2015 AFC Champions League final

2015 AFC Champions League Final
Event	2015 AFC Champions League
	on aggregate
First leg
Date	7 November 2015
Venue	Al-Rashid Stadium, Dubai
AFC Man of the Match	Zheng Zhi (Guangzhou Evergrande)
Referee	Kim Jong-hyeok (South Korea)
Attendance	9,480
Weather	Clear and warm; 25 °C (77 °F); 62% humidity
Second leg
Date	21 November 2015
Venue	Tianhe Stadium, Guangzhou
AFC Man of the Match	Elkeson (Guangzhou Evergrande)
Referee	Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)
Attendance	42,499
Weather	Hot; 27 °C (81 °F); 88% humidity
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The 2015 AFC Champions League Final was the final of the 2015 AFC Champions League, the 34th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 13th under the current AFC Champions League title.

The final was contested in two-legged home-and-away format between Emiratis team Al-Ahli and Chinese team Guangzhou Evergrande. The first leg hosted by Al-Ahli at Al-Rashid Stadium in Dubai on 7 November 2015, while the second leg hosted by Guangzhou Evergrande at the Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou on 21 November 2015. Having previously won the tournament in 2013 Guangzhou Evergrande has making its second final appearance in three years.

Guangzhou Evergrande won the final 1–0 on aggregate and as Asian champions earned the right to represent the AFC at the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, entering at the quarterfinal stage.

Qualified teams

Team	Previous finals appearances (bold indicates winners)
Al-Ahli	None
Guangzhou Evergrande	2013

Venues

The 2015 AFC Champions League Final was contested in two-legged home-and-away format, held at the home of both finalists. It was the third consecutive year that the AFC adopted such an arrangement.

Al-Ahli's home venue, Al-Rashid Stadium, is a 9,415 seated stadium located in the city of Dubai.

Two previous final has been held in United Arab Emirates. The first one was in the first leg of the 2002–03 final, Al Ain defeated BEC Tero Sasana F.C. 2–0 in Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium in the city of Al Ain, and they eventually claimed the title 2–1 on aggregate. The second one was 10 years ago, in the first leg of the 2005 final, Al Ain was defeated by Saudis' team, Al-Ittihad, and they eventually lost the title 3–5 on aggregate.

Guangzhou Evergrande's home venue, Tianhe Stadium, is a 58,500 seated stadium located in the city of Guangzhou.

In the history of the competition, two finals have been held in China and this final will be the third, and the second that Guangzhou hosted. The first final hosted by a Chinese city in 1989–90, which was won by Chinese side Liaoning FC 3–2 against Nissan Yokohama in the city of Shenyang. The next final, the 2013 and second leg of the 2013, was hosted in Guangzhou. The 2013 final was won by Guangzhou Evergrande on the away goals rule with 3–3 on aggregate.

Road to the final

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).

Al-Ahli

Round

Guangzhou Evergrande

Opponent

Result

Group stage

Opponent

Result

Al-Ahli

3–3 (H)

Matchday 1

FC Seoul

1–0 (H)

Tractor Sazi

0–1 (A)

Matchday 2

Western Sydney Wanderers

3–2 (A)

FC Nasaf

0–0 (H)

Matchday 3

Kashima Antlers

4–3 (H)

FC Nasaf

1–0 (A)

Matchday 4

Kashima Antlers

1–2 (A)

Al-Ahli

1–2 (A)

Matchday 5

FC Seoul

0–0 (A)

Tractor Sazi

3–2 (H)

Matchday 6

Western Sydney Wanderers

0–2 (H)

Group D runners-up

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Al-Ahli	6	12
2	Al-Ahli	6	8
3	Nasaf Qarshi	6	8
4	Tractor Sazi	6	4

Source: AFC

Final standings

Group H winner

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Guangzhou Evergrande	6	10
2	FC Seoul	6	9
3	Western Sydney Wanderers	6	8
4	Kashima Antlers	6	6

Source: AFC

Opponent

Agg.

