TRAILBLAZER Chan Yuen-ting, the first woman coach to win a top-flight men’s soccer title, faces a brutal AFC Champions League (ACL) initiation after her Eastern SC was bracketed Tuesday with Chinese Super League giant Guangzhou Evergrande.

    Chan will face off in Group G against World Cup-winning Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and his Guangzhou side, which will be gunning for its third ACL title in five years.

    They are joined in the group by Suwon Samsung Bluewings of South Korea and a yet-to-be determined Japanese club.

    In her debut season, Chan, 28, led Eastern Sports Club to Hong Kong’s Premier League title in April for the first time in 21 years.

    That earned her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first woman coach to win a men’s championship title in a top national soccer league.

    In a tough Group H, defending ACL winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of South Korea were drawn with A-League champion Adelaide United and China’s Jiangsu Suning, according to the group-stage draw announced at the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.(SD-Agencies)