Cristiano Ronaldo has been diagnosed with a viral infection, which will cause him to miss Al Nassr’s Asian Champions League opener this week against Iraq’s Al Shorta. The 39-year-old Portuguese star, who has won numerous titles throughout his illustrious career, including with Manchester United and Real Madrid, is targeting a new achievement: conquering Asia’s top club competition. However, he will have to wait for future matches as he is currently resting at home under medical advice. Al Nassr issued a statement on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), confirming Ronaldo’s condition and wishing him a speedy recovery.
Despite Ronaldo’s absence, Al Nassr remains a formidable team, boasting big names like Sadio Mané, Aymeric Laporte, and Marcelo Brozović, who are expected to lead the charge in the first match of this newly formatted tournament. The Saudi club will be aiming to improve on their previous attempt in the competition, which ended in a quarter-final penalty shootout loss to Al Ain, the eventual champions.
The Asian Champions League has been rebranded as the Asian Champions League Elite, and this year’s edition brings a more competitive structure, partly due to Saudi Arabia’s recent investments in top global football talent. Alongside Ronaldo, other major players such as Neymar, Ivan Toney, and Joao Cancelo have joined Saudi clubs in the last two years. Neymar’s Al Hilal and Toney’s Al Ahli are expected to be strong contenders. Notably, Saudi Arabia will host the knockout stages of the competition, scheduled for April 2024, as part of the country’s growing influence in global football, which includes their expected bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
The tournament format has been significantly revamped. This year’s competition will be split into two geographical groups, East and West, with 24 teams participating in total. Each team will face eight different opponents in the group stage, ensuring a broader competition before the top eight teams from each zone advance to the last 16. The knockout stages, from the quarter-finals onward, will be held as a mini-tournament in Saudi Arabia, with the champions expected to take home at least $12 million. This new structure is seen as a move to make the competition more exciting and lucrative, given the influx of football superstars in the region.
Al Hilal, the reigning Saudi champions and record four-time Asian titleholders, will also be without their Brazilian star Neymar, who is still recovering from a serious knee injury. Nonetheless, the club’s recent signing of Joao Cancelo from Manchester City, alongside existing talents like Aleksandar Mitrović and Sergej Milinković-Savić, makes them a team to watch.
In the West zone, Al Nassr and Al Hilal face competition from clubs in Qatar, Iran, Iraq, and Uzbekistan. The East zone, which has been dominated by Japanese clubs in recent years, features prominent sides such as Yokohama F. Marinos, Kawasaki Frontale, and Vissel Kobe. South Korean clubs, including the Pohang Steelers and Ulsan Hyundai, are also expected to be strong contenders, while Chinese teams like Shanghai Port and Shandong Taishan are looking to defy expectations despite a downturn in financial investment.
Ronaldo’s health setback is unfortunate for Al Nassr, but the team remains well-positioned to advance in the competition thanks to its star-studded lineup. The revamped Asian Champions League Elite promises to deliver exciting football as the continent’s best teams, fueled by heavy investment and ambitious goals, battle for supremacy.
This season will be particularly interesting as the growing prominence of Saudi football—buoyed by the influx of star players and the country’s increasing role in major international football events—continues to reshape the landscape of Asian football. With Ronaldo aiming for the continental crown and Saudi Arabia positioning itself as a global football powerhouse, the stakes have never been higher.