1st leg

2nd leg

Knockout stage

Opponent

Agg.

1st leg

2nd leg

Al-Ain

3–3 (a)

0–0 (H)

3–3 (A)

Round of 16

Seongnam FC

3–2

1–2 (A)

2–0 (H)

Naft Tehran

3–1

1–0 (A)

2–1 (H)

Quarter-finals

Kashiwa Reysol

4–2

3–1 (A)

1–1 (H)

Al-Hilal

4–3

1–1 (A)

3–2 (H)

Semi-finals

Gamba Osaka

2–1

2–1 (H)

0–0 (A)

Rules

The final was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the order of legs decided by draw. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.^[3]

Match details

First leg

Summary

Details

7 November 2015

19:45 UTC+4

Al-Ahli	0–0	Guangzhou Evergrande
	Report

Al-Rashid Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 9,480

Referee: Kim Jong-hyeok (South Korea)

Al-Ahli

Guangzhou Evergrande


GK	12	Ahmed Mahmoud
RB	26	Abdulaziz Haikel	84'
CB	2	Salmeen Khamis
CB	21	Kwon Kyung-won	90+3'
LB	62	Abdelaziz Sanqour		72'
RM	8	Everton Ribeiro		90'
CM	88	Majed Hassan
LM	4	Habib Fardan
RF	11	Ahmed Khalil (c)		88'
CF	9	Lima
LF	7	Ismail Al Hammadi
Substitutes:
GK	55	Majed Naser
DF	5	Walid Abbas		72'
DF	80	Humaid Abdulla		88'
DF	77	Yousef Al Sayed
MF	6	Hassan Abdurahman
MF	71	Nawaf Mubarak
FW	14	Oussama Assaidi		90'
Manager:
Cosmin Olăroiu


GK	19	Zeng Cheng
RB	5	Zhang Linpeng
CB	3	Mei Fang	80'
CB	6	Feng Xiaoting
LB	35	Li Xuepeng		70'
CM	8	Paulinho
CM	10	Zheng Zhi (c)
RW	16	Huang Bowen
AM	11	Ricardo Goulart		59'
LW	27	Zheng Long		46'
CF	9	Elkeson	36'
Substitutes:
GK	22	Li Shuai
DF	17	Liu Jian
MF	2	Liao Lisheng
MF	12	Wang Shangyuan
MF	20	Yu Hanchao		59'
MF	25	Zou Zheng		70'
CB	28	Kim Young-gwon
FW	29	Gao Lin		46'
Manager:
Luiz Felipe Scolari

AFC Man of the Match:
Zheng Zhi (Guangzhou Evergrande)

Assistant referees:
Jeong Hae-sang (South Korea)
Yoon Kwang-yeol (South Korea)
Fourth official:
Kim Hee-gon (South Korea)

Statistics

First half^[4]
	Al-Ahli	Guangzhou Evergrande
Goals scored	0	0
Total shots	2	5
Shots on target	1	1
Saves	1	1
Ball possession	41%	59%
Corner kicks	3	5
Fouls committed	7	4
Offsides	1	0
Yellow cards	0	1
Red cards	0	0

Second half^[4]
	Al-Ahli	Guangzhou Evergrande
Goals scored	0	0
Total shots	4	3
Shots on target	3	3
Saves	2	3
Ball possession	47%	53%
Corner kicks	4	1
Fouls committed	13	4
Offsides	1	0
Yellow cards	1	1
Red cards	1	0

Overall^[4]
	Al-Ahli	Guangzhou Evergrande
Goals scored	0	0
Total shots	6	8
Shots on target	4	4
Saves	3	4
Ball possession	47%	53%
Corner kicks	7	6
Fouls committed	20	8
Offsides	2	0
Yellow cards	1	2
Red cards	1	0

