AFC increases prize money for 2018 club competitions

Asia’s two leading club competitions – the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup – just got more lucrative the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has announced today.

The AFC Champions League winners will receive US$4m – up from US$3m – in 2018 while the club that lifts the AFC Cup will pick up US$1.5m from next season rather than the US$1m currently on offer.

The AFC Champions League is second only to the European club competitions in terms of prize money and in addition to the US$1m increase for the winner the runners-up will get an extra US$500,000 taking the purse to US$2m.

There is the introduction of a travel subsidy in the early stages with an increase in prize money to US$100,000 in the round of 16, US$150,000 in the quarter-finals and a rise of US$50,000 in the semi-finals taking the total to US$250,000 per team.

In the AFC Cup, the winners rise of US$500,000 is in addition to the increase for the runners-up to US$750,000 from US$500,000. All the increases will come into force in the 2018 AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup.