Asia's premier continental competition is about to get underway and Goal previews the round one fixtures..
The first round of fixtures in the group stages of Asia’s premier club football competition - The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League - gets underway this season on Monday, 20th February.
While the non-participation of the 2016 winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (South Korea), who were banned following a bribery scandal in K-League, has cast a cloud of disappointment over the tournament, the 32 teams remaining will be keen to stake their claim to the continent’s throne.
The teams have been divided into eight groups of four teams each and only the top two progress from each group, which means a strong start to this phase is very important.