United City in Group G with Australia, Thailand and South Korea

United City will take on the league champions of Australia and Thailand and South Korea’s cup winner in Group G of the AFC Champions League which starts later this year.

The club which gained a direct slot to the ACL was drawn Monday, Jan. 17 along with Melbourne City, Jeonnam Dragons and BG Pathum United for the group stage which could start mid-April in a centralizedvenue.

Melbourne City ruled Australia’s ALeague, defeating Sydney FC in the Grand

Final, while Jeonnam captured the Korean FA Cup after prevailing over Daegu in their two-legged ĸêžáɐ

Pathum United was the champion of Thailand’s 2020-21 Thai League 1 season, and is familiar to Filipino football fans having faced Kaya-Iloilo in last year’s ACL group stage.

Kaya could once again join United City in Asia’s top football competition, provided it beats an Australian

club and Chinese Super League side Changchun Yatai in the preliminary and playoff rounds in March.

If that happens, the Copa Paulino Alcantara champions will play in Group H together with South Korea’s K-League champion Jeonbuk Motors, Japan’s J1 League club Yokohama F. Marinos and Vietnam’s V-League Hoang Anh Gia Lai.

But Kaya is already assured of a place in the secondtier AFC Cup after being placed in Group G with Indonesia’s Liga 1 team Bali United, Malaysian Super League’s Kedah Darul Aman and the ASEAN playoff winner Cambodia’s Visakha and Laotian side Young Elephants.

United City got the direct slot to the Champions League by virtue of winning the Philippines Football League title in 2020. No league was held last year due to restrictions brought by the pandemic.

Kaya got the ACL preliminary round slot and direct berth in the AFC Cup for ruling the two-week Copa last November in Carmona, Cavite.