2023/24 AFC club competitions (AFC Champions League, AFC Cup)

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https://twitter.com/FootyRankings/statu ... 4282217635

For AFC Club Competitions Rankings update after this week, there is only one change

Oman climbs up to 19th overall, and 11th in West
Turkmenistan dropped to 20th overall, and 12th in West


https://twitter.com/FootyRankings/statu ... 3424493783

There won't be any rankings movement in AFC Club Competitions Ranking this season, after the semi-finals results.

Japan, thanks to Yokohama's result, won the coefficient battle against South Korea, to secure the top spot in East Asia, and 3 direct slots in ACL Elite 2025

India also secured their place in top-10 in West Asia, so they will get 1+1 slots in ACL2 2025, after Oman's Al Nahda failed to get maximum points this round

ACL Elite slots for 2025-26:
West
3 direct slots: KSA
2 direct + 1 play-off slots: UAE, QAT
1 direct + 1 play-off slots: IRN
1 direct slot: UZB, IRQ
East
3 direct slots: JPN
2 direct + 1 play-off slots: KOR, CHN
1 direct + 1 play-off slots: THA
1 direct slot: AUS, MAS

ACL2 slots for 2025-26:
West
1 direct slot: KSA, UAE, QAT, IRN, UZB, IRQ
1 direct + 1 play-off slots: JOR, TJK, BHR, IND
1 play-off slot: OMA, TKM
East
1 direct slot: JPN, KOR, CHN, THA, AUS, MAS
1 direct + 1 play-off slots: VIE, HKG, SIN, PHI
1 play-off slot: IDN, PRK

AFC Challenge League slots for 2025-26:
West
1 direct slot: OMA, TKM, LBN
1 play-off slot: KUW, BAN, SYR, KGZ, MDV, PLE, NEP, SRI, BHU, AFG, PAK, YEM
East
1 play-off slot: IDN, PRK, CAM, MYA, TPE, MNG, MAC, LAO, BRU, GUM, NMI, TLS

AFC Club Competitions Ranking 2024: https://footyrankings.com/crank2024/

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AFC club competition finals

AFC Cup Final (single leg)
May 5: Al Ahed FC (LBN) v Central Coast Mariners FC (AUS)

AFC Champions League Final (two legs)
May 11, first leg: Yokohama F. Marinos (JPN) v Al Ain FC (UAE)
May 25, second leg: Al Ain FC (UAE) v Yokohama F. Marinos (JPN)

So in the ACL final, we will have Harry Kewell managing Yokohama F. Marinos and Hernan Crespo managing Al Ain. They of course most famously played against each other in the Istanbul UCL final.

Also, both managers only joined the club in the middle of the ACL campaign.

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https://twitter.com/FrontPgFootball/sta ... 0994775456

The AFC have confirmed that the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman will be the venue for the 2023/24 @AFCCup final between Lebanese Premier League side Al Ahed and @aleaguemen side @CCMariners

The final will take place on May 5th local time 20:00 UTC+4.

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AFC Champions League Final (two legs)

May 11, first leg: Yokohama F. Marinos (JPN) v Al Ain FC (UAE)
19:00 UTC +9, International Stadium Yokohama

May 25, second leg: Al Ain FC (UAE) v Yokohama F. Marinos (JPN)
20:00 UTC +4, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium

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https://www.the-afc.com/en/club/afc_cup ... s_aus.html

Preview - Final: Al Ahed FC (LBN) v Central Coast Mariners (AUS)

Muscat: Al Ahed FC and Central Coast Mariners will both be aiming to create history when they face off in the AFC Cup™ 2023/24 final on Sunday.

Lebanon's Al Ahed are seeking to lift the trophy for a second time after emerging champions in 2019 while Central Coast will be bidding to become the first Australian side to win the title in the final season of the AFC Cup.

