MANILA, Philippines -- United City FC, the reigning champions of the Philippines Football League (PFL), will be headed to Uzbekistan next month for its group matches in the AFC Champions League.

The AFC announced Monday that the Uzbekistan Football Association (UFA) will host the centralized matches of Groups H and I from the East region, scheduled for June 25 to July 11.

United City FC is in Group I, along with Beijing FC from China PR and reigning J.League champions Kawasaki Frontale. They will be joined by the winner of the playoff match between Korea Republic's Daegu FC and Chiangrai United of Thailand.

The group stage matches were originally scheduled for April but rescheduled to June due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This marks the first time that the club will compete in the Champions League as United City FC, having previously been known as Ceres-Negros before a much-publicized sale in July 2020.

The winners of the group will advance to the round-of-16, while the three best second-placed teams in the region will also advance.

United City, bannered by Philippine Azkals skipper Stephan Schrock and naturalization candidate Bienvenido Maranon, failed to make it past the playoff round in the 2020 edition of the tournament as they were beaten by FC Tokyo, 2-0.