1996–97 Asian Club Championship

1996–1997 Asian Club Championship
Tournament details
Dates	?? 1996 – March 1997
Teams	26
Venue(s)	Shan Alam (final round)
Final positions
Champions	Pohang Steelers(1st title)
Runners-up	Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma
Third place	Persepolis
Fourth place	Al-Zawraa
Tournament statistics
Matches played	51
Goals scored	155 (3.04 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Park Tae-Ha
Best player(s)	An Ik-Soo
Fair play award	Al-Zawraa
	←1995 1997–98→

The1996–97Asian Club Championshipwas the 16th edition of the annual international club football competition held in theAFCregion (Asia). It determined that year's club champion ofassociation footballinAsia.

Pohang SteelersofSouth Koreawon the final and became Asian champions for the first time after beatingCheonan Ilhwa Chunmain the first ever Asian top club tournament that ended in a one-country final.

First round

West Asia

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
FK Neftchy Farg'ona	8–2	Pamir Dushanbe	4–1	4–1
AiK Bishkek	3–6	Yelimay Semipalatinsk	2–4	1–2
Köpetdag Aşgabat	0–1	Persepolis	0–0	0–1
Kazma	10–1	Dhofar	9–0	1–1
West Riffa	2-4	Nejmeh	2–1	0–3
Al-Nassr	w/o¹	Al-Sharjah
Al-Rayyan	bye
Al-Zawraa	bye

¹Al-Sharjahwithdrew.

East Asia

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Shanghai Shenhua	9–2	Instant-Dict FC	7–1	2–1
Công an Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh	1–2	Johor F.C.	0–1	1–1(a.e.t.)
JCT FC	2–2 (4–2p)	New Road Team	1–1	1–1
PSM Makassar	1–4	Pohang Steelers	1–0	0–4
New Radiant	1–0	Pettah United SC	1–0	n/p¹
Yokohama Marinos	w/o²	GD Artilheiros
Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma	bye
Thai Farmers Bank FC	bye

¹The 2nd leg was cancelled due to political violence in Sri Lanka.
²GD Artilheiroswithdrew.

Second round

West Asia

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Zawraa	3–1	FK Neftchy Farg'ona	1–0	2–1
Yelimay Semipalatinsk	3–5	Persepolis	3–0	0–5
Nejmeh	1–4	Al-Nassr	1–0	0–4
Al-Kazma	1–2	Al-Rayyan	0–1	1–1

East Asia

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma	1–0	Shanghai Shenhua	0–0	1–0
Yokohama Marinos	3–1	Johor F.C.	2–0	1–1
JCT FC	1–2	New Radiant	1–0	0–2
Thai Farmers Bank FC	1–5	Pohang Steelers	1–3	0–2

Quarterfinals

West Asia

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Persepolis	3	2	0	1	6	5	+1	6
Al-Zawraa	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	4
Al-Nassr	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
Al-Rayyan	3	1	0	2	3	5	−2	3

Source:^{[citation needed]}

8 November 1996

Al-Rayyan	2–1	Al-Nassr
Essa55' Al-Enazi62'		Abdullah72'

Doha,Qatar

8 November 1996

Persepolis	2–1	Al-Zawraa
Shahroudi39' Bezik75'		Abbas71'

Doha,Qatar

10 November 1996

Al-Nassr	3–2	Persepolis
Kennedy70',87',89'		Bezik62' Azizi75'

Khalifa International Stadium,Doha,Qatar

Referee:Saad Kamil Al-Fadhli(Kuwait)

10 November 1996

Al-Zawraa	2–0	Al-Rayyan
Attiya40' Mahdi55'

Doha,Qatar

12 November 1996

Al-Rayyan	1–2	Persepolis
Mutlaq65'		Azizi44',89'

Doha,Qatar

12 November 1996

Al-Nassr	0–0	Al-Zawraa

Khalifa International Stadium,Doha Qatar

Referee:Russamee Jindamai(Thailand)

East Asia

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma	3	2	1	0	12	2	+10	7
Pohang Steelers	3	1	2	0	8	2	+6	5
Yokohama Marinos	3	1	1	1	14	5	+9	4
New Radiant	3	0	0	3	0	25	−25	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}

24 November 1996

Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma	9–0	New Radiant
Sang-Yoon15' Dong-Gun37',59' Hwang Yeon-SeokYeon-Seok44' Ki-Beom51' Jung-Guk68',73' Stepouchkine69' Agbo89'

Daegu,South Korea

24 November 1996

Pohang Steelers	2–2	Yokohama Marinos
Young-Sang48' Bogdanović75'		Acosta32' Miura39'

Daegu,South Korea

26 November 1996

New Radiant	0–6	Pohang Steelers
		Jin-Ho32',49' (p),83',89' Konovalov34',61'

Daegu,South Korea

26 November 1996

Yokohama Marinos	2–3	Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma
Acosta34' Noda57'		Sang-Yoon14',51' Yeon-Seok60'

Daegu,South Korea

28 November 1996

Yokohama Marinos	10–0	New Radiant
Suzuki4' Acosta12',28',38',57',89' Terakawa13',35' Ueno40' Hirama75'

Daegu,South Korea

28 November 1996

Pohang Steelers	0–0	Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma

Daegu,South Korea

Knockout Stage

Bracket

Semi-finals		Final

7 March –Shah Alam

Persepolis	1
		9 March –Shah Alam
Pohang Steelers	3
		Pohang Steelers(a.s.d.e.t.)	2
7 March –Shah Alam
		Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma	1
Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma	1

Al-Zawraa	0
		Third place play-off

		9 March –Shah Alam

		Persepolis	4

		Al-Zawraa	1

Semifinals

7 March 1997

Persepolis	1–3	Pohang Steelers
Azizi88'		Park Tae-Ha9',86' Golmohammadi55' (o.g.)

Shah Alam Stadium,Shah Alam,Malaysia

7 March 1997

Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma	1–0	Al-Zawraa
Chang-Won42'

Shah Alam Stadium,Shah Alam,Malaysia

Third place match

9 March 1997

Persepolis	4–1	Al-Zawraa
Bezik20' Mahdavikia30' Bagheri65',80'		Fawzi8'

Shah Alam Stadium,Shah Alam,Malaysia

Final

Source:^[1]

9 March 1997

Pohang Steelers	2–1 (a.s.d.e.t.)	Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma
Park Tae-Ha78' Park Ji-Ho117' (p)		Hong Jong-Kyoung79'

Shah Alam Stadium,Shah Alam,Malaysia

Referee:Nik Ahmad(Malaysia)

Awards

Award^[2]	Player	Team
Sanyo Most Valuable Player	An Ik-Soo	Pohang Steelers
Coca-Cola Best Defender	An Ik-Soo	Pohang Steelers
Diadora Top Goalscorer	Park Tae-Ha	Pohang Steelers
Snickers Fair Play Award	—	Al-Zawraa

References

^"Pohang's golden goal tilts it".New Straits Times.10 March 1997.Retrieved1 November2021.
^"1996 ASIAN CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP".Asian Football Confederation. 7 July 1997. Archived fromthe originalon 7 July 1997.

Asian Club Competitions 1997at RSSSF

[1] "Pohang's golden goal tilts it".New Straits Times.10 March 1997.Retrieved1 November2021.

[Awards-2] "1996 ASIAN CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP".Asian Football Confederation. 7 July 1997. Archived fromthe originalon 7 July 1997.

[1]

[2]