2002–03 AFC Champions League

The 2002–03 AFC Champions League was the twenty-second edition of Asia's premier football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and the first edition under the AFC Champions League title.

2002–03 AFC Champions League

Tournament details
Dates	13 August – 27 November 2002 (qualifying rounds) 9 March – 11 October 2003 (group & final stages)
Teams	16 (group stage)
Final positions
Champions	Al-Ain (1st title)
Runners-up	BEC Tero Sasana
Tournament statistics
Matches played	30
Goals scored	104 (3.47 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Hao Haidong (9 goals)
Best player(s)	Therdsak Chaiman
← 2001–02 (Asian Club Championship) 2004 →

Sixteen teams competed in this edition as they went through qualifying before going into four groups of four with only the winner of the group qualifying to the knockout-stage which went to two-legs instead of the single leg that the previous year competition had.

Teams

Entry Round	Teams
Group Stage	West Asia		East Asia
	Persepolis (1st)	Al-Talaba (1st)	Dalian Shide (1st)	Kashima Antlers (1st)
	Al Hilal (1st)	Al Ain (1st)	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (1st)	BEC Tero Sasana (1st)
Third qualifying round	Esteghlal (CW)	Al-Zawraa	Shanghai Shenhua (2nd)	Shimizu S-Pulse (CW)
	Al-Ahli (CW)	Al-Arabi (1st)	Daejeon Citizen (CW)	Osotsapa (2nd)
	Al-Ittihad (1st)	Regar-TadAZ (1st)	Saigon Port (1st)	South China (CW)
	Nisa Aşgabat (1st)	FK Neftchy Farg'ona (1st)	Club Valencia (1st)	Geylang United (1st)
Second qualifying round	Al Ahli (CW)	Al Sadd (CW)	DPMM (1st)	Mohun Bagan (1st)
	Khujand (CR)	Pakhtakor (CW)	Churchill Brothers (2nd)	Petrokimia Putra (1st)
	Al-Ahli (2nd)	Al-Faisaly (1st)	Persita Tangerang (2nd)	Monte Carlo (1st)
	Al-Quds	Al-Jaish (1st)	New Radiant (CW)	Home United (CW)
			Saunders SC (1st)	Air Force
First qualifying round	Busaiteen (2nd)	Riffa (CW)
	Al-Wehdat (2nd)	Zhashtyk (2nd)
	Al Kuwait (CW)	Al-Nejmeh (1st)
	Al Ansar (CW)	Al Nasr (CW)
	Al Aqsa	Al-Ittihad (2nd)
	Köpetdag Aşgabat (CW)

Qualification Round

Main article: 2002–03 AFC Champions League qualification

First qualifying round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
West Region
Al-Wehdat	3–2	Al Nejmeh	3–2	0–0
Al Ansar	w/o1	Al Nasr	—	—
Al Aqsa	w/o2	Zhashtyk	—	—
Busaiteen	Bye	N/A	—	—
Al Kuwait	Bye	N/A	—	—
Köpetdag Aşgabat	Bye	N/A	—	—
Riffa	Bye	N/A	—	—
Al Ittihad	Bye	N/A	—	—

1. Al Nasr withdrew
2. Al Aqsa withdrew

Second qualifying round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
West Region
Al-Ansar	1–3	Al Faisaly	1–0	0–3
Pakhtakor	4–3	Al-Wehdat	3–0	1–3
Al Ahli	3–3 (a)	Al Kuwait	2–0	1–3
Zhashtyk	0–4	Al-Ahli (San'a')	0–2	0–2
Köpetdag Aşgabat	w/o1	Al Sadd	—	—
Busaiteen	w/o2	Al-Jaish	—	—
Al-Quds	w/o2	Riffa	—	—
Al-Ittihad	w/o3	Khujand	—	—
East Region
Saunders SC	1–7	Mohun Bagan	0–2	1–5
Air Force	2–3	New Radiant	1–1	1–2 (a.e.t.)
Monte Carlo	Bye	N/A	—	—
DPMM	Bye	N/A	—	—
Persita Tangerang	Bye	N/A	—	—
Petrokimia Putra	Bye	N/A	—	—
Churchill Brothers	Bye	N/A	—	—
Home United	Bye	N/A	—	—

1. Köpetdag Aşgabat withdrew citing financial difficulties.
2. AFC did not accept the participation of Busaiteen and Riffa as neither team met sportive qualification criteria.
3. Khujand disqualified following suspension of Tajik FA by FIFA and AFC.

Third qualifying round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
West Region
Al Ittihad	1–5	Al Arabi	1–1	0–4
Al Sadd	3–2	Al Zawraa	1–1	2–1 (a.e.t.)
Esteghlal	3–0	Al Faisaly	2–0	1–0
Al Ahli	5–4	Al-Ahli	3–2	2–2
Al-Ahli (San'a')	1–8	FK Neftchy Farg'ona	1–2	0–6
Al-Ittihad	4–6	Pakhtakor	4–3	0–3
Al-Jaish	w/o1	Regar-TadAZ	—	—
Al-Quds	w/o2	Nisa Aşgabat	—	—
East Region
Geylang United FC	7–0	DPMM	3–0	4–0
Petrokimia Putra	4–6	Shanghai Shenhua	3–1	1–5
South China	3–2	Home United FC	2–1	1–1
Persita Tangerang	0–1	Osotsapa FC	0–1	0–0
Monte Carlo	1–8	Daejeon Citizen	1–5	0–3
Shimizu S-Pulse	7–0	New Radiant	7–0	0–0
Mohun Bagan	5–2	Club Valencia	2–2	3–0
Churchill Brothers	2–1	Saigon Port	2–0	0–1

1. Regar-TadAZ disqualified following suspension of Tajik FA by FIFA and AFC.
2. Al-Quds withdrew due to insecure situation in Palestine.

