International football competition
The 2020 AFC Champions League was the 39th version of Asia ‘s premier clubhouse football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation ( AFC ), and the 18th under the stream AFC Champions League title. [ 3 ] Ulsan Hyundai won their second Champions League title by defeating Persepolis 2–1 in the final. [ 4 ] Ulsan automatically qualify for the 2021 AFC Champions League ( although they had already qualified through their domestic performance ), the first base time since 2008 that the AFC Champions League holders were guaranteed automatic rifle reservation in the postdate year. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] They besides earned the properly to play in the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar.
The tournament was the last to involve 32 teams during the group phase, which increased to 40 teams in 2021. [ 7 ] The contest was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia after group stage matches on 4 March 2020, [ 8 ] and restarted on 14 September 2020. [ 9 ] All matches after the restart were played in Qatar, [ 10 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ] with the final play at the Al Janoub Stadium. Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia were the defend champions, but the clubhouse efficaciously withdrew from the contest when they could not name the command 13 players for their final group stage couple, as all but 11 players had tested positive for COVID-19. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] For the first time, the video assistant reviewer ( VAR ) arrangement was in consumption from the quarter-finals onwards. [ 15 ]
Association team allotment [edit ]
The 46 AFC member associations ( excluding the consort member Northern Mariana Islands ) were ranked based on their national team ‘s and clubs ‘ operation over the last four years in AFC competitions, with the allocation of slots for the 2019 and 2020 editions of the AFC golf club competitions determined by the 2017 AFC rankings ( Entry Manual Article 2.3 ) : [ 16 ]
- 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 fulfilled 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 got 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 [edit ]
For the 2020 AFC Champions League, the associations were allocated slots according to their association ranking which was published on 15 December 2017, [ 17 ] which took into report their performance in the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup, ampere well as their national team ‘s FIFA World Rankings, during the period between 2014 and 2017. [ 16 ] [ 18 ]
| Participation for 2020 AFC Champions League | |
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| Participating | |
| Not participating | |
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- Notes
- ^Australia (AUS): The top division run by the [16] The acme division run by the Football Federation Australia, the A-League, alone had nine Australia-based teams in the 2018–19 season, so Australia could only get a utmost of three total slots ( Entry Manual 5.4 ) .
- ^Syria (SYR): Syria did not have any teams which had an AFC Champions League license.[19] Syria did not have any teams which had an AFC Champions League license .
Teams [edit ]
The following 52 teams from 23 associations entered the rival. 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.
- Notes
schedule [edit ]
The schedule of the competition was as follows. [ 21 ] due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only some of the group stage matches on matchdays 1–3 in February and March were played as scheduled, and all matches on matchdays 4–6 were postponed until further notice. [ 8 ] The attack of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals were besides initially moved to 10–12 and 24–26 August, 14–16 and 28–30 September, and 20–21 and 27–28 October. [ 22 ] [ 23 ]
Read more: EFL Trophy – Wikipedia
The AFC announced the calendar of the remaining matches on 9 July 2020, with all matches before the final examination act at centralize venues, and all smasher ties played as a single match. [ 9 ] On 10 September 2020, the AFC announced the new dates for the East Region matches and the concluding. [ 24 ] Notes :
- W: West Region
- E: East Region
- Italics: new dates after restart
| Stage | Round | Draw date | Match dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary stage | Preliminary round 1 | No draw | 14 January 2020 |
| Preliminary round 2 | 21 January 2020 | ||
| Play-off stage | Play-off round | 28 January 2020 | |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 10 December 2019 | 10–12 February 2020, 18–19 November 2020 (E) |
| Matchday 2 | 17–19 February 2020, 21–22 November 2020 (E) | ||
| Matchday 3 | 3–4 March 2020 (E), 14–15 September 2020 (W), 24–25 November 2020 (E) | ||
| Matchday 4 | 17–18 September 2020 (W), 27–28 November 2020 (E) | ||
| Matchday 5 | 20–21 September 2020 (W), 30 November – 1 December 2020 (E) | ||
| Matchday 6 | 23–24 September 2020 (W), 3–4 December 2020 (E) | ||
| Knockout stage | Round of 16 | 26–27 September 2020 (W), 6–7 December 2020 (E) | |
| Quarter-finals | 28 September 2020 (W) 8 December 2020 (E) |
30 September 2020 (W), 10 December 2020 (E) | |
| Semi-finals | 3 October 2020 (W), 13 December 2020 (E) | ||
| Final | 19 December 2020 |
The master schedule of the competition, as planned before the pandemic, was as follows .
