Abu Dhabi Country Club (ADCC) will look to continue their dream run in the AFC Women's Champions League when the competition returns for the quarter-final stage this weekend.
The capital club have travelled to Vietnam where they face Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday (4pm kick off, UAE) at the Thong Nhat Stadium in a one-off tie with a place in the last four at stake.
Serial UAE champions, ADCC have already made their mark on what is the first staging of a premier AFC women's continental tournament.
They earned their place in the group stage by winning all three games they contested in the preliminary round last August in Riyadh, defeating Laos’ Young Elephants, Myanmar’s Myawady, and Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr.
In doing so, ADCC became the first Arab club to reach the maiden edition of the continental showpiece, which featured 12 of the top women’s football teams in Asia, split across three groups.
They followed that up by going unbeaten in the group stage proper with one win and two draws, beating China's Wuhan Jiangda and drawing with South Korea's Incheon Red Angels and Malaysia's Sabah.
“Raising the flag and playing for the UAE, representing the UAE on an international stage is a great pride that we feel very honoured to be able to do,” the team's star midfielder Nouf Al Anzi, 27, told The National at the outset of their campaign.
“I’m very excited and looking forward to the matches. We’re on a Champions League level, so the level of the matches is higher, the level of the teams and players is higher.
“I feel like these are the type of games that all players aim for, being at the highest level, so we’re all looking forward to it. Insha’Allah we’ll leave every single drop of sweat on the pitch, we’re going to give it our all and God willing we’ll be able to grab one of the tickets to the quarter-finals.”
That dream becomes a reality this weekend when the final eight teams enter the knockout stages, with semi-finals then scheduled for May 21 and the first winners of the competition set to be crowned on May 24.
It’s taken a long time for Asia to have its own continental women’s football club competition, and it comes on the heels of the establishment of the CAF Women’s Champions League, which launched in 2021 and is now in its fourth edition.
“The AFC Women’s Champions League coming to life is a huge step towards the development of women’s football on the continent,” added Al Anzi.
ADCC, who are the UAE's original professional women’s team, are one of two clubs to have progressed to the last eight from the preliminary round, along with Iran's Bam Khatoon, and are currently heading for an 11th UAE Women's Football League crown.
With a perfect record from 10 league matches in the 2024/25 season and no goals conceded, they look poised to maintain their record of winning every title since the league’s inception in 2012.
This weekend, however, they visit the home of another team used to winning all their matches.
Ho Chi Minh City are the reigning Vietnam Women’s National League champions, having picked up their sixth consecutive – and record – 13th title in 2024.
Elsewhere on Saturday, South Korea's Hyundai Steel Red Angels and Bam Khatoon go head to head at the Namdong Asiad Rugby Stadium in Incheon. The Red Angels are 11-time Korean champions, while their guests have won the last four Iranian domestic titles in a row.
Also, Melbourne City, who operate under the banner of the City Football Group, host Taichung Blue Whale of Chinese Taipei at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on the back of some record-breaking domestic form. The Australian team are unbeaten in 19 games and qualified for the last eight by winning all three of their group matches.
The last quarter-final tie takes place at the Kumagaya Athletic Stadium on the same day, where Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds will play host to China's Wuhan Jiangda.
AFC Women's Champions League quarter-finals, all March 22.
Incheon Red Angels v Bam Khatoon
Ho Chi Minh City v Abu Dhabi Country Club
Urawa Red Diamonds v Wuhan Jiangda
Melbourne City v Taichung Blue Whale
