2018 AFC Champions League knockout stage

The 2018 AFC Champions League knockout stage was played from 7 May to 10 November 2018.[1] A total of 16 teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2018 AFC Champions League.[2]

Qualified teams

The winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage advanced to the round of 16, with both West Region (Groups A–D) and East Region (Groups E–H) having eight qualified teams.

Region Group Winners Runners-up
West Region A Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira
B Qatar Al-Duhail Iran Zob Ahan
C Iran Persepolis Qatar Al-Sadd
D Iran Esteghlal United Arab Emirates Al-Ain
East Region E South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors China Tianjin Quanjian
F China Shanghai SIPG South Korea Ulsan Hyundai
G China Guangzhou Evergrande Thailand Buriram United
H South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings Japan Kashima Antlers

Format

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 on a home-and-away two-legged basis. 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 (Regulations Article 11.3).[2]

Schedule

The schedule of each round was as follows.[1] Matches in the West Region were played on Mondays and Tuesdays, while matches in the East Region were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Round First leg Second leg
Round of 16 7–9 May 2018 14–16 May 2018
Quarter-finals 27–29 August 2018 17–19 September 2018
Semi-finals 2–3 October 2018 23–24 October 2018
Final 3 November 2018 10 November 2018

Bracket

The bracket of the knockout stage was determined as follows:

Round Matchups
Round of 16 (Group winners host second leg)
Quarter-finals (Matchups and order of legs decided by draw, involving four round of 16 winners each in West Region and East Region)
Semi-finals (Winners QF1 and QF3 host first leg, Winners QF2 and QF4 host second leg)
Final (Winner SF2 host first leg, Winner SF1 host second leg, as reversed from previous season's final)
  • Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2

The bracket was decided after the draw for the quarter-finals, which was held on 23 May 2018, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[3][4][5]

Round of 16 Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                
Japan Kashima Antlers 3 1 4
China Shanghai SIPG 1 2 3
Japan Kashima Antlers 2 3 5
China Tianjin Quanjian 0 0 0
China Tianjin Quanjian (a) 0 2 2
China Guangzhou Evergrande 0 2 2
Japan Kashima Antlers 3 3 6
East Region
South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings 2 3 5
Thailand Buriram United 3 0 3
South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 2 2 4
South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 0 3 3 (2)
South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings (p) 3 0 3 (4)
South Korea Ulsan Hyundai 1 0 1
South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings 0 3 3
Japan Kashima Antlers 2 0 2
Iran Persepolis 0 0 0
Iran Zob Ahan 1 1 2
Iran Esteghlal 0 3 3
Iran Esteghlal 1 2 3
Qatar Al-Sadd 3 2 5
Qatar Al-Sadd 2 2 4
Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli 1 2 3
Qatar Al-Sadd 0 1 1
West Region
Iran Persepolis 1 1 2
United Arab Emirates Al-Ain 2 1 3
Qatar Al-Duhail 4 4 8
Qatar Al-Duhail 1 1 2
Iran Persepolis 0 3 3
United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira 3 1 4
Iran Persepolis (a) 2 2 4

Round of 16

Summary

In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group from the same region, with the group winners hosting the second leg, and the matchups determined by the group stage draw.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
West Region
Al-Jazira United Arab Emirates 4–4 (a) Iran Persepolis 3–2 1–2
Al-Sadd Qatar 4–3 Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli 2–1 2–2
Zob Ahan Iran 2–3 Iran Esteghlal 1–0 1–3
Al-Ain United Arab Emirates 3–8 Qatar Al-Duhail 2–4 1–4
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
East Region
Tianjin Quanjian China 2–2 (a) China Guangzhou Evergrande 0–0 2–2
Buriram United Thailand 3–4 South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 3–2 0–2
Ulsan Hyundai South Korea 1–3 South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings 1–0 0–3
Kashima Antlers Japan 4–3 China Shanghai SIPG 3–1 1–2

West Region

Al-Jazira United Arab Emirates3–2Iran Persepolis
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 5,821
Referee: Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan)
Persepolis Iran2–1United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 80,000
Referee: Ma Ning (China)

4–4 on aggregate. Persepolis won on away goals.

Al-Sadd Qatar2–1Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 3,613
Al-Ahli Saudi Arabia2–2Qatar Al-Sadd
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 24,150
Referee: Fu Ming (China)

Al-Sadd won 4–3 on aggregate.

Zob Ahan Iran1–0Iran Esteghlal
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 10,160
Referee: Jumpei Iida (Japan)
Esteghlal Iran3–1Iran Zob Ahan
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 75,680
Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)

Esteghlal won 3–2 on aggregate.

