AFC Champions League Two 2024-25: Mohun Bagan Super Giant drawn in tricky group
Mohun Bagan won the Indian Super League Shield last season to qualify for the AFC Champions League Two, known earlier as the AFC Cup.
Football
Indian football club Mohun Bagan Super Giant are likely to face a challenging group stage campaign after being drawn in Group A of the AFC Champions League Two 2024-25 season on Friday.
Mohun Bagan SG have been drawn with Ravshan Kulob of Tajikistan and clubs from Asian powerhouses, Qatar’s Al-Wakrah SC and Iran’s Tractor FC, in Group A. The Mariners qualified for the second tier of the AFC men’s continental club competition by winning the Indian Super League (ISL) Shield last season.
The AFC Champions League Two was earlier known as the AFC Cup. Mohun Bagan finished third in the 2023-24 AFC Cup Group Stage and failed to advance to the knockout stage.
The AFC Champions League Two consists of 32 clubs that have been divided into eight groups of four teams each.
The teams will face each other in a round-robin home-and-away format in the group stage of the AFC Champions League Two, which will be held between September 17 and December 5.
The top two sides in each group will qualify for the knockout stages which will begin with the round of 16 in February 2025.
The quarter-finals of the competition will be conducted in March while the semi-finals take place in April. The AFC Champions League Two final will be held on May 17, 2025.
Al-Wakrah SC of Qatar and Tractor FC of Iran qualified for AFC Champions League Two after finishing fourth in their countries’ respective domestic leagues. FC Ravshan booked their spot after finishing runner-up in the 2023 Tajikistan Higher League.
The Mariners finished third in the group stage of the AFC Cup last year. Their group also included another Indian side Odisha FC who topped the standings and made it to the Inter-zone play-off semi-finals.