Al Ahed FC (LBN) v Central Coast Mariners (AUS)
Venue: Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex (Muscat)
Kick-off: Sunday, 20:00 (UTC+4)

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AFC Cup final

Al Ahed FC (LBN) 0-1 Central Coast Mariners (AUS)

Central Coast Mariners are the first (and obviously last) Australian club to win the AFC Cup title, and the second Australian club to win an AFC club title, after Western Sydney Wanderers who won the 2014 AFC Champions League.

https://www.the-afc.com/en/club/afc_cup ... title.html

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Doka named MVP

https://www.the-afc.com/en/club/afc_cup ... d_mvp.html

Muscat: Central Coast Mariners' Mikael Doka was named the Most Valuable Player of the AFC Cup 2023/24 on Saturday.

The defender played a key role in Central Coast's AFC Cup journey, with the Australian club defeating Lebanon's Al Ahed FC 1-0 in the final at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex on Sunday.

Doka, 24, joined Central Mariners August 2023 and was an ever present in their AFC Cup 2023/24 title-winning campaign, netting four goals.

"I am so proud that we were able to win as we faced very difficult opponents who were very good. It has been a challenging tournament and we are extremely proud of what we have achieved," said Doka.

Meanwhile, the AFC Cup 2023/23 Top Scorer award was won by Marco Tulio Lemos.

The striker netted eight times for Central Coast Mariners before leaving the club to join Japanese side Kyoto Sanga FC.

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AFC Cup roll of honour

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(Note: The following two articles were published before this edition's final)

#AFCCup - Revisited

https://www.the-afc.com/en/club/afc_cup ... sited.html

Riyadh: When Lebanon’s Al Ahed take on Australia’s Central Coast Mariners at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex on Sunday in the last ever AFC Cup™ final, the competition will have gone full circle in its two decades of existence.

Twenty years and three months earlier, it was another Lebanese team that kicked-off this iconic competition, and coincidentally, it was on the same famous ground in the Omani capital Muscat that Olympic Beirut then opened the 2004 edition against Syria’s Al Jaish.

After 19 editions and 12 different champions that could go up to 13 on Sunday, the curtain falls on the AFC Cup as the AFC club competitions enter a new era with the introduction of a three-tier system including the AFC Champions League Elite, the AFC Champions League 2 and the AFC Challenge League in 2024/25.

The Zonal system

One of the defining features of the AFC Cup over the course of its history has been the unique zones system, which was introduced since the inaugural edition in 2004, but evolved over the years to finally take its current form since 2017.

Ten of the 11 ASEAN member associations were represented in the AFC Cup at one point or another, with Brunei Darussalam the only exception. The best performance for an ASEAN side came in 2015 when Malaysian powerhouse Johor Darul Ta’zim won the AFC Cup, beating Tajikistan’s Istiklol in the final. Their compatriots Kuala Lumpur FC came close in 2022, losing to Oman’s Al Seeb. This year’s finalists Central Coast Mariners competed as part of the ASEAN zone, becoming the third team from the zone to reach the final.

Clubs from Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, China, Macau, Mongolia and DPR Korea represented the East region, with DPR Korea’s 4.25 being the most successful, reaching the AFC Cup final in 2019 and losing to Lebanon’s Al Ahed.

India, Bangladesh and the Maldives produced most of the participants in South Zone, while Nepal’s Manang Marshyangdi Club became the only club from outside the aforementioned three countries to compete in the AFC Cup. Bengaluru FC went furthest amongst South teams, achieving a runner-up finish in 2016.

Meanwhile, the Central Zone often saw clubs from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyz Republic compete, with IR Iran and Afghanistan clubs never making an AFC Cup appearance. The outstanding performers from this region were FC Nasaf who won the title in 2011 and reached the final a decade later. Tajikistan’s Istiklol and Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr both have a runner-up finish to their names.

By far the most dominant of the five zones has been the West Zone which boasts 16 of the 18 AFC Cup winners to date. Kuwait SC and Air Force Club of Iraq hold the record for the most victories in the competition, with three titles each, while Jordan’s Al Faisaly and Bahrain’s Al Muharraq both won it twice.

