Even without reigning champion Seongnam in the mix, clubs from South Korea and Japan are expected again to dominate the Asian Champions League.
For clubs from Saudi Arabia and Iran, the 2011 edition offers a chance to regain some lost pride. Competition kicks off Tuesday.
East Asian powers Japan and South Korea were the standouts at January's 2011 Asian Cup. Japan defeated Australia in the final after squeezing past the South Koreans on penalties in the semifinal. No team from the Middle East reached the semifinals, despite the tournament being held in Qatar.
The disappointing performance followed on from a 2010 World Cup which was without a West Asian team for the first time since 1974.
Croatian Branko Ivankovic, who led Iran to the 2006 World Cup and now coaches Chinese champion Shandong Luneng, told The Associated Press that clubs from the J-League and K-League are the ones to beat in the 32-team competition that offers $15 million in prize money. The champion wins $2 million, plus a place in FIFA's Club World Cup.
Japan or South Korean clubs have won the past five Asian Champions League titles and, according to Ivankovic, are setting the standards in Asia with leagues that are professionally run with disciplined players who have experience in these kinds of competitions.
South Korea dominated last year's tournament before Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma defeated Iran's Zob Ahan 3-1 in the November final at Tokyo to make it a record nine titles for South Korean clubs. Seongnam then failed to finish high enough in the K-League to qualify for the 2011 tournament and becomes the first Asian champion unable to defend its title in the continental championship.
South Korea'a success has led to an influx of star players to K-League teams. Domestic champion FC Seoul paid more than $1 million to take Colombian Mauricio Molina to the capital and Suwon Bluewings spent a similar amount on international goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong as well as luring striker Choi Sung-kuk.
Jeju United is making its debut in the competition, but is weakened by the loss of star midfielder and Asian Cup leading scorer Koo Ja-cheol to German club Wolfsburg. Jeonbuk Motors, which won the 2006 competition, is largely unchanged from last season.
The main Japanese challenge is expected to come from seven-time J-league champion Kashima Antlers or Nagoya Grampus, which won the domestic title for the first time last December. Neither team has yet progressed past the semifinal stage in Asia.
Nagoya, under highly-rated Serbian coach Dragan Stojkovic, has added to an already strong squad with Japanese international Jungo Fujimoto.
''Our target is to become the Champion of Asia,'' Stojkovic said. ''The thing to do is to play our style of soccer. We learned a lot from our past experience in this competition when we reached the semifinal in 2009. I believe that Nagoya is able to win the Asian Champions League.''
Gamba Osaka, the 2008 Asian champions, have qualified again, while city rival Cerezo Osaka is participating for the first time.
Shanghai Shenhua, Hangzhuo Greentown and Tianjin Teda join Shandong as the contenders from China, which is aiming to win the title for the first time in its present format after years of underachievement.
''Chinese football is growing and developing,'' Ivankovic said. ''This tournament is important for clubs to show what they can do but compared to Japanese and Korean players, Chinese players have less international experience.''
Apart from Adelaide United's run to the 2008 final, Australian clubs have had little impact on the tournament since joining the Asian Football Confederation in 2006.
This year's representatives Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC aim to change all that.
''We are ambassadors for Australian football in Asia,'' Sydney coach Vitezslav Lavicka said. ''It will be a great experience for all of us and we want to show Asia that there are some good players playing in Australia now.
''The main focus is on our performance and the performance of our players and the way we play,'' Lavicka said. ''We need to play our style and our normal passing game, and not worry about some of the opposition we have to play.''
The western half of the draw contains a number of Asian football powerhouses. Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia was the last team from the region to lift the trophy back in 2005, a second straight success. Riyadh rivals Al Hilal is also packed full of Saudi internationals and talented imports.
''Clubs like Al Hilal and Al Ittihad always have the ambition of winning the competition,'' said Ivankovic. ''They have the resources too, but along with Iranian clubs, haven't invested enough in grassroots soccer and have fallen behind the likes of Korea and Japan.''
Iranian clubs reached the final in 2007 and 2010, but Tehran sides Esteghlal and Persepolis have struggled to recapture past glories, leaving smaller teams such as Sepahan and Zob Ahan to fly the flag.
The United Arab Emirates and Qatar have a combined seven clubs in the tournament. Al Ain was the first to win the revamped competition in 2003, but neither nation has had much impact since.
Uzbekistan's Bunyodkor and Pakhtakor want to follow their country's relatively successful performance at the 2011 Asian Cup with a first club triumph, while only Arema Malang of Indonesia represents southeast Asia.
