The reigning champions Mumbai City FC have been drawn in Group B of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League and they will face teams like Al Jazira, Al Shabab, and Air Force Club. The AFC Champions League draw was announced on Monday.
The aforementioned teams are one of the best in the business and Mumbai City FC will have their work cut out in the AFC Champions League. Al Jazira is the defending champions of the UAE Pro League while Al Sahab ended the previous season of Saudi Premier League 2020-21 as the second-best team.
On the other hand, Air Force Club is the three-time champion of the AFC Cup as they won the prestigious tournament back in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham was elated after the draw was released and he is looking forward to taking on some of the best clubs of the continent.
“We are very excited. As a coach and as players, we always want to compete with the best, and participating in the AFC Champions League allows us to do so. Now that we know our opponents, our objective will be to get to the AFC Champions League off the back of a successful Indian Super League. So our focus will be to do well with the task we have at hand right now and when we get to the AFC Champions League, we want to make sure we represent Mumbai well and give a good showing of Indian football on the Asian stage.”
According to the revised itinerary released earlier by the AFC, the tournament’s group stages of the West Region will run from April 7 to April 22, 2022. Double round matches will take place at one neutral due to safety protocols.
Mumbai City FC will become the second Indian club after FC Goa to take part in the AFC Champions League. The Islanders’ fixtures and venues of the tournament will be announced later.
