. This time, Haigang will definitely refuse to step into the same river again.

This was the AFC Champions League Elite Tournament draw ceremony filmed on August 16.

Johor Bahru is a giant team in Malaysia, currently ranked first in the Malaysian Super League. The team has remained unbeaten for two consecutive seasons, and in the 2023 season, it created a terrifying record of 25 wins, 1 draw, 100 goals scored and only 7 goals conceded. Facing the "Malaysian Real Madrid", the Shanghai Port team did not dare to neglect it - on the evening of September 16, after the center of Typhoon "Bebejia" left Shanghai, the team launched targeted training and also found a feeling for the possible rain battle.

Richie Jen and Wakin Chau once sang a song together called "Don't Be Silly", in which there is a line: On the night of Valentine's Day, I wanted to give you an unexpected surprise; I happily drove from Johor Bahru, across the Causeway to Singapore to find you.

This is the cityscape of Johor Bahru taken on October 6, 2023 in Johor, Malaysia.

The "Johor Bahru" mentioned in the lyrics is the capital of Johor State, Malaysia, and the southernmost city in the Eurasian continent. As the southern gateway city of Malaysia, Johor Bahru and Singapore are separated by only a dike across the Johor Strait.

However, the Johor Bahru team's trip to Shanghai for the first game of the Asian Elite League was a bit of a hassle. Due to the impact of Typhoon "Bebejia", Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao Airport took certain safety control measures on the 15th and 16th, and more than 40% of flights were reduced or cancelled. The Johor Bahru team originally planned to arrive in Shanghai on the 16th, but due to the typhoon, the flight was cancelled and it is likely that they will not arrive until the 17th, the day before the game.

The 2024 AFC Champions League does not limit the number of foreign players and almost customizes the rules for wealthy teams such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

In the 2023 season, Johor Bahru FC had a good performance in the AFC Champions League group stage: they eliminated Shanghai Haigang's Pathum United at home and away, scoring 8 goals in two games; they even defeated the Korean powerhouse Ulsan HD at home, but lost 0-5 to the Japanese powerhouse Kawasaki Frontale away from home.

It should be pointed out that there are restrictions on the number of foreign players in the 2023 AFC Champions League, but there are no restrictions on foreign players in the 2024 AFC Champions League. This is undoubtedly a huge benefit for the Johor Bahru team, which has 13 foreign players and 10 dual-nationality players.

Johor Bahru is the dominant team in the Malaysian league. Looking at the registration form of the AFC Champions League, this team reported 13 foreign players. It is an absolute "mercenary army". Perhaps many people's impression of Malaysian football is still at the old stage of "weak team", but the overall strength of this Johor Bahru team should not be underestimated. Just from the perspective of the team's value, the strength of this team may be in the upper middle level in the Chinese Super League.

Johor Bahru is a giant team in the Malaysia Super League.

As the champion of the Chinese Super League last season and the temporary leader of this season's standings, Shanghai Port's total value is about 18 million euros. After all, the team has many powerful players such as Oscar, Vargas and Wu Lei.

In comparison, the total value of Johor Bahru FC is about 12 million euros, even exceeding the 11.45 million euros of Shanghai Shenhua, 10.25 million euros of Beijing Guoan and 9.98 million euros of Chengdu Rongcheng, and only about 800,000 euros lower than Shandong Taishan. It is not difficult to find that the paper strength of Johor Bahru FC is basically the same as that of Shenhua, Guoan, Taishan and Chengdu, the Chinese Super League championship teams.

The more terrifying data of Johor Bahru team is that they are almost unbeatable in the domestic league. In the 2024 season, the team remained unbeaten in the league with 9 wins and 1 draw. Such brilliant data has actually continued for nearly three years. In the 2023 season, Johor Bahru team won the Malaysian Super League championship with an unbeaten record of 25 wins and 1 draw, scoring 100 goals and conceding only 7 goals, which is astonishing.

On April 27, 2022, Guangzhou team player Li Jiahao and Malaysia Johor Bahru team player Bogson da Silva competed in the game.

On the same day, in the 2022 Asian Football Champions League Group I match held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, the Chinese Guangzhou team lost 0-2 to the Malaysian Johor Bahru team.

In the 2022 season, the team also won the championship with an unbeaten record of 17 wins, 5 draws, 61 goals scored and 12 goals conceded; in the 2021 season, Johor Bahru won the championship with 18 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss, 50 goals scored and 9 goals conceded. In other words, the last time Johor Bahru lost in the league was still a bit far away on April 24, 2021.

