SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korean football club Suwon Samsung Bluewings will face Vietnamese side FLC Thanh Hoa next week for a group stage spot at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League.
Suwon, led by head coach Seo Jung-won, earned a playoff spot for the AFC Champions League (ACL) after finishing third in the top flight K League Classic last year. In South Korea, the top two teams from the first division and the Korea Football Association Cup winners advance directly to the ACL group stage, while the third-place team needs to go through a playoff round.
Thanh Hoa made it to the qualifying playoffs of the 2018 AFC Champions League after they defeated Hong Kong outfit Easter SC 4-2 in the second preliminary round Tuesday.
Under the schedule announced by the AFC, Suwon will take on Thanh Hoa at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, next Tuesday. The winner of the match will take a spot in Group H that already has Sydney FC of Australia, Shanghai Shenhua of China and Kashima Antlers of Japan.
If Suwon, two-time continental champions, beat Thanh Hoa, they will start their group stage campaign against Sydney FC on Feb. 14 on the road. Suwon will also join fellow K League clubs -- Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, Jeju United and Ulsan Hyundai -- that already qualified for the ACL group stage.
In this file photo taken April 25, 2017, Suwon Samsung Bluewings captain Yeom Ki-hun (R) vies for the ball against Kawasaki Frontale defender Tatsuki Nara during their AFC Champions League Group G match at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. (Yonhap)
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