2012 AFC Champions League

2012 AFC Champions League

Tournament details
Dates	10 February – 10 November 2012
Teams	37 (from 11 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Ulsan Hyundai (1st title)
Runners-up	Al-Ahli
Tournament statistics
Matches played	117
Goals scored	338 (2.89 per match)
Attendance	1,480,245 (12,652 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ricardo Oliveira (12 goals)[1]
Best player(s)	Lee Keun-ho[2]
← 2011 2013 →

The 2012 AFC Champions League was the 31st edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 10th under the current AFC Champions League title.

Ulsan Hyundai from South Korea won their first title, defeating Al-Ahli from Saudi Arabia with a 3–0 win in the final, and qualified for the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup.^[3][4]

Allocation of entries per association

The AFC approved criteria for participation in the 2011 and 2012 seasons.^[5] The final decision date was set after the Executive Committee meeting in November 2010.^[6]

On 30 November 2009, the AFC announced 12 more MA's that were keen to join the ACL, in addition to ten participating national associations. Singapore later withdrew. The full list of candidate associations were as follows:

East Asia

• Participating: Australia, China PR, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Republic
• Applied to participate: Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand
• Withdrew: Singapore^[7]
• Disqualified: Vietnam^[8]

West Asia

• Participating: Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Uzbekistan
• Applied to participate: India, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Tajikistan, Yemen

Note: India, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have clubs taking part in play-offs to qualify for the group stages of ACL in 2010.

Entrants per association

It was originally announced that the allocation for entry to the 2012 ACL would stay the same as the previous three seasons with the exception of Vietnam, who were disqualified, and their previous playoff slot was awarded to Qatar.^[8] However, following the AFC Executive Committee meeting in November 2011, it was decided that the number of slots for each association to be changed based on evaluation of the AFC Champions League criteria that took place in 2011.^[9]

A total of eleven member associations (see below) which participated in the 2011 AFC Champions League was evaluated for participating in the 2012 AFC Champions League.^[10] India, which played in the 2011 ACL play-off, was not evaluated and dropped to the AFC Cup. The other member associations which applied but did not meet the criteria for 2011 ACL was not evaluated at all for 2012.

Evaluation for 2012 ACL
	Meet all items of the criteria
	Meet some items of the criteria
	Do not meet the criteria

Notes

• ^A One of the group stage direct entrants from Uzbekistan was moved to the East Zone.^[9]
• ^B One of the K-League clubs, Sangju Sangmu Phoenix, is unable to qualify for the ACL because the team is not a commercial entity and their players are not professionally contracted.^[8]
• ^C While the 2010–11 A-League, the season which qualified Australian clubs to the 2012 ACL, had 11 teams, the 2011–12 A-League, the ongoing season, only has 10 teams after North Queensland Fury was closed, and this number was given in the 2012 ACL evaluation report (page 8).^[10] One of the A-League clubs, Wellington Phoenix, is based in New Zealand, an OFC member country, and are unable to qualify for the ACL.^[11]
• ^D This number was given in the 2012 ACL evaluation report (page 8).^[10] The 2010–11 Indonesia Super League, the season which qualified Indonesian clubs to the 2012 ACL, had 15 teams, and the 2011–12 Indonesian Premier League, the ongoing top division recognized by the Football Association of Indonesia, has 13 teams. There are two rival "top-division" leagues in Indonesia: the Indonesian Premier League and the Indonesia Super League (the ISL was by then not recognized by the Football Association of Indonesia).
• ^E China was allocated a berth in the qualifying play-off, but Liaoning Whowin, the 2011 Chinese Super League 3rd place, did not enter the competition.^[12] Therefore, only four teams entered the East Zone qualifying play-off.

Teams

A total of 37 teams participated in the 2012 AFC Champions League.^[10]

• 28 teams (14 in West Zone, 14 in East Zone) directly entered the group stage.
• 9 teams (5 in West Zone, 4 in East Zone) competed in the qualifying play-off, which was divided into two rounds. The 4 winners (2 in West Zone, 2 in East Zone) qualified for the group stage. Losers of the qualifying play-off final round entered the 2012 AFC Cup group stage. However, losers of the qualifying play-off semi-final round were eliminated from all AFC competitions, a change from previous seasons where they would also enter the AFC Cup.

