The 2014 AFC Champions League was the 33rd edition of the top-level Asian club

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament organized by the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

(AFC), and the 12th under the current AFC Champions League title.

Guangzhou Evergrande Guangzhou Football Club, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Association. The team is based ...

were the defending champions, but were eliminated by

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

in the quarter-finals. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of Australia defeated Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia 1–0 on aggregate, to become the first Australian team to win the title, and in doing so qualified for the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup. The Australian club were making their debut in the competition, having won entry to the competition by winning the 2012–13 A-League Premiership in their first year of existence.

Allocation of entries per association

The AFC laid out the procedure for deciding the participating associations and the allocation of slots, with inspection of the associations interested in participating in the AFC Champions League to be done in 2013, and the final decision to be made by the AFC on 26 November 2013. The AFC Competitions Committee proposed the following participating criteria for the 2014–2016 editions of the AFC Champions League on 12 March 2013: *The top 23 member associations (MAs) as per the AFC rankings can apply either for direct slots or play-off slots. The interested MAs are given points and ranked according to the AFC evaluating system. *In both the East and West zones, there are a total of 14 direct slots in the group stage, with the 2 remaining slots filled through play-offs. *The top five MAs in both the East and West zones, if they acquire a minimum of 600 points, get direct slots in the group stage, while the remaining MAs, if they meet the minimum requirements, get play-off slots. The following scheme of allocating slots was approved by the AFC for the 2014–16 tournaments: **The top two ranked MAs in both the East and West zones get four direct slots each. **The third-ranked MAs get three direct and one play-off slot. **The fourth-ranked MAs get two direct and two play-off slots. **The fifth-ranked MAs get one direct and two play-off slots. **The sixth- to eleventh-ranked MAs each get one play-off slot. *The maximum number of slots for each MA is one-third of the total number of clubs in the top division (e.g., Australia can only get a maximum of three total slots as there are only nine Australia-based clubs in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

). *The

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

winners and runners-up are given a play-off slot, regardless of their respective MA's rank, as long as the club meets the minimum criteria. If they have already qualified based on domestic performance, the slot is given to the next eligible club in its MA, as long as the club meets the minimum criteria. On 26 November 2013, the AFC Executive Committee approved the slots for the 2014 edition of the AFC Champions League. ;Notes

Teams

The following teams entered the competition. ''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. TH means title holders.'' ;Notes

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws held at AFC headquarters in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

). On 25 November 2013, the AFC Competitions Committee proposed to continue to play the final over two legs on a home-and-away basis (instead of reverting to playing the final as a single match as original proposed), and to split the competition on zonal basis to guarantee an East vs West final for the next three years.

Qualifying play-off

The bracket for the qualifying play-off was determined by the AFC based on the association ranking of each team, with teams from the higher-ranked associations entering at later rounds. Teams from the same association may not play each other in the qualifying play-off. Each tie was played as a single match, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the match.

Extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

and

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

were used to decide the winner if necessary. The winners of each tie in round 3 advanced to the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

to join the 28 automatic qualifiers. All losers of each round from associations with only play-off slots entered the 2014 AFC Cup group stage.

Round 1

, - !colspan=3, West Asia Zone , - !colspan=3, East Asia Zone

Round 2

, - !colspan=3, West Asia Zone , - !colspan=3, East Asia Zone

Round 3

, - !colspan=3, West Asia Zone , - !colspan=3, East Asia Zone

Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2013. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. Each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. ;Tiebreakers The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: #Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned #

Goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned #Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned (

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

do not apply) #Goal difference in all the group matches #Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches #

Penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play #Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card) #Drawing of lots

Group A

Group B

;

Tiebreakers In games and sports, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is used to determine a winner from among players or teams that are tied at the end of a contest, or a set of contests. General operation In matches In some situations, the tiebreaker may consi ...

*Bunyodkor and El-Jaish are tied on head-to-head record and overall goal difference, and so are ranked on overall goals scored.

Group C

Group D

;

*Al-Ahli and Sepahan are ranked on head-to-head record.

Group E

Group F

;

*Beijing Guoan and Central Coast Mariners are tied on head-to-head record, and so are ranked by overall goal difference.

Group G

;

*Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Melbourne Victory are tied on head-to-head record, and so are ranked by overall goal difference.

Group H

;

*Western Sydney Wanderers and Kawasaki Frontale are tied on head-to-head record, and so are ranked by overall goal difference.

Knockout stage

In the knock-out stage, the 16 teams played a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, with the teams split between the two zones until the final. Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

(away goals do not apply in extra time) and

were used to decide the winner if necessary.

Bracket

Round of 16

In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group in the same zone, with the group winners hosting the second leg.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 28 May 2014. The "country protection" rule was not applied, so teams from the same association could be drawn into the same tie.

Semi-finals

Final

The draw to decide the order of two legs of the final was held after the quarter-final draw.

Awards

Top scorers

References

External links

AFC Champions League
the-AFC.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Afc Champions League 2014

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Allocation of entries per association

Teams

Schedule

Qualifying play-off

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Knockout stage

Bracket

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Awards

Top scorers

See also

References

External links