2010 AFC Champions League

2010 AFC Champions League

Tournament details
Dates	30 January – 13 November 2010
Teams	37 (from 15 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (2nd title)
Runners-up	Zob Ahan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	117
Goals scored	339 (2.9 per match)
Attendance	1,390,376 (11,884 per match)
Top scorer(s)	José Mota (9 goals)
Best player(s)	Saša Ognenovski
← 2009 2011 →

The 2010 AFC Champions League was the 29th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 8th under the current AFC Champions League title. The final was held at the National Stadium in Tokyo on 13 November 2010.^[1] The winner, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, qualified for the 2010 FIFA Club World Cup in UAE.

The preliminary qualification scheme for the AFC 2010 was released in 2008.^[2] A total of 38 clubs were due to participate in the 2010 AFC Champions League (eventually reduced to 37).

Qualifying play-off (8 teams)

• United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, India, Vietnam each have 1 team qualify
• 2009 AFC Cup finalists

However, Al Kuwait, the 2009 AFC Cup winners, were removed as their league did not meet the Champions League criteria.

Group stage (32 teams)

• 2 qualifying play-off winners
• 4 teams qualified: Iran, China PR, Japan, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia
• 3 teams qualified: United Arab Emirates
• 2 teams qualified: Australia, Uzbekistan, Qatar
• 1 team qualified: Indonesia

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.

* Number of appearances (including qualifying rounds) since the 2002/03 season, when the competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League

The ACL 2010 schedule was released on 17 July 2009.^[3] It will have the same format as the 2009 AFC Champions League.

Date	Event
7 December	Draw for qualifying play-off, group stage, and round of 16
30 January	Qualifying play-off semi-finals
6 February	Qualifying play-off finals
23–24 February	Group stage Match Day 1
9–10 March	Group stage Match Day 2
23–24 March	Group stage Match Day 3
30–31 March	Group stage Match Day 4
13–14 April	Group stage Match Day 5

Date	Event
27–28 April	Group stage Match Day 6
11–12 May	Round of 16
25 May	Draw for remaining rounds[4]
15 September	Quarter-finals 1st leg
22 September	Quarter-finals 2nd leg
6 October	Semi-finals 1st leg
20 October	Semi-finals 2nd leg
13 November	Final (National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan)[1]

The teams have been divided into two zones. East has four teams while West has three after AFC Cup champions Kuwait SC's failure to fulfil the criteria set by AFC to compete in the play-offs.^[5] The draw for the qualifying play-off was held on 7 December 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[6] All losers from the qualifying play-off will enter the 2010 AFC Cup.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
West Asia Semi-final
Al-Karamah	0–1	Al-Wahda
West Asia Final
Al-Wahda	5–2	Churchill Brothers
East Asia Semi-finals
Singapore Armed Forces	3–0	Sriwijaya
SHB Đà Nẵng	0–3	Muangthong United
East Asia Final
Singapore Armed Forces	0–0 (aet)(4–3p)	Muangthong United

The draw for the group stage was held on 7 December 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[6]

Each club plays double round-robin (home and away) against fellow three group members, a total of 6 matches each. Clubs receive 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss. The clubs are ranked according to points and tie breakers are in following order:

1. Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned; (Away goals do not apply)
3. Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned; (Away goals do not apply)
4. Goal difference in all the group matches;
5. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
6. Kicks from the penalty mark if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
7. Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches; (1 point for each yellow card, 3 points for each red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for each direct red card, 4 points for each yellow card followed by a direct red card)
8. Drawing of lots.

Winners and runners-up of each group will qualify for the next round.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GHA	EST	AHL	JAZ
1	Al-Gharafa	6	4	1	1	11	9	+2	13	Advance to knockout stage		—	1–1	3–2	4–2
2	Esteghlal	6	3	2	1	9	5	+4	11			3–0	—	2–1	0–0
3	Al-Ahli	6	2	0	4	11	9	+2	6			0–1	1–2	—	5–1
4	Al-Jazira	6	1	1	4	6	14	−8	4			1–2	2–1	0–2	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ZOB	BUN	ITT	WAH
1	Zob Ahan	6	4	1	1	8	3	+5	13	Advance to knockout stage		—	3–0	1–0	1–0
2	Bunyodkor	6	3	1	2	10	7	+3	10			0–1	—	3–0	4–1
3	Al-Ittihad Jeddah	6	2	2	2	9	7	+2	8			2–2	1–1	—	4–0
4	Al-Wahda	6	1	0	5	3	13	−10	3			1–0	1–2	0–2	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SHB	PAK	SEP	AIN
1	Al-Shabab	6	3	1	2	10	8	+2	10	Advance to knockout stage		—	2–1	1–1	3–2
2	Pakhtakor	6	3	0	3	8	10	−2	9			1–3	—	2–1	3–2
3	Sepahan	6	2	2	2	5	5	0	8			1–0	2–0	—	0–0
4	Al-Ain	6	2	1	3	8	8	0	7			2–1	0–1	2–0	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		HIL	MES	SAD	AHL
1	Al-Hilal	6	3	2	1	11	7	+4	11	Advance to knockout stage		—	3–1	0–0	1–1
2	Mes Kerman	6	3	0	3	13	13	0	9			3–1	—	3–1	4–2
3	Al-Sadd	6	2	2	2	12	9	+3	8			0–3	4–1	—	2–2
4	Al-Ahli	6	1	2	3	9	16	−7	5			2–3	2–1	0–5	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SEO	BEI	KAW	MEL
1	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	6	5	0	1	11	6	+5	15	Advance to knockout stage		—	3–1	2–0	3–2
2	Beijing Guoan	6	3	1	2	7	5	+2	10			0–1	—	2–0	1–0
3	Kawasaki Frontale	6	2	0	4	8	8	0	6			3–0	1–3	—	4–0
4	Melbourne Victory	6	1	1	4	3	10	−7	4			0–2	0–0	1–0	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		KAS	JEO	CHA	JAY
1	Kashima Antlers	6	6	0	0	14	3	+11	18	Advance to knockout stage		—	2–1	1–0	5–0
2	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	6	4	0	2	17	6	+11	12			1–2	—	1–0	8–0
3	Changchun Yatai	6	1	0	5	10	7	+3	3			0–1	1–2	—	9–0
4	Persipura Jayapura	6	1	0	5	4	29	−25	3			1–3	1–4	2–0	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SUW	OSA	SAF	HEN
1	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	6	4	1	1	13	4	+9	13	Advance to knockout stage		—	0–0	6–2	2–0
2	Gamba Osaka	6	3	3	0	11	5	+6	12			2–1	—	3–0	1–1
3	Singapore Armed Forces	6	1	1	4	6	16	−10	4			0–2	2–4	—	2–1
4	Henan Jianye	6	0	3	3	3	8	−5	3			0–2	1–1	0–0	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ADE	POH	HIR	SHA
1	Adelaide United	6	3	1	2	6	4	+2	10	Advance to knockout stage		—	1–0	3–2	0–1
2	Pohang Steelers	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	10			0–0	—	2–1	1–0
3	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	6	3	0	3	11	11	0	9			1–0	4–3	—	0–1
4	Shandong Luneng	6	2	0	4	5	8	−3	6			0–2	1–2	2–3	—

