Shanghai Shenhua, SIPG arrive in Doha for AFC Champions League

DOHA - Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG arrived here on Sunday to prepare for the 2020 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League.

Shanghai Shenhua will confront its first rivals of group stage Perth Glory on November 18, while Shanghai SIPG will compete against Sydney FC on November 19.

This season's AFC Champions League group matches in East Asia will finally resume this month after being rescheduled several times due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The two Shanghai outfits departed for Doha on a chartered flight at Saturday night and arrived here in full virus-proof gear after a 9-hour flight.

Shanghai Shenhua, K League team Ulsan Hyundai, J League team FC Tokyo and Australia's Perth Glory are in the same group.

Shanghai SIPG's rivals in group include K League team Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, J League team Yokohama F. Marinos and Australia's Sydney FC.

There are other two Chinese Super League clubs in this year's AFC Champions League -- Guangzhou Evergrande and Beijing Guo'an.

Due to the time conflict between the AFC Champions League and the Chinese Football Association (CFA) Cup this year, the top four teams of the Chinese Super League have chosen to go to the AFC Champions League with full strength and participate in the CFA Cup with youth teams.