Australia gets 2 spots in AFC Champions League!

Last Tuesday, the Asian Football Confederation released the following statement: "Following a proposal from the Competitions Committee held on Saturday 15 July 2006, the AFC Executive Committee approved the demotion of one club from Thailand and one club from Vietnam to the AFC Cup competition, to make way for the participation of two Australian clubs in the 2007 edition of the AFC Champions League." This means that after the 2006-2007 season, two A-League clubs will take part in the AFC Champions League!

The statement also said that "Further information regarding the participation of the Australian clubs shall be published over the next few weeks, following discussions between the AFC Administration and Football Federation Australia." How will the two clubs be decided? There are numerous possibilities. Maybe the top two spots at the end of the season regular, despite what happens in the finals, will automatically qualify for Asia. Though that would be unfair if the A-League Champions - the team that wins the actual trophy at the end of the final series - were a team that had been originally 3rd or 4th.

Personally I believe the spots will be decided like this: the A-League Champions and the A-League Premier - premier being the team to finish at the top of the ladder after the season regular. If the Champion and the Premier were to be the same team, than the runner-up in the final would qualify. To give you an example, if there had been two spots for the Asia last season than Adelaide United being the Premier would have qualified and Sydney would also have qualified being the Champion. How do YOU think the two clubs for the AFC Champions League will be decided?