Al-Sadd delegation to leave for Malaysia to attend ACL 2017 draw

An Al-Sadd delegation consisting of sporting director Mohammed Gholam Al-Balooshi, media officer Ahmed Al-Ansari and first team manager Abdullah Al-Breik will leave for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia early on Sunday in order to attend the 2017 AFC Champions League workshop and group stage draw.

The Wolves are set to face Esteghlal FC of Iran in the playoff match, with the winner going through to the group stages of the 2017 edition of the tournament. The single-legged match is set to be played on the 7th of February in Tehran, Iran.

The workshop and draw procedure for the group stage will take place at the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on 13th December, attended by representatives of the participating clubs. The list of teams that have qualified for the group stages will be officially announced. The 12 West Asian teams are:

Qatar: Al-Rayyan, Lekhwiya

KSA: Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal, Al-Taawon

UAE: Al-Ahli, Al-Jazira, Al-Ain

Iran: Esteghlal Khozestan, Zobahan, Persepolis

Uzbekistan: Lokomotiv Tashkent

As for the teams that will participate in the playoff phase, they are: Al-Sadd and El-Jaish from Qatar; Al-Fateh from Saudi Arabia; Al-Wahda from the UAE, Esteghlal from Iran; Nasaf and Bunyodkor from Uzbekistan.

Two other West Asian teams will participate in the preliminary phase: Al-Wihdat of Jordan and Al-Hidd of Bahrain.

The 16 qualified teams will be divided into 4 groups. This year, the West Asian matches will take place on Mondays and Tuesdays instead of Tuesdays and Wednesdays.