Sydney FC drawn to face Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande in Asian Champions League

SYDNEY FC face a massive task after being grouped with Asian Champions League title-holders Guangzhou Evergrande in Group H of the competition.

Carly Adno

2 min read

December 10, 2015 - 9:15PM

(FILES) This picture taken on November 21, 2015 shows China's Guangzhou Evergrande players celebrating their win in the AFC Champions League football final against UAE's Al Ahli in Guangzhou, in southern China's Guangdong province. The car company that sponsors the shirts of Asia's newly crowned football champions has launched legal action on November 24, against the club for changing their kit for the AFC Champions League final, the firm said. Chinese-Japanese joint venture Dongfeng Nissan paid more than 16 million USD for the season-long rights to Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao's apparel, according to China's official news agency Xinhua. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO

SYDNEY FC face a massive task after being grouped with Chinese giants and Asian Champions League title-holders, Guangzhou Evergrande, in Group H of the tournament, but Graham Arnold is excited by the challenge.

The draw, which involves 32 teams, was conducted in Kuala Lumpur and representatives from both Sydney and Melbourne Victory were in attendance. The four teams in every group will play each other in home and away ties, with the first round of games scheduled for February 23 and 24 next year.

Evergrande, who Western Sydney Wanderers fans will be well familiar with after beating them on their way to ACL success, are coached by the Brazilian World Cup winner Luiz Felipe Scolari and have five star Brazilian players at the club, including Paulinho.

It will be the Sky Blues’ third appearance in the tournament, but in both 2007 and 2011 they failed to progress from the group stages. This time, though, they will benefit from coach Graham Arnold’s experience in the tournament with the Central Coast Mariners, when he came up again Guangzhou.

“I had the privilege of coming up against Guangzhou when I was at the Mariners when we made the last 16 and Marcello Lippi was coach,” Arnold said.

“I’ve had experience with Guangzhou and going there, I’ve got to two years experience in the ACL so I know what it’s about and I’ll use my experiences hopefully to good stead. It’s a good draw.

“Getting Guangzhou is going to be a great test for us and it’s exciting for us to be taking on the team that’s been crowned Champions of Asia twice in the last three years.”

The other two clubs in the group are yet to be decided, but one will be Japan’s third ranked team.

Meanwhile, Melbourne Victory have been handed an easier draw after being grouped with Korean outfit Suwon Samsung. Japan’s second-ranked club will join them.

Adelaide United could be the A-League’s third team involved in the ACL, but they need to win a play-off against a yet to be decided team in February to get there.

Group G

Melbourne Victory

Japan 2nd club

Suwon Samsung (KOR)

Play-off 4

Group H

Guangzhou Evergrande

Sydney FC

Japan 3rd club

Play-off 1

Group Stage Schedule

Matchday 1: 23-24 February