Notes

• ^* Number of appearances (including qualifying rounds) since the 2002/03 season, when the competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League.
• ^† Bunyodkor (Uzbekistan) was moved to the East Zone.^[10]
• ^‡ Persipura Jayapura were initially disqualified by the AFC from participating but on appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the CAS ruled on 1 February 2012 that they should be provisionally reinstated to the competition and were entitled to play in the qualifying play-off.^[13]
• Al-Kuwait (Kuwait), the 2011 AFC Cup runners-up, failed to fulfil the criteria set by AFC to compete in the 2012 AFC Champions League, and thus directly entered the 2012 AFC Cup. Nasaf Qarshi (Uzbekistan), the 2011 AFC Cup winners, already directly qualified for the group stage based on their domestic performance.^[10]

Schedule

Schedule of dates for 2012 competition.^[14]

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying play-offs	Semi-finals	6 December 2011	10 February 2012
	Finals		18 February 2012
Group stage	Matchday 1		6–7 March 2012
	Matchday 2		20–21 March 2012
	Matchday 3		3–4 April 2012
	Matchday 4		17–18 April 2012
	Matchday 5		1–2 May 2012
	Matchday 6		15–16 May 2012
Knockout phase	Round of 16		22–23 May 2012 (W), 29–30 May 2012 (E)
	Quarter-finals	14 June 2012	19 September 2012	2–3 October 2012
	Semi-finals		24 October 2012	31 October 2012
	Final		9 or 10 November 2012 at home of one of the finalists

Qualifying play-off

The draw for the qualifying play-off was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 6 December 2011.^[15] The winners advanced to the group stage, while the losers of the final round advanced to the AFC Cup group stage,^[16] except the loser of the match between Adelaide United and Persipura Jayapura.^[17]

West Zone

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Semi-final Round
Esteghlal	2–0	Zob Ahan
Final Round
Al-Shabab	3–0	Neftchi Farg'ona
Esteghlal	3–1	Al-Ettifaq

East Zone

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Final Round
Pohang Steelers	2–0	Chonburi
Adelaide United	3–0	Persipura Jayapura

Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 6 December 2011.^[18] Clubs from the same country may not be drawn into the same group. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the knockout stage.^[16]

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		JAZ	EST	RAY	NQA
1	Al-Jazira	6	5	1	0	18	10	+8	16	Advance to knockout stage		—	1–1	3–2	4–1
2	Esteghlal	6	3	2	1	8	3	+5	11			1–2	—	3–0	0–0
3	Al-Rayyan	6	2	0	4	9	12	−3	6			3–4	0–1	—	3–1
4	Nasaf Qarshi	6	0	1	5	4	14	−10	1			2–4	0–2	0–1	—

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ITT	YAS	PAK	ARA
1	Al-Ittihad	6	5	1	0	13	4	+9	16	Advance to knockout stage		—	1–0	4–0	3–2
2	Baniyas	6	3	2	1	9	2	+7	11			0–0	—	2–0	2–0
3	Pakhtakor	6	2	1	3	6	10	−4	7			1–2	1–1	—	3–1
4	Al-Arabi	6	0	0	6	4	16	−12	0			1–3	0–4	0–1	—

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SEP	AHL	NAS	LEK
1	Sepahan	6	4	1	1	9	4	+5	13	Advance to knockout stage		—	2–1	1–0	2–1
2	Al-Ahli	6	3	1	2	10	6	+4	10			1–1	—	3–1	3–0
3	Al-Nasr	6	2	0	4	6	11	−5	6[a]			0–3	1–2	—	2–1
4	Lekhwiya	6	2	0	4	5	9	−4	6[a]			1–0	1–0	1–2	—

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		HIL	PER	GHA	SHA
1	Al-Hilal	6	3	3	0	10	7	+3	12	Advance to knockout stage		—	1–1	2–1	2–1
2	Persepolis	6	3	2	1	14	5	+9	11			0–1	—	1–1	6–1
3	Al-Gharafa	6	1	3	2	7	10	−3	6			3–3	0–3	—	2–1
4	Al-Shabab	6	0	2	4	5	14	−9	2			1–1	1–3	0–0	—

Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ADE	BYD	POH	GMB
1	Adelaide United	6	4	1	1	7	2	+5	13	Advance to knockout stage		—	0–0	1–0	2–0
2	Bunyodkor	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	10			1–2	—	1–0	3–2
3	Pohang Steelers	6	3	0	3	6	4	+2	9			1–0	0–2	—	2–0
4	Gamba Osaka	6	1	0	5	5	13	−8	3			0–2	3–1	0–3	—

Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ULS	TOK	BBR	BEG
1	Ulsan Hyundai	6	4	2	0	11	7	+4	14	Advance to knockout stage		—	1–0	1–1	2–1
2	FC Tokyo	6	3	2	1	12	6	+6	11			2–2	—	4–2	3–0
3	Brisbane Roar	6	0	3	3	6	11	−5	3[a]			1–2	0–2	—	1–1
4	Beijing Guoan	6	0	3	3	6	11	−5	3[a]			2–3	1–1	1–1	—