Among the many foreign players of Johor Bahru, the Brazilian striker Bergsson has the most eye-catching data and is the team's offensive core. This striker originally played for a Brazilian team. Now he has played 109 games for Johor Bahru, scored 119 goals and contributed 25 assists. During his time with Johor Bahru, Bergsson scored more than 20 goals every year. His hot form needs to attract the attention of the coaching staff of the Harbour team.

The cross-year edition of the AFC Champions League, which was upgraded from the AFC Champions League, will soon be unveiled in East and West Asia. Shanghai Port, Shanghai Shenhua and Shandong Taishan, representing the Chinese Super League, will complete 4 home and 4 away matches in 8 match days in the next 5 months to strive for the opportunity to advance to the top 8 in the East Asia region. The AFC Champions League is full of challenges, but the Chinese Super League teams need to cherish these high-level and high-standard intercontinental competitions. Even from an economic perspective, the Chinese Super League teams also need to play well in the game to earn more "bonuses" and "travel expenses" for themselves.

On August 16, guests took a photo with the AFC Champions League Elite Tournament trophy.

On the same day, the draw ceremony for the 2024-2025 AFC Champions League group stage was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Why has the Champions League received so much attention from European giants, and why has the overall level of the competition been rising? The high prize money set by UEFA for the AFC Champions League is an important factor, stimulating giants from various countries and regions to continuously improve their strength, play well in the AFC Champions League, and win high prize money. The newly reformed AFC Elite League has also copied the practices of the Champions League, greatly increasing the amount of prize money.

Before the AFC Champions League was reformed, this intercontinental competition was purely a "loss-making event". An Australian team once complained that their travel and accommodation costs to Japan were as high as 95,000 US dollars, far higher than the 60,000 US dollars subsidy set by the AFC. Taking the last season before the AFC Champions League was reformed as an example, the AFC set a prize of 4 million US dollars for the champion, 2 million US dollars for the runner-up, 250,000 US dollars for the semi-finals, 150,000 US dollars for the quarter-finals, and 100,000 US dollars for the round of 16. The winning prize for each game was 50,000 US dollars, and the draw was 10,000 US dollars for each team.

On March 13, Yokohama Marinos player Anderson Lopez celebrated a goal during the game.

On the same day, in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the 2023-2024 AFC Champions League held in Yokohama, Japan, the Chinese Super League Shandong Taishan team lost 0-1 away to the Japanese Yokohama Mariners, losing to their opponents 1-3 with a total score of 1-3, and missed the chance. The top four.

After the reform, the prize money of the AFC Champions League has been greatly increased: the champion prize is as high as 10 million US dollars, and the runner-up prize is 4 million US dollars, which is directly doubled. The semi-finals team will receive a prize of 600,000 US dollars, the top 8 teams will receive 400,000 US dollars, and the top 16 teams will receive 200,000 US dollars. There will be a 100,000 US dollar winning bonus for each victory - all of which are greatly increased compared to the previous ones.

Affected by the epidemic, Chinese Super League clubs have actually been away from the intercontinental arena for more than three years. Due to the need for quarantine after returning to China after participating in the competition, which affected the league, Chinese Super League clubs could only send reserve teams to compete in the AFC Champions League, the highest level in Asia, "just to cope with it." In the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Chinese Super League clubs will return to the AFC Champions League stage and try to defend the honor of Chinese Super League clubs.

On March 13, Shandong Taishan players thanked the fans after the game.

On the same day, in the second leg of the 2023-2024 Asian Champions League quarter-finals held in Yokohama, Japan, the Chinese Super League Shandong Taishan team lost 0-1 to the Japanese Yokohama F. Marinos away from home, losing to their opponent with a total score of 1-3 and missed the semi-finals.

Especially in the newly reformed 2024 AFC Champions League, Shanghai Haigang, Shanghai Shenhua and Shandong Taishan, representing the Chinese Super League, will face difficulties and obstacles in the "small but fine" AFC Champions League. Whether at home or away, the team strength and offensive and defensive rhythm of the Japanese and Korean teams are beyond the level of the Chinese Super League. If the three Chinese Super League teams want to achieve ideal results, they need to be prepared in all aspects - meticulous preparation, strong fighting spirit, appropriate tactics and reasonable personnel matching are indispensable.