Iconic Players

The AFC Cup has offered a platform for many of the continent’s best players to showcase their talents, while journeymen from across the planet achieved hero status for their Asian clubs through success in the competition.

Arriving to Asia from little-known Spanish side Socuéllamos in 2015, not only did Bienvenido Maranon acquire Filipino citizenship and represent the Azkals, but the forward will have his name immortalised as the all-time top scorer of the AFC Cup, with 37 goals to his name.

And if Maranon is enjoying his place atop the overall scoring charts, another import wrote his name in the AFC Cup records book with an exceptional season in 2018. Surprisingly, Rico, then at Al Muharraq, started that campaign slowly, scoring just once from a penalty in his first two games, but then he picked up quickly, putting four past Dempo as he marched to register an incredible 19 goals, the highest by any player in a single AFC Cup season.

Only one player was able to unlock the MVP award on more than one occasion; during Air Force Club’s dominant spell of the AFC Cup in which they won three consecutve titles between 2015 and 2017, club captain Hammadi Ahmed was instrumental to the two titles, and as a result was named AFC Cup MVP twice, in 2016 and 2018.

Head coach Basim Qasim was the man at the helm during that run and managed to become only the second coach to win the AFC Cup twice, an honour that was previously achieved by Romanian Marin Ion who won the title with Kuwait Club in 2012 and 2013.

For fans of tens of clubs from Macau in the far east to Yemen in the Southwestern corner of Asia, the AFC Cup was an opportunity to see some of their idols on the pitch, and for that the competition will live long in the memory of Asian football fans, well beyond Sunday’s final.

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#AFCCup: Records & Milestones

https://www.the-afc.com/en/club/afc_cup ... tones.html

Kuala Lumpur: The AFC Cup™ 2023/24 final between Lebanon’s Al Ahed SC and Central Coast Mariners of Australia on Sunday marks the end of an era as the game will bring the curtain down on the continental competition for the last time.

The tournament’s 19th edition will be its last as a glorious chapter in Asian football comes to an end two decades after the AFC Cup was launched back in 2004.

As the-AFC.com continues its build-up towards the grand finale, we look back at some of the records and milestones from through the years.

Three-peat

Two sides stand out in front as the most successful teams in AFC Cup history having won three titles apiece. Between 2009 and 2013, Kuwait SC lifted the trophy three times and reached the final on four occasions as they became the competition’s leading light.

Their dominance was perhaps bettered by Iraq’s Air Force Club between 2016 and 2018 as the Baghdad side became the first and only team to win the AFC Cup three times in a row, winning their third in front of home support in Basra.

Having debuted in 2016 and played their last AFC Cup game in the 2018 final, Air Force Club have won the competition every time they’ve entered.

West is best

In 18 previous editions of the tournament, West Asia has stood head and shoulders above the rest of the continent, with sides from the region having claimed the title 16 times.

Only Uzbekistan’s FC Nasaf (2011) and Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim (2015) have bucked the trend – something which Central Coast will be aiming to do when they take on Al Ahed in Muscat on Sunday.

Two-time champs

While Kuwait SC and Air Force Club lead the way in number of titles, other teams have also tasted AFC Cup glory on more than one occasion.

Jordan’s Al Faisaly won back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006 while Bahrain’s Muharraq Club won the competition for the second time in 2021 – 13 years after lifting the 2008 title.

Hot shot

That 2008 campaign witnessed arguably the finest individual display in the tournament’s history as Muharraq striker Rico netted a record 19 goals en route to claiming the top scorer award with a tally that remains the most in a single edition.

In the knockout rounds alone, Rico bagged 10 goals and, remarkably, scored hat-tricks in both legs of the final as Muharraq overcame Lebanon’s Safa SC 10-5 on aggregate.

Leading marksman

While Rico is out in front for a single-tournament tally, it is Bienvenido Maranon who leads the way as the AFC Cup’s all-time top scorer.

