AFC Champions League Elite 2025 Betting Odds, Tips & Live Stream Soccer
The pinnacle of Asian club soccer is back for another season. The best of the best from the Asian confederation will battle it out to be crowned the continent’s best club side and win the prestigious AFC Champions League Elite.
We’ll break down everything you need to know about the competition, including highlighting some of the pre-tournament favourites before a ball is even kicked, and how to bet on soccer here at Stake Sportsbook.
What is the AFC Champions League Elite?
The AFC Champions League Elite is the top level of continental club football for Asian teams. It’s equivalent to the UEFA Champions League in Europe, and it’s the one prize that all players in the Asian leagues will want to claim in their careers.
It sees the winners of the continent’s domestic competitions face off against each other, as well as some runners-up from the strongest divisions. It truly is the pinnacle of Asian football.
Its winners qualify for the FIFA Intercontinental Cup and Club World Cup, where they meet the winners of other confederations’ tournaments.
History of the AFC Champions League Elite
This competition began all the way back in 1967. It did go under a different name at the time, known as the Asian Champions Club Tournament, before becoming the AFC Champions League in 2002, and the AFC Championship Elite in 2024.
The first winners of the tournament were Hapoel Tel Aviv, which was before teams from Israel joined UEFA. Historically, South Korean and Japanese teams dominated the winners, but the most successful side is actually Saudi.
The Saudi Pro League may only recently have come to prominence with stars like multi-La Liga winners Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema joining the league, but Al Hilal was already the most successful side with four AFC titles. The most recent winner was Al Ahli, another Saudi side.
Format & Schedule of the 2025 AFC Champions League Elite
The AFC Champions League is played much like the other major continental competitions, including the UEFA Champions League and Europa League.
Preliminary rounds of qualification are held for teams that don’t directly qualify for the group stage - now known as the league stage - which is a 24-team two-division system split between east and west. Each side will play eight opponents from their division, for a total of four games at their home match venue and four away games on the road.
After that, the top eight teams from each division qualify for the two-legged knockout stage, known as the round of 16. The eight winners from these fixtures progress to the Finals tournament, where they will play in cross-divisional one-legged quarter-final championship matches. The winners will then advance to the semi-finals to decide the two remaining teams that will enter the final.
When is the AFC Champions League Elite?
Here’s a breakdown of the key dates for the AFC Champions League 2025-2026:
Preliminary round: 12 August 2025
League stage: 15 September 2025 - 18 February 2026
Round of 16: 2 March 2026 - 11 March 2026
Quarter-finals: 24 April 2026 - 26 April 2026
Semi-finals: 28 April 2026 - 29 April 2026
Final: 2 May 2026
Which Teams Play in the AFC Champions League Elite?
All the top club teams from Asia will have the chance to play in the AFC Champions League Elite, as long as they qualify through league standing. Here are all the teams already qualified for the divisional round of matches for 2025-2026:
Al-Ahli
Al-Ittihad
Al-Hilal
Shabab Al Ahli
Sharjah
Al Wahda
Al Sadd
Al-Gharafa
Tractor
Nasaf
Al-Shorta
Vissel Kobe
Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Machida Zelvia
Ulsan HD
Gangwon FC
FC Seoul
Shanghai Port
Shanghai Shenhua
Buriram United
Melbourne City
Johor Darul Ta’zim
How to Bet on the AFC Champions League Elite & Types of Soccer Betting
Whenever you’re betting on soccer, whether you’re placing a bet on the Premier League or staking on the World Cup, there are a few types of bets that are worth keeping in mind. Here, we’ve broken down some of the top market types to add to your bet slip for the AFC Champions League as you learn how to bet on soccer:
To Qualify: This is a little like a futures or outright bet in which you would choose your predicted winner of the tournament, like an outright World Cup bet on the USA to win in 2026. However, instead, you’re betting on which team you think will make it through the regular season matches in the league stage and get to the knock-outs.
First Goal: This could be considered a proposition bet, where you’re not focusing on the result of the game like you would in a moneyline bet, but you’re instead placing a bet on one specific player or team to be the one to get the first goal in the game. As long as that player or team scores first, your bet wins, no matter the final score.
Correct Score: The direct opposite of the First Goal bet, this kind of bet sees you predicting the exact outcome of the game down to the final score. If you think Gangwon FC will beat Shanghai Port 2-0, you will need that exact scoreline to occur for your bet to come home a winner.
Handicaps: Handicap betting is a good idea when there is an out-and-out favourite or underdog. You can give one team a head start of a set number of goals that the other team will have to overcome for the bet to win. There are even Asian handicaps and Asian totals bets for added variety.
If you’re just getting started placing bets on sports at Stake, you can use our sports betting guide for the lowdown. We even have specific guides on depositing and withdrawing funds, including a local currency payment guide. We even have specific guides on using local currency options , including Canadian Dollars,Turkish Lira, Vietnamese Dong, Argentine Pesos, Chilean Pesos, and Indian Rupees.
If you would rather use crypto, our list of available cryptocurrencies is wide, and you can find guides on all the best coins, like BTC, ETH, USDT, EOS, Doge, LTC, SOL, and TRX. We can help you choose the right coin using crypto exchanges like Moonpay and Swapped.com , or even our integrated payment system Mesh.
How to Live Stream Soccer & Live Betting Markets
You can watch a whole host of soccer action including the AFC Champions League right here on Stake. Visit our Live Events tab to see which games are available to watch and bet on right now. Our live streaming guide can help you with all aspects of watching live sport on Stake, and you can use our pre-match vs live betting guide to give you the lowdown on in-game bets.
AFC Champions League Elite Odds & Payouts
If you’re new to betting on soccer, you can use our odds reading guide to help you understand what the odds on the Champions League mean. You can view your odds in a number of different formats, and the guide will help you calculate the potential payout for any winnings.
AFC Champions League Elite Betting Tips, Predictions & Strategies
Anything can happen in the AFC Champions League, so you can’t always predict the outcome. Instead, here are some general tips to help you when betting on the tournament:
Seek value: Parlay bets and handicaps are good ways of getting value out of short odds games.
Research: Read up on the teams before the competition. Saudi teams are packed with big stars, for example, so they’re always going to be highly favoured.
Look out for tips: Here at Stake, we have regular tips for big competitions, including World Cup tips, so keep an eye out for updated predictions as the tournament progresses.
Use a strategy: There are some great how-to guides if you check out our blog, including info on strategies like the Kelly criterion sports betting system.
Bet Bonuses & Responsible Gambling Online
In addition to offering the best odds on soccer. We also provide some great sports betting promotions, including rakebacks and reloads, as well as our exclusive VIP Club. In this club, your staking history determines the reward levels you are eligible for, including a VIP host who can grant personalised bonuses.
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