	Round of 16				Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Adelaide United	2
	Jeonbuk Motors (a.e.t.)	3
					Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	0	1	1
					Al-Shabab	2	0	2
	Al-Shabab	3
	Esteghlal	2
											Al-Shabab	4	0	4
											Seongnam Ihwa (a)	3	1	4
	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	3
	Gamba Osaka	0
					Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	4	0	4
					Suwon Samsung Bluewings	1	2	3
	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	2
	Beijing Guoan	0
																	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	3
																	Zob Ahan	1
	Zob Ahan	1
	Mes Kerman	0
					Zob Ahan	2	1	3
					Pohang Steelers	1	1	2
	Kashima Antlers	0
	Pohang Steelers	1
											Zob Ahan	1	1	2
											Al-Hilal	0	0	0
	Al-Hilal	3
	Bunyodkor	0
					Al-Hilal (a.e.t.)	3	2	5
					Al-Gharafa	0	4	4
	Al-Gharafa	1
	Pakhtakor	0

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 7 December 2009, along with the draw for the qualifying play-off and group stage. The matches were played on 11 and 12 May 2010.

West Asia

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Al-Gharafa	1–0	Pakhtakor
Al-Shabab	3–2	Esteghlal
Zob Ahan	1–0	Mes Kerman
Al-Hilal	3–0	Bunyodkor

East Asia

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	3–0	Gamba Osaka
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	2–0	Beijing Guoan
Kashima Antlers	0–1	Pohang Steelers
Adelaide United	2–3 (aet)	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

The draw for the remaining rounds was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 25 May 2010.^[7] Because of the country protection rule, if there are two clubs from the same country, they will not face each other in the quarter-finals. Therefore, the two clubs from Saudi Arabia may not be drawn with each other in the quarter-finals. However, the same rule does not apply if there are more than two clubs from the country. Therefore, the four clubs from the Korea Republic may be drawn with each other in the quarter-finals.^[8]

The first legs were played on 15 September, and the second legs were played on 22 September 2010.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Hilal	5–4	Al-Gharafa	3–0	2–4 (aet)
Zob Ahan	3–2	Pohang Steelers	2–1	1–1
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	1–2	Al-Shabab	0–2	1–0
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	4–3	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	4–1	0–2

The first legs were played on 5 and 6 October, and the second legs were played on 20 October 2010.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Shabab	4–4 (a)	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	4–3	0–1
Zob Ahan	2–0	Al-Hilal	1–0	1–0

The final was played on 13 November 2010. It was a one-leg match played at the National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan.

Note: Goals scored in qualifying round not counted.

Rank	Player	Club	MD1	MD2	MD3	MD4	MD5	MD6	R16	QF1	QF2	SF1	SF2	0 F 0	Total
1	José Mota	Suwon Samsung Bluewings		1	2	1	1	2	2						9
2	Mauricio Molina	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	1			1			2	1		2			7
3	Denilson	FC Bunyodkor	1	2				2							5
	Mohammad Reza Khalatbari	Zob Ahan			1	1		1			1			1	5
	Farhad Majidi	Esteghlal	2		2			1							5
	Leandro	Al-Sadd		3	2										5
	Flávio	Al-Shabab		2		2		1							5
	Araújo	Al-Gharafa		1			3		1						5
	Eninho	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors		1			2		2						5
	Mehdi Rajabzadeh	Mes Kerman / Zob Ahan	2				1	1		1					5
	Yasser Al-Qahtani	Al-Hilal	2	1		1					1				5

• AFC Champions League Official Page (in English)
• 2010 AFC Champions League at ESPN