Between the years of 2016 and 2020, Maranon netted a whopping 35 goals as the Spaniard fired Philippines side Ceres Negros into the knockout rounds of four occasions.

Bumper crowds

Persija Jakarta’s run to the 2018 ASEAN Zonal semi-finals saw the competition’s attendance record twice broken, with the 62,198 that turned out at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium to see the 3-1 loss against Singapore’s Home United the largest crowd ever at an AFC Cup game.

When it comes to biggest crowd in a final, the 58,604 that witnessed Syria’s Al Ittihad defeat Kuwait’s Qadsia SC at Kuwait City’s Jaber International Stadium remains by some distance the highest attendance.

Syrian success

Al Ittihad were not the first team from their country to win the AFC Cup as that claim to fame went to Al Jaish, who defeated Damascus rivals Al Wahda in an all-Syria match-up to win the first-ever edition back in 2004.

With both legs played at Abbasiyyin Stadium in the Syrian capital, Al Jaish won the first leg 3-2 before losing the return meeting 1-0 and being crowned champions on away goals. With the competition moving to a single-leg final in 2009, it was the only title clash that was decided by away goals.

Unlucky losers

Two sides have reached the final on two occasions yet failed to lift the trophy. Iraq’s Erbil SC were beaten 4-0 by Kuwait SC in the 2012 final then came much closer in 2014 before losing on penalties to another Kuwaiti side, Qadsia, who were appearing in their third final after being defeated in their previous two.

Tajikistan’s FC Istiklol, meanwhile, lost 1-0 to JDT in front of home support in 2015 then two years later – having become the first-ever Inter-Zone champions – again lost in front of their own fans, this time going down by the same scoreline against Air Force Club.

Omani joy

When Al Seeb SC overcame Kuala Lumpur City FC to be crowned the 2022 champions, they became the first side from Oman to win an AFC club competition.

Clubs from nine countries have currently won the AFC Cup, with Central Coast hoping that number becomes 10 on Sunday in what is Australia’s first – and last – appearance in the continental competition.

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AFC club competition finals

AFC Cup Final (single leg)
May 5: Al Ahed FC (LBN) v Central Coast Mariners FC (AUS)

AFC Champions League Final (two legs)
May 11, first leg: Yokohama F. Marinos (JPN) v Al Ain FC (UAE)
May 25, second leg: Al Ain FC (UAE) v Yokohama F. Marinos (JPN)

So in the ACL final, we will have Harry Kewell managing Yokohama F. Marinos and Hernan Crespo managing Al Ain. They of course most famously played against each other in the Istanbul UCL final.

Also, both managers only joined the club in the middle of the ACL campaign.

Crespo and Kewell meet again for chance of continental glory

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/arti ... 9xez825jlo

Hernan Crespo and Harry Kewell had very different experiences in the final of the 2005 Champions League when Liverpool came back from 3-0 down against AC Milan to win a penalty shootout in Istanbul.

The Argentine striker scored twice for the Italians but ended up losing while the Australian winger trudged off with a groin injury midway through the first half only to collect a winner’s medal.

On Saturday, they are again on opposing sides in a continental final, this time as head coaches and their journeys to get here have also been very different.

Crespo is in charge of United Arab Emirates powerhouse Al Ain, who meet Japan’s Yokohama F.Marinos, led by Kewell, in the first leg of the Asian Champions League on Saturday.

The action will take place at Nissan Stadium, the venue for the 2002 World Cup final, and then moves to the oasis city of Al Ain, on the border with Oman, two weeks later.

That Crespo is just 180 minutes away from a continental title – which he never managed as a player with 2005 as close as he came – and a place in the expanded Fifa Club World Cup in 2025 is perhaps less surprising than his opposite number.

After the former Chelsea striker, who starred for both Milan clubs, hung up his shooting boots in 2012, he had coaching success in Brazil and Argentina.

Then followed a 2022 move to Qatar where the 48-year-old delivered a league title to Al-Duhail but lost in the semi-final of last year’s Champions League, 7-0 against Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia.

