The AFC Champions League Elite returns this week in a familiar predicament, still in search of a format and spectacle that can truly mark this as the prized showpiece on the Asian calendar.
In their typical wisdom AFC have tinkered once more with the rules governing the competition, attempting to please two drivers; in expanding from 24 to 32 teams, there will be more opportunities for new teams to taste the top tier of Asian football, and in removing the foreign player quota, those with larger squads (and wallets) can fully demonstrate their quality and capacity to succeed.
While both changes seem to benefit the established order, with the continental leaders in Saudi Arabia and Japan increasing their participation and tightening their grip on the competition ever further, another opportunity seems to have fallen the way of Southeast Asia.
On the back of improved continental performances and the misfortunes of others, Thailand leapfrogged China in the coefficients at the right time, benefitting from the new expansion by tripling their participation in the upcoming ACL Elite league stage campaign.
To seize the moment, the FAT announced plans to make the most of the other change, expanding their own domestic foreign player quota from five to seven on-field, and increasing registrations in the squad to 10. While this is publicly claimed by the federation as an opportunity, not only for Thai clubs to perform their best in continental football but to grow the league at home, plenty question whether the desire to bridge the gap to those above them is truly the best thing for local football.
Thailand’s Champions League upturn
Not since the very first AFC Champions League competition in 2003, when BEC Tero lost to Al Ain in the inaugural final, have Thai clubs been in better form in Asia. Thai clubs reached the last eight just once in the 18 years that followed that run to the final, but in contrast, they have done so three times in the past four years, including back-to-back quarter-final appearances for champions Buriram United.
Those achievements were more noteworthy following the Elite competition reforms, but on each occasion Buriram lost out to West Asian opposition; the eventual champions Al-Ahli in 2024, and narrowly to Shabab Al-Ahli in 2025. That match up in particular, having taken their opponents to a late extra-time winner, was arguably the nation’s greatest club achievement in Asia in over 20 years.
In response to that success the Thai football authorities have responded positively, backing their teams with capacity to build their squads and maximise their chances to compete in Asia. This has prompted five-time domestic champions Buriram to strengthen aggressively over the summer, recruiting a host of Brazilian and Eastern European players, while Port and Ratchaburi, returning to the ACL for the first time in five years, are also expected to take full advantage of an expanded foreign player quota.
While ambitions are high, concerns linger. Learning lessons from more established leagues across Asia such as the Saudi Pro League illustrates how improvements for the league don’t always trickle down to improvements of the nation’s football more broadly. Specifically, Thailand, like Saudi Arabia already struggle to produce a pipeline of young attacking talent having been squeezed out by overseas imports; further congestion will undoubtedly further reduce pitch time and development.
It’s not just a national issue either. One of the big off-season changes in T1 is to axe the ASEAN quota, throwing into doubt a number of Southeast Asia players chances of featuring in Thailand this year. It’s difficult to see how this can significantly drive domestic or regional improvements.
Even the most optimistic backer of the changes must consider the quality of the foreign imports and whether they would significantly raise quality or profile.
Unlike Gulf domestic leagues, the paltry salaries on offer in Thailand often mean clubs have to trade in a mix of modest quality, erratic profiles or ageing talent as a fall back. Buriram’s top scorer the last two seasons, Brazilian Guilherme Bissoli, may be a devastating striker at the level of Thai football, but his ceiling is also restricted by wider Asian competition levels.
In their first match of the domestic season last week, 13 of the 15 players featured were over 30 years of age. Thai national team striker Supachai Chaidad was the youngest player in the line-up, even at the mature age of 27.
The impact on local talent must be considered in the round. Thai players, despite federation support, have struggled to break through abroad, with brief promising spells in Japan being the meekest of outliers, so building from home is essential.
Having only scraped through to the forthcoming Asian Cup on the final day of qualification, somewhat a pace behind more innovative approaches to talent acquisition and development in neighbouring Vietnam and Indonesia, critics will be out in force to consider whether the latest raft of changes will have lasting ramifications.
A region tilting towards foreign imports
While Thailand’s form in ACL competition has stood out, its being matched by their neighbours, with both Johor Darul Ta’zim and Cong An Ha Noi joining them in the ACL Elite league phase to bolster over a third of ASEAN teams in the East Asian half of the draw. Both clubs similarly hail from domestic leagues shaping their own affront to fully capitalise from the use of foreign-born players.
Cong An Ha Noi appear in the league phase for the first time, a stage no Vietnamese club has taken part in since the latest ACL reforms. With a focus on supporting their clubs perform at every level of Asian competition, the V.League have gone the same way as their Thai neighbours, albeit on a smaller scale, increasing the foreign player quota across the league from three to four, but with an additional three squad slots for those in continental action.
That shift quickly alters the focus of Vietnamese football, for a nation often held up as the hallmark of youth development across the last decade. The recent nationalisation drive has added to this concern; with the conversion of Brazilians Rafaelson, Hendrio and Geovane Magno, now known as Nguyen Xuan Son, Don Hoang Hen and Nguyen Tahai Loc as Vietnamese nationals, landing as a polarising move amongst local football fans, even if their immediate success is undeniable.
While up-and-coming talent Nguyen Dinh Bac made the headlines heading into the recent AFF Cup, it was Brazilian born Xuan Son, who primarily stood out, winning the golden boot and securing Vietnam’s second regional title in a row. A week later, Vietnam’s U20 team lost all three matches in Asian Cup qualification and were relegated to the development phase, meaning they won’t now compete at the tournament until the 2030s.
Two polarising tales; but will Vietnamese football make the connections?
Despite Malaysia having opted against further changes to their overseas player quota, their existing 15-player allowance remains one of the most liberal in the region and was already on display in last year’s Champions League. The benefits are becoming increasingly apparent, with JDT translating sustained domestic success into stronger continental performances.
While blessed with an abundance of overseas talent already, and perceived to hold a pro-import approach, JDT are aware of the limits in conflicting greater imported talent with domestic football growth. In response to the AFC rule changes earlier this year, JDT Chief Operating Officer Alistair Edwards pushed against the changes, highlighting how aspiring teams such as JDT were being unfairly punished in attempting to close the gap, putting pressure on finances and perceived squad packing, which in turn hampers the local league.
As we, at The Asian Game noted in March, the rule changes threaten to change the face of Asian football, that will become increasingly difficult to reverse. There will always be aspirations to bridge the gap quickly, and unfortunately short term imports are the quickest mechanism to do that.
In turn, that squeeze disincentives domestic development, with even Japanese clubs seeking to load up to increase competitiveness. Five months ago, Machia Zelvia started eight Japanese players in the final against Al-Ahli. It’ll be seen if that becomes a historic relic in years to come.
While the AFC’s reforms may strengthen the competition in the short term, their legacy could be far more complex. As Thai football reaches a pivotal stage in its development, an overreliance on foreign talent risks weakening the domestic player pathway, with implications that could be felt across national, regional and continental football for years to come.
