1996–97 Asian Club Championship

The 1996–97 Asian Club Championship was the 16th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the AFC region (Asia). It determined that year's club champion of association football in Asia.

1996–1997 Asian Club Championship
Tournament details
Dates?? 1996 – March 1997
Teams26
Final positions
Champions Pohang Steelers (1st title)
Runners-up Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma
Third place Persepolis
Fourth place Al-Zawraa
Tournament statistics
Matches played50
Goals scored155 (3.1 per match)
Top scorer(s) Park Tae-Ha
Best player(s) An Ik-Soo
Fair play award Al-Zawraa

Pohang Steelers of South Korea won the final and became Asian champions for the first time after beating Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma in the first ever Asian top club tournament that ended in a one-country final.

First round

West Asia
Team 1 Agg. 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 Al-Nejmeh 2–1 0–3
Al-Nasr w/o4 Al-Sharjah
Al-Rayyan bye
Al-Zawraa bye

2 Al-Sharjah withdrew.

East Asia
Team 1 Agg. 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

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

Second round

West Asia
Team 1 Agg. 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
Al-Nejmeh 1–4 Al-Nasr 1–0 0–4
Al-Kazma 1–2 Al-Rayyan 0–1 1–1

East Asia
Team 1 Agg. 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-Nasr 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4
Al-Rayyan 3 1 0 2 3 5 −2 3
Source:
Al-Rayyan 2–1 Al-Nasr
Zamel Essa  55'
Mohammed Salem Al-Enazi  62'		 Majed Abdullah  72'
Persepolis 2–1 Al-Zawraa
Reza Shahroudi  39'
Edmond Bezik  75'		 Abbas  71'
Al-Nasr 3–2 Persepolis
Ohene Kennedy  70'  87'  89' Edmond Bezik  62'
Khodadad Azizi  75'
Al-Zawraa 2–0 Al-Rayyan
Attiya  40'
Mahdi  55'
Al-Rayyan 1–2 Persepolis
Mohamed Mutlaq  65' Khodadad Azizi  44'  89'
Al-Nasr 0–0 Al-Zawraa

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:
Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma 9–0 New Radiant
Lee Sang-Yoon  15'
Kim Dong-Gun  37'  59'
Hwang Yeon-Seok  44'
Lee Ki-Beom  51'
Han Jung-Guk  68'  73'
Gennadi Stepouchkine  69'
Alex Agbo  89'
Pohang Steelers 2–2 Yokohama Marinos
Lee Young-Sang  48'
Rade Bogdanovic  75'		 Alberto Acosta  32'
Tunitake Miura  39'
New Radiant 0–6 Pohang Steelers
Cho Jin-Ho  32'  49' (pen.)  83'  89'
Serhiy Konovalov  34'  61'
Yokohama Marinos 2–3 Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma
Alberto Acosta  34'
Satoru Noda  57'		 Lee Sang-Yoon  14'  51'
Hwang Yeon-Seok  60'
Yokohama Marinos 10–0 New Radiant
M. Suzuki  4'
Alberto Acosta  12' 28' 38' 57' 89'
Yoshito Terakawa  13'  35'
Y. Uena  40'
T. Hirama  75'
Pohang Steelers 0–0 Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma

Semifinals
Persepolis 1–3 Pohang Steelers
Khodadad Azizi  88' Park Tae-Ha  9'  86'
Yahya Golmohammadi  55' (o.g.)
Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma 1–0 Al-Zawraa
Kim Chang-Won  42'

Third place match
Persepolis 4–1 Al-Zawraa
Edmond Bezik  20'
Mehdi Mahdavikia  30'
Karim Bagheri  65'  80'		 Fawzi  8'

Final
Pohang Steelers 2–1 (a.e.t.) Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma
Park Tae-Ha  78'
Park Ji-Ho  117'  (pen.)		 Hong Jong-Kyung  79'
Referee: Nik Ahmad

Awards
Award[1] 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
  1. "1996 ASIAN CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP". Asian Football Confederation. 7 July 1997.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.