Crespo then moved to Al Ain and got his revenge, knocking out Al-Hilal, the most successful team in Asian history with four titles, at the same last-four stage in April.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr team were eliminated in the previous round.

Morocco’s Soufiane Rahimi took the headlines with five goals against the two Saudi giants.

“We talk so much about the two teams we eliminated because we were underdogs in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, and we go through,” Crespo said.

“We always need to say thank you to the players, congratulations to the players. They believe, they work hard, they fight, and they deserve to go through. There are great people working very hard in Al Ain and they deserve this moment. I’m very happy to be part of it.”

The UAE team won the 2003 final but have lost their past two final appearances: in 2005 to Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia and then, in 2016, to South Korea’s Jeonbuk Motors.

Yokohama however, have never been here before despite winning the J.League title five times. It means that Kewell, who has been in the job less than six months, is on the brink of history.

The former Leeds and Liverpool winger’s coaching career had also looked to be a thing of the past. It started in 2017 at League Two’s Crawley Town which he left just over a year later to take over at Notts County.

That’s when it started to go wrong. Kewell, who came on as a second-half substitute as Liverpool lost the 2007 final 2-1 to Milan, was fired after 11 league games.

At Oldham Athletic there were seven months and then just seven games in charge of Barnet before the club, in England’s fifth tier, handed the 45-year-old his marching orders in September 2021.

Enter Ange Postecoglou. In June 2022 the then-Celtic boss gave his fellow Australian the job of first-team coach at the Scottish giants.

Postecoglou arrived in Glasgow after leading Yokohama to the 2019 Japanese title and, as he left Japan in 2021, the now Tottenham Hotspur boss recommended Kevin Muscat as his successor.

Muscat, a tough-tackling former Australian international defender who played for Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Rangers and Millwall, continued the good work at the Kanagawa club, winning the title in 2022.

Muscat’s last game in charge in December – he headed to China to take over Shanghai Port – was to win the Champions League group stage with Yokohama to give his successor a run at the knockout rounds. On New Year’s Eve, Kewell became the third successive Australian to take the reins and has tried to maintain the attacking and expansive football that was the hallmark of his predecessors.

Neither Postecoglou or Muscat got past the last 16 in Asia but Kewell managed to take Yokohama, part of the City Football Group stable, to the last four.

A 1-0 loss in the first leg against two-time winners Ulsan HD, led by Hong Myung-bo, the captain of South Korea’s 2002 World Cup semi-finalists, left the Marinos with much to do at home.

Before the second leg, Kewell evoked the spirit of Istanbul.

"I was part of a special team that night that was able to come back from a scenario where a lot of people thought it was dead and buried," he said.

“It just goes to show that a game is never finished, especially when you've got a hunger and a desire in a team. And I see that hunger and desire in this team to go out there and do something magical."

It worked, as Yokohama won a penalty shootout after a tense and close affair.

If the Asian Champions League final is as dramatic and exciting as the 2005 European affair then everyone will be in for a treat.

Whatever happens, it is likely that the coaching career of either Crespo and Kewell – who have taken very different paths to get here – will never be the same again.

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https://www.the-afc.com/en/club/afc_cha ... c_uae.html

Preview - Final (1st Leg): Yokohama F. Marinos (JPN) v Al Ain FC (UAE)

Yokohama: A place in Asian football history is what Yokohama F. Marinos and Al Ain FC will be chasing when they meet in the AFC Champions League™ 2023/24 final, with the first leg to be played on Saturday.

Yokohama are bidding to win the title for the first time while Al Ain are seeking to add a second championship, having won the inaugural edition in 2003 with a new AFC club competition structure to be introduced from the 2024/25 season.

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AFC Champions League Final

May 11, first leg: Yokohama F. Marinos (JPN) 2-1 Al Ain FC (UAE)

https://www.the-afc.com/en/club/afc_cha ... l_ain.html

May 25, second leg: Al Ain FC (UAE) v Yokohama F. Marinos (JPN)
20:00 UTC +4, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium