The represent persons of the Japan Football Association (JFA) and four J. League teams that will compete in the AFC Champions League 2016 (ACL) assembled at the JFA House on 16 February to hold a club meeting. They discussed about the schedule and the ACL support project, while they increased their determination level toward the tourney's kickoff on 23 February.

In this season's ACL, in addition to Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Gamba Osaka and Urawa Reds, F.C. Tokyo, who won in a playoff match earlier, will battle to become the No. 1 club in Asia.

Under the slogan of “breaking through,” the four Japanese representatives will start their quest to conquer Asia.

DAINI Kuniya, President of Japan Football Association

As F.C. Tokyo won in the playoffs on the 9th, it's great that we can dispatch four clubs for the ACL finals. Our J. League team weren't able to compete in last year's FIFA Club World Cup as the Asian representatives, but Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who played as the host team, put up some good games. J club's ultimate goal is to win the Club World Cup, but we want them to become the Asian champions to earn the right first. In the AFC rankings, China is ranked right behind Japan, so we should have certain sense of urgency, but we would like to provide them as much support as we can so they will take a good start and win the whole thing in the end.

MURAI Mitsuru, J. League Chairman

This season, all the four clubs have the intention to become the Asian champions. We'd like to see that all the teams will advance to the knockout stage and all-Japanese club matchups. The Chinese league has invested more money on their players than in the world's top four leagues and their representative teams are threatening, but enormous amount of attention will be cast in Asia. Now that the attention of the world will be paid for Asia, we would like to show the power of the J. League, which can play with the entire teams and can keep their base throughout games.

FUCHITA Keizo, President and CEO (Urawa Reds)

This is our third appearance in the ACL in the last four years, but we haven't really come up with good results so far. We've set out goal for this year that we will exceed what we did last year in every aspects. We've been training with the mind-set to have the right disciplines and to play in our opponents' territory. The first game is important, so we will be in it with the best preparation we can possible have. We are going to play one game at a time and fight to become Asia's leading club.

OGANE Naoki, President and CEO (F.C. Tokyo)

With all the support from everybody, we've made it to the first ACL berth in four years. The last time we competed in it, we felt that it was the ACL's fascination that each teams displays their own strengths. You've got to play with not much of scouting of other teams, but we would like to show the strengths of F.C. Tokyo, showcasing what we can do best, and hopefully we will exceed how we did last time out (best 16).

NORO Teruhisa, President and CEO (Gamba Osaka)

Preparing for the knockout stage, in which teams will have to play in tighter schedule, we've deepened our depth and made our second team this year. We'll get into the tournament with the best preparation we can possibly have. We have an ambition to play in the final at Suita Stadium and advance to the Club World Cup final as the Asian champions. We would like to put up fights deserving Gamba's slogan “Ambition”.

ORITA Hidekazu, President and CEO (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)

We'll be playing in the first ACL in two years. Representing the region of Hiroshima, we feel the obligation to convey the message of the peace through our battles in Asia. The battles against some of the powerhouse teams in Asia won't be easy, but we would like to play tenaciously and pile up points through every game to reach the summit in the end.

AFC Champions League 2016

27 January 2016 - 26 November 2016

More information