Sydney FC one step from ACL group stages

Sydney FC are a step closer to the group stages of the Asian Champions League following the withdrawal of Chinese club Changchun Yatai.

The Sky Blues face Filipino club Kaya FC in a preliminary stage tie at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium next Tuesday in their seventh appearance in the continental competition.

The winner of that match was set to face Changchun Yatai in a playoff fixture on March 15 but that game has now been cancelled.

It means instead that the winner of next week's game will automatically go into Group H of this year's tournament where they will face two-time winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors from South Korea, Japan's Yokohama F Marinos and Vietnam's Hoang Anh Gia Lai.

The Sky Blues faced the Marinos in 2020 when the J-League powerhouse was managed by Ange Postecoglou and they have another Australian in the dugout this time around in former Melbourne Victory boss Kevin Muscat.

The matches for Group H will be played in the centralised venue of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam from April 15 to May 1.

FFA Cup winners Victory face a trickier task to reach the group stages having been drawn against J-League opposition in Vissel Kobe, and Spanish superstar Andres Iniesta, in their playoff fixture to be played in Kobe on March 15.

A-League Men's champions Melbourne City are in Group G along with South Korea's Jeonnam Dragons, Thailand's BG Pathum United and Filipino club United City with those matches to be played in Thailan from April 15 to April 30.