Second leg

Summary

Details

21 November 2015

20:00 UTC+8

Guangzhou Evergrande	1–0	Al-Ahli
Elkeson 54'	Report

Tianhe Stadium, Guangzhou

Attendance: 42,499

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

Guangzhou Evergrande

Al-Ahli


GK	19	Zeng Cheng		38'
RB	5	Zhang Linpeng
CB	6	Feng Xiaoting
CB	28	Kim Young-gwon
LB	25	Zou Zheng	72'
DM	10	Zheng Zhi (c)
DM	8	Paulinho
AM	11	Ricardo Goulart		90+1'
RW	16	Huang Bowen	76'
LW	27	Zheng Long		87'
CF	9	Elkeson
Substitutes:
GK	22	Li Shuai		38'
DF	3	Mei Fang
DF	33	Rong Hao
DF	35	Li Xuepeng
MF	17	Liu Jian		87'
MF	20	Yu Hanchao
FW	29	Gao Lin		90+1'
Manager:
Luiz Felipe Scolari


GK	12	Ahmed Mahmoud
RB	62	Abdelaziz Sanqour
CB	2	Salmeen Khamis	67'
CB	21	Kwon Kyung-won
LB	5	Walid Abbas
RM	8	Everton Ribeiro
CM	88	Majed Hassan	11'	90+3'
LM	4	Habib Fardan		65'
RF	9	Lima
CF	11	Ahmed Khalil (c)		63'
LF	7	Ismail Al Hammadi
Substitutes:
GK	55	Majed Naser
DF	57	Mohamed Sebil		90+3'
DF	80	Humaid Abbas		65'
MF	6	Hassan Abdurahman
MF	70	Waleed Hussain
MF	71	Nawaf Mubarak
FW	14	Oussama Assaidi		63'
Manager:
Cosmin Olăroiu

AFC Man of the Match:
Elkeson (Guangzhou Evergrande)

Assistant referees:
Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan)
Jahongir Saidov (Uzbekistan)
Fourth official:
Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)

Statistics

First half^[4]
	Guangzhou Evergrande	Al-Ahli
Goals scored	0	0
Total shots	6	3
Shots on target	3	2
Saves	2	3
Ball possession	53%	47%
Corner kicks	3	0
Fouls committed	5	5
Offsides	1	1
Yellow cards	0	1
Red cards	0	0

Second half^[4]
	Guangzhou Evergrande	Al-Ahli
Goals scored	1	0
Total shots	3	1
Shots on target	1	0
Saves	0	0
Ball possession	57%	43%
Corner kicks	2	1
Fouls committed	7	11
Offsides	0	3
Yellow cards	2	0
Red cards	0	1

Overall^[4]
	Guangzhou Evergrande	Al-Ahli
Goals scored	1	0
Total shots	9	4
Shots on target	4	2
Saves	2	3
Ball possession	57%	43%
Corner kicks	5	1
Fouls committed	12	16
Offsides	1	4
Yellow cards	2	1
Red cards	0	1

References

^ a b "2015 AFC Champions League Final First Leg Match Summary: Al-Ahli v Guangzhou Evergrande". AFC. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
^ a b "2015 AFC Champions League Final First Leg Match Summary: Guangzhou Evergrande v Al-Ahli". AFC. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
^ "AFC Champions League 2015 Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC.
^ a b c d e f "AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2015 MATCH CENTRE". AFC. Archived from the original on 21 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.

External links

AFC Champions League, the-AFC.com

[matchsummary1-1] "2015 AFC Champions League Final First Leg Match Summary: Al-Ahli v Guangzhou Evergrande". AFC. Retrieved 7 November 2015.

[matchsummary2-2] "2015 AFC Champions League Final First Leg Match Summary: Guangzhou Evergrande v Al-Ahli". AFC. Retrieved 21 November 2015.

[regulations-3] "AFC Champions League 2015 Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC.

[matchstatistics1-4] "AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2015 MATCH CENTRE". AFC. Archived from the original on 21 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.

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