AFC Champions League

As the remaining sides intensify their preparations for what will surely be exciting ties, the-AFC.com takes a look at the facts and figures from the thrilling League Stage.

Following the decision to appoint the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) as the Host Association for the AFC Champions League Elite™ Finals for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons in December 2023, the King Abdullah Sports City and Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium in Jeddah have been selected to host the decisive battles of the most sought-after club prize in Asian football.

Port lost 2-0 to Yokohama F. Marinos, the second defeat in as many weeks after the 4-0 reverse to Vissel Kobe seven days ago.

The China PR side, however, finished in eighth place to reach the knockout stage.

Goals from Asahi Uenaka and Jun Amano in the 64th and 69th minutes respectively sealed victory for the J1 League side although Shanghai Port will still progress to the last 16 as a result of the withdrawal of Shandong Taishan from the competition earlier in the day.

The win was the seventh in the competition for the AFC Champions League™ 2023-24 runners-up, who will go into the next phase of the competition buoyed by their impressive form since Holland arrived to replace interim boss John Hutchison during the close season.

The matter will now be referred to the relevant AFC Committee(s) as appropriate for their decision(s).

Despite having to settle for a draw after giving up a two-goal advantage to Korea Republic’s Gwangju FC, the point was enough for the Thai side to advance with their last 16 opponents to be decided when the East Zone’s League Stage concludes on Wednesday.

The club from Saudi Arabia advanced from the play-offs with a 1-0 win over Tajikistan's Istiklol FC on Tuesday, with Youcef Belaïli converting a penalty in stoppage time to take Al Ahli into the group stage for the sixth consecutive year.

The Islamic Republic of Iran club prevailed 5-4 on penalties against Qatar’s Al Sailiya FC after 120 minutes saw the play-off tie end in a 0-0 draw at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium.

Goalkeeper Mahdi Rahmati was the hero for Shahr Khodro, producing a brilliant shootout save to deny countryman Karim Ansarifard before Saeid Sadeghi struck the decisive blow to take his team through.

The 31-year-old spoke exclusively to the-AFC.com following the play-off tie at Seoul World Cup Stadium and he reflected on the match, the importance of playing in the AFC Champions League, his favourite memories from the competition so far, and his hopes for 2020.

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The former Islamic Republic of Iran national team forward saw Esteghlal score five goals against their hosts at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium to book their place in the group stage of the competition for the fourth consecutive year.

In the meantime, the AFC will closely monitor the situation before deciding further on the home matches of Chinese clubs on MD4, 5 and 6.

The decision, which was also made in conjunction with the competing clubs from the respective groups, is a precautionary measure to ensure the safety and well-being of all participating players and teams in view of the current coronavirus outbreak in the People’s Republic of China.

Despite Saeed Juma’s second-half strike ultimately deciding the tie, Al Ain dominated against the Uzbekistan club at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.

Having weathered a Kashima storm in the first half, Melbourne netted the tie's only goal on 54 minutes when Nabbout was on hand to fire home a deflected effort past Kwoun Sun-tae.

Custodian Lawrence Thomas then put on a goalkeeping clinic to deny the 2018 champions as the A-League side held out for a famous victory.

Istiklol had qualified to the play-off stage after stunning PFC Lokomotiv 1-0 in Tashkent in the Preliminary Round 2, while Al Ahli qualified as fourth placed in the 2018-19 Saudi Pro League.