Key principles for the competition were released by the AFC on 20 August 2023.[2] From the first four seasons there will be one entry per participating member association, with allocation based on the FIFA ranking of participating member associations up to 2027–28. Clubs with top seeding as per the Member Association’s women’s world ranking will enjoy direct qualification to the Group Stage, subject to entries.[3] Thereafter, an AFC women's club competition ranking will be used. Originally, 22 Member Associations applied to enter the competition.[4] However, Naegohyang from North Korea withdrew before the draw.[5]
Location of the 2024–25 AFC Women's Champions League group stage teams
Clubs from the top eight member associations qualified directly to the group stage, while the remaining 13 clubs entered at the preliminary stage.[4][5]
The group stage will be played from 6 to 12 October 2024. Competing clubs will be divided in three groups of four. Teams in each group play one another in a centralised single round-robin format in each group.[3] The top two finishers in each group, together with the two best third-placed teams, will advance to the knockout stage. China, Thailand and Vietnam will be the hosts of each group in the Group stage.[5]
The knockout stage will be played in a single-leg knockout format.
For the quarter-finals draw, teams will be seeded based on their performance in the group stage. Three group winners and the best second-placed team will be seeded, and the remaining four teams will be unseeded. The seeded teams will be drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the quarter-final match. Teams from the same group cannot be drawn against each other.
The semi-finals and the final match will be played in centralised location.[6]