The 1996–97
Asian Club Championship
The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious cl ...
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
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
in
Asia
Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
.
Pohang Steelers
The Pohang Steelers (Hangul: 포항 스틸러스) are a South Korean professional Association football, football club based in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province that compete in the K League 1, the top flight of Football in South Korea, South Ko ...
of
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
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
1 Al-Sharjah withdrew.
East Asia
1 The 2nd leg was cancelled due to political violence in Sri Lanka.
2 GD Artilheiros withdrew.
Second round
West Asia
East Asia
Quarterfinals
West Asia
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East Asia
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Knockout Stage
Bracket
Semifinals
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Third place match
Final
Source:
Awards
References
Asian Club Competitions 1997at RSSSF.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1996-97 Asian Club Championship
1
Club Championship
1996-97