Mumbai FC gamers and training employees couldn’t conceal their pleasure the second the group drew Al Hilal on Thursday, realising that it may pave the best way for them to rub shoulders with one of many world’s greatest gamers within the group stage of the continental membership showpiece.
Al Hilal, the third-place finishers within the 2022–23 Saudi Professional League, had lately signed Neymar, a former Barcelona FC star — with whom he gained the UEFA Champions League title. His final membership stint was at Paris Saint Germain, alongside Messi and Kylian Mbappe.
Neymar’s new Saudi membership can be essentially the most profitable group within the AFC Champions League historical past, having gained the title 4 instances, moreover being runners-up on 5 events.
Al Hilal have bolstered their squad for the upcoming season with some big-name signings together with Neymar Jr, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Yassine Bounou and Aleksandar Mitrovic.
The group stage of the AFC Champions League is a home-and-away affair and thus will probably be fascinating to see if Neymar is seen in motion on the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports activities Complicated in Pune, Mumbai Metropolis FC‘s house venue.
If Neymar travels to Pune, it will be a possibility of a lifetime for Indian followers to catch a glimpse of him taking part in within the nation.
FC Nassaji Mazandaran of Iran and PFC Navbahor Namangan of Uzbekistan are the opposite two sides in Group D.
The draw for the AFC Champions League 2023-24 group stage was held on the Asian Soccer Confederation headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
Mumbai Metropolis FC made it to the AFC Champions League group stage for the second straight season, following their League Defend win throughout the ISL 2022-23 and the next play-off versus Jamshedpur FC.
In the meantime, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Saudi facet Al Nassr had been drawn with Persepolis FC of Iran, Al Duhail SC of Qatar and FC Istiklol of Tajikistan in Group E. The 10 group winners, together with the three greatest runners-up throughout the 5 West Zone teams, will make it to the spherical of 16.
Final season, Mumbai Metropolis FC scripted a few victories over Al Quwa Al Jawiya of Iraq, ending in second place in Group B with seven factors.
From subsequent season onwards, no Indian membership will get a direct entry into Asia’s top-tier membership competitors because of a revamp within the competitors construction, the Asian Soccer Confederation has stated earlier.
Within the second-tier AFC Cup draw, Indian golf equipment Odisha FC and Mohun Bagan Tremendous Big have been clubbed with Bashundhara Kings of Bangladesh and Maziya S&RC of Maldives.
Odisha made it to the competitors by advantage of successful Tremendous Cup 2023, adopted by a play-off overcome Gokulam Kerala.
Mohun Bagan, the ISL 2022-23 champions, gained the play-off versus Hyderabad FC. They then beat Nepal’s Machhindra FC in Preliminary Spherical 2 earlier than successful in opposition to Bangladesh’s Abahani Restricted Dhaka within the play-off.
The AFC Cup match format for the group stage stays the identical because the ACL, with the group winners heading into the inter-zone play-off semifinals.
Whereas Odisha will play their house video games on the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Mohun Bagan could have Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan as their base.
