Round of 16, in which group winners played host to the runners-up in two-legged series, matched regionally, with away goals, extra time, and penalties used as tie-breakers. The regional restriction continues all the way until the final, although clubs from the same country couldn't face each other in the quarterfinals unless that country has three or more representatives in the quarterfinals. Since 2013, the final has also been held as a two-legged series, on a home and away basis. In 2021, the group stage was expanded from 32 to 40 teams, with both the West and East Regions having five groups of four teams. The slot allocation for the top six member associations in each region remained unchanged. The 10 group winners and top 3 runners-up per region are now seeded based on a combination table for the Round of 16, with the games still matched regionally until the Final. On 25 February 2022, it was announced that the AFC Champions League will go back to an inter-year (autumn to spring) schedule starting with the 2023–24 season. This will be the first time Asia's premier club competition will be played in between years since 2002–03. In addition, the existing "3+1" rule for foreign players during matches (3 foreign players and 1 Asian foreigner) will be expanded to be "5+1" (5 foreign players and 1 Asian foreigner). Reform On 23 December 2022, it was announced that the AFC competition structure would change from the established formats. Under the new plans, the top club competition of Asian football will only consist of 24 teams, divided into East and West regions, with each team playing eight other teams from their region (four teams at home and four teams away). The top eight teams per region will advance to the knockout stage, where only the round of 16 will be played over two legs, and from the quarter-finals onward the matches will be held at a neutral venue. It is currently unknown when this format will take effect or whether it will have the AFC Champions League moniker. Women's rights in Iranian football By 2021, the various problems with the Iranian sides were attracting media attention; international Arabic and English-language media reported the violation of women's rights in the stadiums of Iranian sides. On top of that, Iranian women were banned from football stadiums for about 40 years, by the Iranian government. In 2019,