Al-Ain United Arab Emirates2–4Qatar Al-Duhail
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 7,124
Al-Duhail Qatar4–1United Arab Emirates Al-Ain
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 6,853

Al-Duhail won 8–3 on aggregate.

East Region

Tianjin Quanjian China0–0China Guangzhou Evergrande
Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 23,508
Guangzhou Evergrande China2–2China Tianjin Quanjian
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 48,632

2–2 on aggregate. Tianjin Quanjian won on away goals.

Buriram United Thailand3–2South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 10,382
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors South Korea2–0Thailand Buriram United
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 11,218

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won 4–3 on aggregate.

Ulsan Hyundai South Korea1–0South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 1,648
Referee: Mohanad Qassim (Iraq)
Suwon Samsung Bluewings South Korea3–0South Korea Ulsan Hyundai
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 3,176

Suwon Samsung Bluewings won 3–1 on aggregate.

Kashima Antlers Japan3–1China Shanghai SIPG
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 8,860
Referee: Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan)
Shanghai SIPG China2–1Japan Kashima Antlers
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 19,697

Kashima Antlers won 4–3 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

Summary

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 23 May 2018.[5] 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 and order of legs decided by draw, without any seeding or country protection.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
West Region
Esteghlal Iran 3–5 Qatar Al-Sadd 1–3 2–2
Al-Duhail Qatar 2–3 Iran Persepolis 1–0 1–3
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
East Region
Kashima Antlers Japan 5–0 China Tianjin Quanjian 2–0 3–0
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors South Korea 3–3 (2–4 p) South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings 0–3 3–0 (a.e.t.)

West Region

Esteghlal Iran1–3Qatar Al-Sadd
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 78,116
Referee: Ma Ning (China)
Al-Sadd Qatar2–2Iran Esteghlal
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 6,462

Al-Sadd won 5–3 on aggregate.

Al-Duhail Qatar1–0Iran Persepolis
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 6,650
Referee: Mohanad Qassim (Iraq)
Persepolis Iran3–1Qatar Al-Duhail
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 71,312

Persepolis won 3–2 on aggregate.

East Region

Kashima Antlers Japan2–0China Tianjin Quanjian
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 13,634
Tianjin Quanjian China0–3Japan Kashima Antlers
Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 8,718

Kashima Antlers won 5–0 on aggregate.

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors South Korea0–3South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings
Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 9,385

3–3 on aggregate. Suwon Samsung Bluewings won 4–2 on penalties.

Semi-finals

Summary

In the semi-finals, the two quarter-final winners from the West Region played each other, and the two quarter-final winners from the East Region played each other, with the order of legs determined by the quarter-final draw.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
West Region
Al-Sadd Qatar 1–2 Iran Persepolis 0–1 1–1
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
East Region
Kashima Antlers Japan 6–5 South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings 3–2 3–3

West Region

Al-Sadd Qatar0–1Iran Persepolis
Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 9,087
Persepolis Iran1–1Qatar Al-Sadd
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 81,350

Persepolis won 2–1 on aggregate.

East Region

Kashima Antlers Japan3–2South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 13,044
Suwon Samsung Bluewings South Korea3–3Japan Kashima Antlers
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 10,296

Kashima Antlers won 6–5 on aggregate.

Final

In the final, the two semi-final winners played each other, with the order of legs (first leg hosted by team from the East Region, second leg hosted by team from the West Region) reversed from the previous season's final.

Kashima Antlers Japan2–0Iran Persepolis
 Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 35,022
Referee: Ma Ning (China)
Persepolis Iran0–0Japan Kashima Antlers
Live Report
Stats Report
Attendance: 100,000
Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)

Kashima Antlers won 2–0 on aggregate.

Notes

  1. ^ The Tianjin Quanjian v Kashima Antlers match was played in Estádio Campo Desportivo, Macau instead of Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Tianjin.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "AFC Competitions Calendar 2018". AFC. 11 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b "2018 AFC Champions League Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC.
  3. ^ "Impressive quarter-finalists promise thrills". AFC. 22 May 2018.
  4. ^ "AFC Champions League 2018 Knockout Stage Official Draw". YouTube. 23 May 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Quarter-final ties confirmed". AFC. 23 May 2018.
  6. ^ "亚足联官宣权健亚冠主场移师澳门 不在天津举行". Sina Sports. 3 September 2018.
  7. ^ "Geiger to lead ref crew at AFC Champions League semifinal". Major League Soccer. 19 October 2018.

External links

  • AFC Champions League, the-AFC.com
  • AFC Champions League 2018, stats.the-AFC.com
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