Today, Thursday, the sixth of Ramadan 1443 AH / April 7, 2022, the group stage competitions of the 2022 AFC Champions League for the Western region will start, with the participation of 20 teams, including 4 teams representing the Kingdom, (during the period 7 - 27 April) for the second year in a row.
The Kingdom will host the AFC Champions League groups in the pool system, as it hosted in the last version 3 groups from the Al-Gharb region, before the Asian Football Confederation decided in the current version to choose the Kingdom to organize the entire Al-Gharb region groups.
Four Saudi cities have completed their preparations to host the five groups, two of which are held in the capital Riyadh, while the cities of Jeddah, Dammam and Buraydah will host the other three groups.
Riyadh will host the first group matches, which includes Al Hilal, along with Qatar's Al Rayyan, UAE's Sharjah and Tajikistan's Estegol, and its matches will be held at King Fahd International Stadium and Prince Faisal bin Fahd.
Also, the matches of the second group will be held in Riyadh, which includes Al-Shabab, Al-Jazira of the United Arab Emirates and the Iraqi Air Force, in addition to Mumbai, which is participating for the first time in the tournament, and its matches will also be held at King Fahd International Stadium and Prince Faisal bin Fahd.
Jeddah will host the third group matches, which includes the Iranian Foolad Khuzestan, the Emirati Al-Ahly Dubai team, the Qatari Al-Gharafa and the Turkmen family, as their matches will be held at the stadiums of King Abdullah Sports City and Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal.
In Buraidah, the fourth group competition, which includes Al-Taawon, will be held alongside Iran's Sepahan, Qatar's Al Duhail and Uzbekistan's Pakhtakor, at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
The city of Dammam will host Group E matches, which includes Al-Faisaly, along with Al-Sadd of Qatar, Al-Wehdat of Jordan and Nasaf of Uzbekistan, and its matches will be held at Prince Muhammad bin Fahd Stadium.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Football Association, Yasser Al-Mishal, welcomed the delegations of the participating clubs, wishing them a pleasant stay in their second country, the Kingdom.
Al-Mishal valued the generous support of the wise leadership of the sports sector in the Kingdom, especially the football sector, which contributed to enhancing the Kingdom’s opportunities in organizing many sporting events. He thanked His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, Minister of Sports and Chairman of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, who spared no effort. An effort to harness the potential for a successful hosting of the Champions League groups.
The president of the Saudi Federation stressed that this hosting represents a strengthening of the joint cooperation between the Saudi and Asian federations, to serve football on the continent, expressing his aspiration for more partnership between the two federations during the coming period.