2019 AFC Champions League


2019 AFC Champions League


The 2019 AFC Champions League was the 38th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 17th under the current AFC Champions League title.

Al-Hilal defeated Urawa Red Diamonds 3–0 on aggregate in the final to earn a record third Champions League title. As winners, they qualified for the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar.

Kashima Antlers were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Guangzhou Evergrande in the quarter-finals on away goals.

Association team allocation

The 46 AFC member associations (excluding the associate member Northern Mariana Islands) were ranked, based on their national team's and clubs' performance over the last four years in AFC competitions, with the allocation of slots for the 2019 and 2020 editions of the AFC club competitions determined by the 2017 AFC rankings (Entry Manual Article 2.3):

  • The associations were split into two regions:
    • West Region consisted of the associations from the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF), the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA), and the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF).
    • East Region consisted of the associations from the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF).
  • In each region, there were four groups in the group stage, including a total of 12 direct slots, with the 4 remaining slots filled through play-offs.
  • The top 12 associations in each region as per the AFC rankings were eligible to enter the AFC Champions League, as long as they fulfill the AFC Champions League criteria.
  • The top six associations in each region got at least one direct slot in the group stage, while the remaining associations get only play-off slots (as well as AFC Cup group stage slots):
    • The associations ranked 1st and 2nd each got three direct slots and one play-off slot.
    • The associations ranked 3rd and 4th each got two direct slots and two play-off slots.
    • The associations ranked 5th each got one direct slot and two play-off slots.
    • The associations ranked 6th each got one direct slot and one play-off slot.
    • The associations ranked 7th to 12th each got one play-off slot.
  • The maximum number of slots for each association was one-third of the total number of eligible teams in the top division.
  • If any association gave up its direct slots, they were redistributed to the highest eligible association, with each association limited to a maximum of three direct slots.
  • If any association gave up its play-off slots, they were annulled and not redistributed to any other association.

Association ranking

For the 2019 AFC Champions League, the associations were allocated slots according to their association ranking which was published on 15 December 2017, which took into account their performance in the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup, as well as their national team's FIFA World Rankings, between 2014 and 2017.

Notes

Teams

The following 51 teams from 22 associations entered the competition.

In the following table, the number of appearances and last appearance count only those since the 2002–03 season (including qualifying rounds), when the competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League. TH means title holders.

Notes

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.

Qualifying play-offs

In the qualifying play-offs, each tie was played as a single match. Extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 9.2). The eight winners of the play-off round (four each from both West Region and East Region) advanced to the group stage to join the 24 direct entrants. All losers in each round from associations with only play-off slot entered the AFC Cup group stage.

The bracket of the qualifying play-offs for each region, determined based on the association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the match, was officially announced by the AFC prior to the group stage draw on 22 November 2018. Teams from the same association could not be placed into the same tie.

Preliminary round 1

Preliminary round 2

Play-off round

Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 22 November 2018, 16:30 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four: four groups each in the West Region (Groups A–D) and the East Region (Groups E–H). Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.

In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the round of 16 of the knockout stage.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split into the two regions until the final. Each tie is played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 11.3).

Bracket

The bracket was decided after the draw for the quarter-finals, which was held on 2 July 2019, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Round of 16

In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group from the same region, with the group winners hosting the second leg, and the matchups determined by the group stage draw.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 2 July 2019. In the quarter-finals, the four round of 16 winners from the West Region (whose identity was not known at the time of the draw) played in two ties, and the four round of 16 winners from the East Region played in two ties, with the matchups and order of legs decided by draw, without any seeding or country protection.

Semi-finals

In the semi-finals, the two quarter-final winners from the West Region played each other, and the two quarter-final winners from the East Region played each other, with the order of legs determined by the quarter-final draw.

Final

In the final, the two semi-final winners played each other, with the order of legs (first leg hosted by team from the West Region, second leg hosted by team from the East Region) reversed from the previous season's final.

Al-Hilal won 3–0 on aggregate.

Awards

Main awards

All-Star Squad

Source:

Opta Best XI

Source:

Fans' Best XI

Source:

Top scorers

Note: Goals scored in the qualifying play-offs are not counted when determining top scorer (Regulations Article 64.4).

Source: AFC

Player of the week awards

See also

  • 2019 AFC Cup
  • 2019 AFC Women's Club Championship

References

External links

  • AFC Champions League, the-AFC.com
  • AFC Champions League 2019, stats.the-AFC.com

Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: 2019 AFC Champions League by Wikipedia (Historical)



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