AFC Cup

AFC Cup
Founded 2004
Region Asia (AFC)
Number of teams 32
Current champions Kuwait Al-Kuwait
Most successful club Jordan Al-Faisaly
(2 time champions)
2010 AFC Cup

The AFC Cup is an annual international association football competition between domestic clubs sides run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Qualification to the competition is to clubs from AFC-affiliated countries which fall into the AFC's 'developing nations' category as laid out in their 'Vision Asia' document [1]. Countries which are 'mature' nations are entered into the AFC Champions League, and countries which are 'emerging' nations are entered into the AFC President's Cup. The 'developing nations' are the fourteen 'next-best' countries which lie outside the top-14 countries in the AFC region which send their club sides to the more prestigious AFC Champions League. Thus the two competitions are not interlinked as the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League in Europe, and Champions League losers do not compete in the Cup.

Contents

Participating nations and regions

A total of 32 clubs will participate in the 2010 AFC Cup.

Play-off: (2 teams)

Group stage: (32 teams)

Competition format

AFC’s second-tier club competition will also see changes in terms of teams and format for the 2009 edition.

- For the first time in its history, teams from Iraq and Kuwait will join the AFC Cup fray. Syrian clubs reappear in the competition after winning the inaugural edition (Al Jaish) in 2004.

- The other countries are Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, Lebanon, Yemen, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Maldives. Each country has two seats, while Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam will have one team in addition to the club which is playing in the ACL playoff/preliminary stage.

- A total of 32 teams will participate in the tournament (20 from West Asia and India, and 12 from East Asia).

- The teams will be divided into eight groups. Five of these groups will comprise West Asian teams, and three groups will make up the East Asian block.

- Two teams from each group will qualify for the Round of 16, where they will play one single knockout match.

- The quarter-finals, semi-finals will be played over two legs.

- The final will be played as an one-off match.

Results

Two-leg finals

Year Home team Score Away team Venue Location
2004 Syria Al-Wahda 2–3 Syria Al-Jaish Abbasiyyin Stadium Damascus, Syria
Syria Al-Jaish 0–1 Syria Al-Wahda Abbasiyyin Stadium Damascus, Syria
Aggregate 3–3, Al-Jaish won on away goals
2005 Jordan Al-Faisaly 1–0 Lebanon Al-Nejmeh Amman International Stadium Amman, Jordan
Lebanon Al-Nejmeh 2–3 Jordan Al-Faisaly Al Manara Stadium Beirut, Lebanon
Al-Faisaly won 4–2 on aggregate
2006 Jordan Al-Faisaly 3–0 Bahrain Al-Muharraq Amman International Stadium Amman, Jordan
Bahrain Al-Muharraq 4–2 Jordan Al-Faisaly Bahrain National Stadium Riffa, Bahrain
Al-Faisaly won 5–4 on aggregate
2007 Jordan Al-Faisaly 0–1 Jordan Shabab Al-Ordon Amman International Stadium Amman, Jordan
Jordan Shabab Al-Ordon 1–1 Jordan Al-Faisaly Amman International Stadium Amman, Jordan
Shabab Al-Ordon won 2–1 on aggregate
2008 Bahrain Al-Muharraq 5–1 Lebanon Safa Bahrain National Stadium Riffa, Bahrain
Lebanon Safa 4–5 Bahrain Al-Muharraq Sports City Stadium Beirut, Lebanon
Al-Muharraq won 10–5 on aggregate

One leg finals

Year Home team Score Away team Venue Location
2009 Kuwait Al-Kuwait 2–1 Syria Al-Karamah Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium Kuwait City, Kuwait
2010

Performance by clubs

# Clubs Winners Runners-up Semifinalist
1 Jordan Al-Faisaly 2 1 0
2 Bahrain Al-Muharraq 1 1 0
3 Jordan Shabab Al-Ordon 1 0 0
Syria Al-Jaish 1 0 0
Kuwait Al Kuwait Kaifan 1 0 0
6 Lebanon Al-Nejmeh 0 1 2
7 Lebanon Safa 0 1 0
Syria Al-Wahda 0 1 0
Syria Al-Karamah 0 1 0
10 Jordan Al-Wihdat 0 0 2
11 Singapore Geylang United 0 0 1
Singapore Home United 0 0 1
Maldives New Radiant 0 0 1
Hong Kong Sun Hei 0 0 1
Oman Al-Nahda 0 0 1
India Dempo 0 0 1
Vietnam Binh Duong 0 0 1
Hong Kong South China 0 0 1

Performance by nations

# Nation Winners Runners-up Semifinalist
1  Jordan 3 1 2
2  Syria 1 2 0
3  Bahrain 1 1 0
4  Kuwait 1 0 0
5  Lebanon 0 2 2
6  Singapore 0 0 2
 Hong Kong 0 0 2
8  Maldives 0 0 1
 Oman 0 0 1
 India 0 0 1
 Vietnam 0 0 1

By Clubs' Statistics

Top scorers

Year Footballer Club Goals
2007 Lebanon Mohammed Ghaddar Lebanon Al-Nejmeh 5
Jordan Odai Saify Jordan Shabab Al-Ordun 5
2008 Brazil Rico Bahrain Al-Muharraq 19
2009 Syria Jehad Al Hussain Kuwait Al-Kuwait 8
Syria Mohamad Al Hamawi Syria Al-Karamah 8
Nigeria Robert Akaruye Bahrain Busaiteen 8
Vietnam Huỳnh Kesley Alves Vietnam Binh Duong 8

See also

References

External links