2015 AFC Champions League knockout stage

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The 2015 AFC Champions League knockout stage was played from 19 May to 21 November 2015. A total of 16 teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2015 AFC Champions League.[1]

Qualified teams[edit]

The winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage qualified for the knockout stage. Both West Zone and East Zone had eight teams qualified.

Zone Group Winners Runners-up
West Zone
(Groups A–D)
A Qatar Lekhwiya Iran Persepolis
B United Arab Emirates Al-Ain Iran Naft Tehran
C Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal Qatar Al-Sadd
D Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli United Arab Emirates Al-Ahli
East Zone
(Groups E–H)
E Japan Kashiwa Reysol South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
F Japan Gamba Osaka South Korea Seongnam FC
G China Beijing Guoan South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings
H China Guangzhou Evergrande South Korea FC Seoul

Format[edit]

In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, 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, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.[1]

Schedule[edit]

The schedule of each round was as follows.[2]

Round First leg Second leg
Round of 16 19–20 May 2015 26–27 May 2015
Quarter-finals 25–26 August 2015 15–16 September 2015
Semi-finals 29–30 September 2015 20–21 October 2015
Final 7 November 2015 21 November 2015

Bracket[edit]

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.[1] The matchups are determined as follows:

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 18 June 2015, 16:00 UTC+8, at the Grand Millennium Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[3] Teams from different zones could not be drawn into the same tie, and there was no seeding or country protection, so teams from the same association could be drawn into the same tie.[4]

In the semi-finals, the matchups were determined by the quarter-final draw: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2 (West Zone) and Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4 (East Zone), with winners QF2 and QF4 hosting the second leg.[4]

In the final, the finalist from the West Zone hosted the first leg, while the finalist from the East Zone hosted the second leg (no draw was held to determine the order of legs, as it was reversed from the previous season's final).[4]

Round of 16 Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                
Iran Persepolis 1 0 1
Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal 0 3 3
Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal 4 2 6
Qatar Lekhwiya 1 2 3
Qatar Al-Sadd 1 2 3
Qatar Lekhwiya 2 2 4
Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal 1 2 3
United Arab Emirates Al-Ahli 1 3 4
Iran Naft Tehran (a) 1 1 2
Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli 0 2 2
Iran Naft Tehran 0 1 1
United Arab Emirates Al-Ahli 1 2 3
United Arab Emirates Al-Ahli (a) 0 3 3
United Arab Emirates Al-Ain 0 3 3
United Arab Emirates Al-Ahli 0 0 0
China Guangzhou Evergrande 0 1 1
South Korea Suwon Bluewings 2 2 4
Japan Kashiwa Reysol (a) 3 1 4
Japan Kashiwa Reysol 1 1 2
China Guangzhou Evergrande 3 1 4
South Korea Seongnam FC 2 0 2
China Guangzhou Evergrande 1 2 3
China Guangzhou Evergrande 2 0 2
Japan Gamba Osaka 1 0 1
South Korea Jeonbuk Motors 1 1 2
China Beijing Guoan 1 0 1
South Korea Jeonbuk Motors 0 2 2
Japan Gamba Osaka 0 3 3
South Korea FC Seoul 1 2 3
Japan Gamba Osaka 3 3 6

Round of 16[edit]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
West Zone
Al-Sadd Qatar 3–4 Qatar Lekhwiya 1–2 2–2
Persepolis Iran 1–3 Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal 1–0 0–3
Al-Ahli United Arab Emirates 3–3 (a) United Arab Emirates Al-Ain 0–0 3–3
Naft Tehran Iran 2–2 (a) Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli 1–0 1–2
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
East Zone
Suwon Samsung Bluewings South Korea 4–4 (a) Japan Kashiwa Reysol 2–3 2–1
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors South Korea 2–1 China Beijing Guoan 1–1 1–0
FC Seoul South Korea 3–6 Japan Gamba Osaka 1–3 2–3
Seongnam FC South Korea 2–3 China Guangzhou Evergrande 2–1 0–2

First leg[edit]

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors South Korea1–1China Beijing Guoan
Kim Kee-hee 13' Report Batalla 85' (pen.)


Persepolis Iran1–0Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
Digão 90+2' (o.g.) Report

Al-Sadd Qatar1–2Qatar Lekhwiya
Al-Haydos 37' Report Soria 13'
Msakni 36'


FC Seoul South Korea1–3Japan Gamba Osaka
Yun Ju-tae 90+2' Report Usami 63', 86'
Yonekura 74'

Naft Tehran Iran1–0Saudi Arabia Al-Ahli
Rezaei 34' Report
Attendance: 13,370

Al-Ahli United Arab Emirates0–0United Arab Emirates Al-Ain
Report
Attendance: 8,900

Second leg[edit]

4–4 on aggregate. Kashiwa Reysol won on away goals.


Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won 2–1 on aggregate.


Lekhwiya Qatar2–2Qatar Al-Sadd
Msakni 13'
Mohammad 83'
Report Muriqui 36'
Assadalla 63'

Lekhwiya won 4–3 on aggregate.


Al-Hilal won 3–1 on aggregate.


Gamba Osaka Japan3–2South Korea FC Seoul
Patric 16'
Kurata 45'
Lins 86'
Report Yun Ju-tae 58', 90+2'
Attendance: 9,597

Gamba Osaka won 6–3 on aggregate.


Guangzhou Evergrande China2–0South Korea Seongnam FC
Goulart 27' (pen.), 57' Report
Attendance: 48,761

Guangzhou Evergrande won 3–2 on aggregate.


Al-Ain United Arab Emirates3–3United Arab Emirates Al-Ahli
Gyan 5', 78'
Eisa 90+2'
Report Khamis 51'
Khalil 53', 56'

3–3 on aggregate. Al-Ahli won on away goals.


Al-Ahli Saudi Arabia2–1Iran Naft Tehran
Al Soma 36', 42' Report Padovani 31'

2–2 on aggregate. Naft Tehran won on away goals.

Quarter-finals[edit]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
West Zone
Al-Hilal Saudi Arabia 6–3 Qatar Lekhwiya 4–1 2–2
Naft Tehran Iran 1–3 United Arab Emirates Al-Ahli 0–1 1–2
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
East Zone
Kashiwa Reysol Japan 2–4 China Guangzhou Evergrande 1–3 1–1
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors South Korea 2–3 Japan Gamba Osaka 0–0 2–3

First leg[edit]


Al-Hilal Saudi Arabia4–1Qatar Lekhwiya
Aílton 11'
Kaabi 34'
Eduardo 36', 86'
Report Msakni 17'


Naft Tehran Iran0–1United Arab Emirates Al-Ahli
Report Lima 62'
Attendance: 23,300
Referee: Minoru Tōjō (Japan)
Notes
  1. ^
    Al-Hilal played their quarter-final home match behind closed doors due to crowd trouble.[5]

Second leg[edit]

Guangzhou Evergrande China1–1Japan Kashiwa Reysol
Huang Bowen 30' Report Cristiano 12'
Attendance: 48,643

Guangzhou Evergrande won 4–2 on aggregate.


Lekhwiya Qatar2–2Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
Mohammad 45+2'
Flores 72'
Report Eduardo 26'
Digão 87'

Al-Hilal won 6–3 on aggregate.


Gamba Osaka won 3–2 on aggregate.


Al-Ahli United Arab Emirates2–1Iran Naft Tehran
Lima 26'
Khalil 48' (pen.)
Report Amiri 50'

Al-Ahli won 3–1 on aggregate.

Semi-finals[edit]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
West Zone
Al-Hilal Saudi Arabia 3–4 United Arab Emirates Al-Ahli 1–1 2–3
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
East Zone
Guangzhou Evergrande China 2–1 Japan Gamba Osaka 2–1 0–0

First leg[edit]

Al-Hilal Saudi Arabia1–1United Arab Emirates Al-Ahli
Aílton 82' Report Lima 57'

Guangzhou Evergrande China2–1Japan Gamba Osaka
Huang Bowen 36'
Zheng Zhi 57'
Report Feng Xiaoting 13' (o.g.)
Attendance: 48,946

Second leg[edit]

Al-Ahli United Arab Emirates3–2Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
Lima 17'
Ribeiro 45'
Kwon Kyung-won 90+5'
Report Aílton 51'
Eduardo 64'
Attendance: 9,800

Al-Ahli won 4–3 on aggregate.


Gamba Osaka Japan0–0China Guangzhou Evergrande
Report
Attendance: 17,310

Guangzhou Evergrande won 2–1 on aggregate.

Final[edit]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Al-Ahli United Arab Emirates 0–1 China Guangzhou Evergrande 0–0 0–1
Al-Ahli United Arab Emirates0–0China Guangzhou Evergrande
Report
Guangzhou Evergrande China1–0United Arab Emirates Al-Ahli
Elkeson 54' Report
Attendance: 42,499

Guangzhou Evergrande won 1–0 on aggregate.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "AFC Champions League 2015 Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC.
  2. ^ "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2015" (PDF). AFC.
  3. ^ "Al Hilal to face Lekhwiya in ACL quarter-finals". AFC. 18 June 2015.
  4. ^ a b c "ACL quarter-finalists to learn opponents on Thursday". AFC. 16 June 2015.
  5. ^ "ACL clubs sanctioned for crowd disturbances". AFC. 16 June 2015.

External links[edit]