| Stage | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary stage | Preliminary round 1 | No draw | 14 January 2020 | |
| Preliminary round 2 | 21 January 2020 | |||
| Play-off stage | Play-off round | 28 January 2020 | ||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 10 December 2019 | 10–12 February 2020 | |
| Matchday 2 | 17–19 February 2020 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 2–4 March 2020 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 6–8 April 2020 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 20–22 April 2020 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 4–6 May 2020 | |||
| Knockout stage | Round of 16 | 18–19 May 2019 (W), 26–27 May 2019 (E) |
25–26 May 2019 (W), 16–17 June 2020 (E) |
|
| Quarter-finals | TBD | 24–26 August 2020 | 14–16 September 2020 | |
| Semi-finals | 29–30 September 2020 | 20–21 October 2020 | ||
| Final | 22 November 2020 | 28 November 2020 | ||
Qualifying play-offs [edit ]
In the qualifying play-offs, each connect was played as a individual equal. extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the achiever if necessary ( Regulations Article 9.2 ). [ 3 ] The bracket of the qualifying play-offs for each area was determined based on the association rank of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the equal. [ 25 ] Teams from the lapp association could not be placed into the same bind. The eight winners of the play-off beat ( 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 of golf from associations with lone play-off slots entered the AFC Cup group degree .
preliminary orotund 1 [edit ]
preliminary round off 2 [edit ]
Play-off round [edit ]
Group stage [edit ]
The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2019, 16:30 MYT ( UTC+8 ), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. [ 26 ] 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 double round-robin footing, with matches played home-and-away before the suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but moved to centralised venues after restart. The winners and runner-up of each group advanced to the round of 16 of the hard stage .
| Tiebreakers |
|---|
The teams were ranked according to points ( 3 points for a gain, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss ). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the follow ordering ( Regulations Article 10.5 ) : [ 3 ]
|
Group A [edit ]
- ^[27] They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all previous matches played by them shall be considered “null and void” and would not be considered in determining the final group rankings.[28]Al-Wahda were unable to travel to Qatar to play the final four matches of the group stage due to several team members testing positive for COVID-19 They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all previous matches played by them shall be considered “null and void” and would not be considered in determining the final group rankings.
Group B [edit ]
- ^[13]Al-Hilal failed to name the required 13 players and were unable to play their final match of the group stage against Shabab Al-Ahli due to them having only 11 players left with the remaining team members testing positive for COVID-19. They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all previous matches played by them shall be considered “null and void” and would not be considered in determining the final group rankings.
Group C [edit ]
Group D [edit ]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | NAS | SAD | SEP | AIN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Al-Nassr
|
6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 11 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | |
| 2 |  Al-Sadd
|
6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 9 | 1–1 | — | 3–0 | 4–0 | ||
| 3 |  Sepahan
|
6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 7 | 0–2 | 2–1 | — | 0–0 | ||
| 4 |  Al-Ain
|
6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 13 | −8 | 5 | 1–2 | 3–3 | 0–4 | — |
Group E [edit ]
Group F [edit ]
Group G [edit ]
- ^[29] They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all previous matches played by them shall be considered “null and void” and would not be considered in determining the final group rankings.[30]Johor Darul Ta’zim were unable to travel to Qatar to play the final four matches of the group stage due to the COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions after they were denied permission to travel by the Malaysian government.They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all previous matches played by them shall be considered “null and void” and would not be considered in determining the final group rankings.
Group H [edit ]
Knockout stage [edit ]
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 was played as a single-leg couple at centralized venues, rather of the usual home-and-away two-legged basis as planned before the COVID-19 pandemic. extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winners if necessity .
bracket [edit ]
The bracket was decided after the draw for the quarter-finals. The reap for the West Region quarter-finals was held on 28 September 2020, 11:00 AST ( UTC+3 ), and the pull for the East Region quarter-finals was held on 8 December 2020, 11:30 AST ( UTC+3 ), both in Doha, Qatar. [ 31 ] [ 32 ] [ 33 ] [ 34 ]
Round of 16 [edit ]
In the beat of 16, the winners of one group played against the runner-up of another group from the lapp region and the matchups were determined by the group degree draw .
In the quarter-finals, the four teams from the West Region played in two ties, and the four teams from the East Region played in two ties, with the matchups decided by draw, without any sow or area protection. The draw for the West Region quarter-finals was held on 28 September 2020, [ 31 ] [ 32 ] and the draw for the East Region quarter-finals was held on 8 December 2020. [ 33 ] [ 34 ]
In the semi-finals, the two quarter-final winners from the West Region played against each other, and the two quarter-final winners from the East Region played against each other .
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Nassr |
1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–5 p) |
Persepolis
|
final examination [edit ]
In the final examination, the two semi-final winners played against each other, at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar. [ 12 ]
Awards [edit ]
main awards [edit ]
bill : Abderrazak Hamdallah finished ahead of Júnior Negrão to win the Top Scorer award despite scoring the same number of goals, and besides having the like number of assists ( first tiebreaker ), since he played fewer minutes throughout the competition ( second tiebreaker ). [ 1 ]
All Star Squad [edit ]
reservoir : [ 35 ]
Fans ‘ awards [edit ]
The AFC took polls of fans in its web site after the tournament .
Statistics [edit ]
statistical leaders [edit ]
top scorers [edit ]
Team eliminated / passive for this circle.
Player is not in the team but team distillery active voice for this round .
note : Goals scored in the qualifying play-offs and matches voided by AFC are not counted when determining top scorer ( Regulations Article 64.4 ). [ 3 ]
Toyota Player of the Week awards [edit ]
See besides [edit ]
References [edit ]
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