Mohun Bagan’s AFC Cup campaign will begin with a preliminary round match against Colombo FC on the 31st of January. The Mariners will travel to Sri Lanka for the first leg of the tie, with the second leg at home on 7th February.
The winner of that tie will face the winner of the tie between Bhutan’s Thimphu FC and Club Valencia from Maldives in the playoff round. One of the four teams that qualify will be placed in Group E in the first round of the AFC Cup, proper.
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It is still unclear where the Mariners will play their homes games, though. All their AFC Cup home games last season were played at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Guwahati.
Bangladesh’s Abahani Dhaka and Maziya from Maldives are two teams confirmed to have a place in Group E. Should India’s champions Bengaluru FC fail to qualify for the AFC Champions League, then they too will be placed in Group E.
Also read: Mohun Bagan likely to play in the Indian Super League post merger
Bengaluru face two single-legged away ties in their bid to progress to the group stages of Asia’s premier club football tournament. They face Jordan’s Al-Wehdat in the first playoff round. Should they win that, they will take on Al Wahda of UAE in Abu Dhabi on February 7th. If Bengaluru lose any of those two games, they will be placed in Group E of the AFC Cup.
But if they win both those games, they will be in Group D of the AFC Champions League against traditional continental heavyweights from West Asia. Persepolis from Iran, Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal and the Qatari club, Al Rayyan are the other teams who are in that group.
If Bengaluru qualify for the AFC Champions League, though, East Bengal will directly take their place in the group stages. Bagan’s fierce rivals have been named the standby club for Group E.
It is curious though that East Bengal would profit from Bengaluru’s success. If the Blues do make it to the Champions League, East Bengal will directly play in the group stages. That is despite them having finished lower than Bagan in last year’s I-League.
Bagan, despite their successes, will have to play two playoff ties whereas East Bengal get what is like a free ticket to the group stages. But that is dependent on Bengaluru FC’s AFC Champions League qualification, which will be tough, as they face two strong West Asian teams away from home.
