Jeddah becomes the epicenter of Asian football as it hosts the groundbreaking AFC Champions League Elite Finals 2025, featuring eight top clubs competing across eight days to determine the continental champion.
This season marks a significant overhaul of Asia’s premier club competition, with all matches from the quarter-finals onwards staged in one centralized location. Saudi Arabia hosts this mini-tournament featuring three Roshn Saudi League (RSL) sidesโAl Hilal, Al Nassr, and Al Ahliโalongside Qatar’s Al from the West Zone. The East Zone is represented by Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale and Yokohama F. Marinos, South Korea’s Gwangju FC, and Thailand’s Buriram United.
Competition begins Friday, with significant attention on whether RSL clubs can maintain Saudi Arabia’s recent continental success, following Al Hilal’s championships in 2019 and 2021.
RSL champions Al Hilal open the quarter-finals against surprise contender Gwangju FC at Alinma Stadium. Despite their impressive history of reaching finals in 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022, Al Hilal enter the tournament in unusual form, winning just five of their past eleven matches across all competitions. Their domestic struggles have left them six points behind RSL leaders Al Ittihad with five matches remaining.
The continental tournament could provide Al Hilal precisely the focus shift they need. With four Asian titlesโmore than any other clubโAl Hilal understands what winning this competition requires. However, they cannot underestimate Gwangju, which dramatically overturned a 2-0 deficit against Vissel Kobe to advance 3-2 on aggregate.
“It will be a difficult match at the best of times because you can never take any match as easy, but we are enthusiastic to win the match and the competition,” stated Al Hilal midfielder Ruben Neves. “This competition is on another level and there won’t be time for correction due to the closeness of the fixtures.”
An Al Hilal victory would potentially set up a semi-final against Al Ahli, who enjoy playing in their home city of Jeddahโa significant advantage as they prepare to face Thailand’s Buriram United on Saturday.
Despite a mixed domestic season, Al Ahli remain unbeaten in Asian competition, winning nine of ten matches. With attacking talents Riyad Mahrez and Ivan Toney, plus the division’s second-best defense anchored by Merih Demiral, they possess the balance needed for continental success.
“Every game is important for us, but the Champions League is always different,” Demiral stated after their recent league victory. “Our fans expect a lot from us, and we will give everything to win the title.”
Al Nassr brings perhaps the tournament’s most formidable attack, led by 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, who leads both the RSL scoring charts with 23 goals and has netted seven times in Asia. Alongside Colombian rising star Jhon Duran and in-form Sadio Mane, Al Nassr has found momentum with five wins from their last six matches.
The club seeks their first continental trophy since winning the Asian Cup Winners’ Cup and Asian Super Cup in 1998. They face last season’s runners-up Yokohama F. Marinos, who enter struggling domestically and recently dismissed manager Steve Holland.
With all three Saudi clubs positioned for success, Jeddah prepares for an intense week of continental competition to crown Asia’s new football kings.
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