JDT to renew rivalry with Thai giants Buriram
The Southern Tigers will face Buriram, Melbourne City of Australia, Japan's Sanfrecce Hiroshima and China's Chengdu Rongcheng away, while hosting Shanghai Port and Shanghai Shenhua of China as well as Japan's Vissel Kobe and Machida Zelvia at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium (SSI).
Last season, Buriram ended JDT's campaign in the round of 16 with a 1-0 aggregate win at the SSI.
JDT technical director Alistair Edwards admitted the draw is tough, but believes the team can make a greater impact this year.
"The draw this year is equally as strong as last year and previous years. We had an extremely good campaign last year with massive sell-out crowds at the fortress SSI, so we're looking forward to more great games against top teams.
"We're playing new opposition and also familiar ones, like Buriram, where we're continuing that rivalry with our friendly rivals from Thailand. I think we were a little hard done by not qualifying at home last time, and everyone understands that.
"It doesn't sit well with us as a club because we think we are good enough to progress into the next stage. Buriram are always a great club and we enjoy playing against them, but now we've got to go to China and Japan as well."
JDT will play eight matches — four home and four away — in the 12-team East Asia elite league format, with the top eight advancing to the round of 16.
The 2025/2026 ACLE season will kick off in September and conclude in April next year. The round of 16 is scheduled for March 2-11, followed by a centralised finals stage in Saudi Arabia from April 17-25, 2026, covering the quarter-finals onwards.
JDT have been Malaysia's sole representative in Asia's top club competition since 2019, but are still chasing their first quarter-final appearance.
Meanwhile, in the ACL 2, it's set to be an all Asean contest for Selangor who are drawn in Group G with Bangkok United, Lion City Sailors of Singapore and Indonesia's Persib Bandung.
The ACL2 group stage is scheduled from Sept 16 - Dec 24, before moving into the Round of 16 between Feb 10-19, 2026. The quarter-finals and semi-finals are set for March 3-12 and April 7-15 respectively, with the final being held on May 16, 2026.
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