Group G

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SIC	NGY	CCM	TTD
1	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	6	2	4	0	13	5	+8	10[a]	Advance to knockout stage		—	1–1	5–0	1–1
2	Nagoya Grampus	6	2	4	0	10	4	+6	10[a]			2–2	—	3–0	0–0
3	Central Coast Mariners	6	1	3	2	7	11	−4	6			1–1	1–1	—	5–1
4	Tianjin Teda	6	0	3	3	2	12	−10	3			0–3	0–3	0–0	—

Group H

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GEG	KSR	JHM	BRU
1	Guangzhou Evergrande	6	3	1	2	12	8	+4	10[a]	Advance to knockout stage		—	3–1	1–3	1–2
2	Kashiwa Reysol	6	3	1	2	11	7	+4	10[a]			0–0	—	5–1	1–0
3	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	6	3	0	3	10	15	−5	9			1–5	0–2	—	3–2
4	Buriram United	6	2	0	4	8	11	−3	6			1–2	3–2	0–2	—

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Round of 16				Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Adelaide United	1
	Nagoya Grampus	0
					Adelaide United	2	2	4
					Bunyodkor (a.e.t.)	2	3	5
	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	0
	Bunyodkor	1
											Bunyodkor	1	0	1
											Ulsan Hyundai	3	2	5
	Ulsan Hyundai	3
	Kashiwa Reysol	2
					Ulsan Hyundai	1	4	5
					Al-Hilal	0	0	0
	Al-Hilal	7
	Baniyas	1
																	Ulsan Hyundai	3
																	Al-Ahli	0
	Al-Ittihad	3
	Persepolis	0
					Al-Ittihad	4	1	5
					Guangzhou Evergrande	2	2	4
	Guangzhou Evergrande	1
	FC Tokyo	0
											Al-Ittihad	1	0	1
											Al-Ahli	0	2	2
	Sepahan	2
	Esteghlal	0
					Sepahan	0	1	1
					Al-Ahli	0	4	4
	Al-Jazira	3 (2)
	Al-Ahli (p)	3 (4)

Round of 16

The matchups for the round of 16 were decided based on the results from the group stage.^[19] Each tie was played as one match, hosted by the winners of each group (Team 1) against the runners-up of another group (Team 2).^[16]

West Zone

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Al-Jazira	3–3 (aet) (2–4 p)	Al-Ahli
Sepahan	2–0	Esteghlal
Al-Ittihad	3–0	Persepolis
Al-Hilal	7–1	Baniyas

East Zone

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Adelaide United	1–0	Nagoya Grampus
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	0–1	Bunyodkor
Ulsan Hyundai	3–2	Kashiwa Reysol
Guangzhou Evergrande	1–0	FC Tokyo

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 14 June 2012.^[20] It determined the matchups for the quarter-finals and semi-finals as well as the potential host for the final.^[21]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Ittihad	5–4	Guangzhou Evergrande	4–2	1–2
Sepahan	1–4	Al-Ahli	0–0	1–4
Adelaide United	4–5	Bunyodkor	2–2	2–3 (a.e.t.)
Ulsan Hyundai	5–0	Al-Hilal	1–0	4–0

Semi-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Ittihad	1–2	Al-Ahli	1–0	0–2
Bunyodkor	1–5	Ulsan Hyundai	1–3	0–2

Final

The final of the 2012 AFC Champions League was hosted by one of the finalists, decided by a draw.^[16] According to the draw on 14 June 2012, the winner of semi-final 2 would host the final.^[22] Therefore, Ulsan Hyundai was the home team.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	MD1	MD2	MD3	MD4	MD5	MD6	R16	QF1	QF2	SF1	SF2	0 F 0	Total
1	Ricardo Oliveira	Al-Jazira	1	1		1	3	4	2						12
2	Naif Hazazi	Al-Ittihad		2	1		1		1	2		1			8
3	Rafinha	Gamba Osaka (GS) Ulsan Hyundai (QF+SF+F)			2					1	2	1		1	7
	Victor Simões	Al-Ahli		1	1	1	1		1		1		1		7
5	Darío Conca	Guangzhou Evergrande	2			1	1	1			1				6
	Kim Shin-Wook	Ulsan Hyundai	1				1		1		1	1	1		6
7	Éamon Zayed	Persepolis		3	1			1							5
	Bruno Correa	Sepahan	1	1	1		1		1						5
	Leandro Domingues	Kashiwa Reysol		2			1	1	1						5
	Yoo Byung-Soo	Al-Hilal				1			4						5
	Amara Diané	Al-Nasr		2	1	1		1							5

Note: Goals scored in qualifying play-off not counted.^[23]

Source:^[24][25]

See also

• 2012 AFC Cup
• 2012 AFC President's Cup

References

External links

• AFC Champions League