Fourth qualifying round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
West Region
Al-Jaish	2–2 (1–4 p)	Al Sadd	1–1	1–1
Nisa Asgabat	w/o1	Al Arabi	—	—
Pakhtakor	4–2	Al Ahli	3–2	1–0
Esteghlal	2–2 (a)	FK Neftchy Farg'ona	1–0	1–2
East Region
Churchill Brothers	4–7	Osotsapa FC	1–1	3–6
South China	1–8	Shimizu S-Pulse	0–5	1–3
Shanghai Shenhua	5–1	Geylang United FC	3–0	2–1
Daejeon Citizen	8–1	Mohun Bagan	6–0	2–1

Group stage

Al-Hilal

Al-Sadd

Tehran

Nisa Aşgabat

Al-Ain

Pakhtakor

Al-Talaba

Kashima Antlers

Shimizu S-Pulse

Daejeon Citizen

Shanghai Shenhua

Dalian Shide

BEC Tero Sasana

Osotsapa

Tehran teams
Esteghlal
Persepolis

Location of the 2002–03 AFC Champions League group stage teams
Brown: Group A; Cyan: Group B; Orange: Group C; Yellow: Group D;

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
BEC Tero Sasana (H)	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7
Daejeon Citizen	3	2	0	1	3	3	0	6
Shanghai Shenhua	3	1	0	2	6	7	−1	3
Kashima Antlers	3	0	1	2	5	7	−2	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

Shanghai Shenhua	1–2	Daejeon Citizen
Luo Xiao 85'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Han Jung-kook 8' Kim Eun-jung 44'

10 March 2003

Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Masoud Moradi

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Kashima Antlers	2–2	BEC Tero Sasana
Hirase 21' Fernando 77'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Yongant 76', 90'

10 March 2003

Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Al Hamdan Naser

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Kashima Antlers	3–4	Shanghai Shenhua
Aoki 24' Fernando 56' Nozawa 90'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Yang Guang 1' Zhang Yuning 11' Martínez 31', 87'

12 March 2003

Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok

Attendance: 6,000

Referee: Balu Sundarraj

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Daejeon Citizen	0–2	BEC Tero Sasana
	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Kongpraphan 14' Chaiman 73'

12 March 2003

Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok

Attendance: 16,000

Referee: Anura De Silva

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BEC Tero Sasana	2–1	Shanghai Shenhua
Thongsukh 27' Chaiman 85'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Martínez 58'

14 March 2003

Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Al Hamdan Naser

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Daejeon Citizen	1–0	Kashima Antlers
Papa Oumar 87'	(Report)

14 March 2003

Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Masoud Moradi

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Dalian Shide (H)	3	2	1	0	10	2	+8	7
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	3	2	0	1	9	4	+5	6
Shimizu S-Pulse	3	1	1	1	8	2	+6	4
Osotsapa FC	3	0	0	3	1	20	−19	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	6–0	Osotsapa FC
Park Nam-yeol 22' Kim Dae-eui 31' Kim Do-hoon 37', 61', 83' Drakulić 53'	(Report)[permanent dead link]

9 March 2003

People's Stadium, Dalian

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov

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Shimizu S-Pulse	0–0	Dalian Shide
	(Report)[permanent dead link]

9 March 2003

People's Stadium, Dalian

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Kim Jong-sik

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Shimizu S-Pulse	1–2	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
Ahn Jung-hwan 53'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Drakulić 74' Kim Dae-eui 87'

12 March 2003

People's Stadium, Dalian

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Ahmad Khalidi Supain

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Osotsapa FC	1–7	Dalian Shide
Jankam 13'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Hao Haidong 27', 32', 49', 61' Yan Song 60' Zou Jie 80' Dong Fangzhuo 82'

12 March 2003

People's Stadium, Dalian

Attendance: 18,000

Referee: Setiyono Midi Nitrerejo

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Dalian Shide	3–1	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
Hao Haidong 57', 64' Yan Song 90'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Kim Dae-eui 51'

15 March 2003

People's Stadium, Dalian

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov

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Osotsapa FC	0–7	Shimizu S-Pulse
	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Takagi 23', 40' Sawanobori 27' Alex 50' Ahn Jung-hwan 60', 71' Kitajima 75'

15 March 2003

People's Stadium, Dalian

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Setiyono Midi Nitrerejo

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Al-Ain (H)	3	3	0	0	6	1	+5	9
Al Sadd	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
Esteghlal	3	1	0	2	5	7	−2	3
Al-Hilal	3	1	0	2	4	6	−2	3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

Al Sadd	1–2	Esteghlal
Sergio Ricardo 72'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Samereh 6' Khatibi 64'

9 March 2003

Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 4,500

Referee: Toru Kamikawa

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Al-Ain	1–0	Al-Hilal
Harib 12' (pen.)	(Report)

9 March 2003

Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 6,500

Referee: Shaban Qassem

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Al-Ain	2–0	Al Sadd
Traoré 24' Sanogo 89'	(Report)[permanent dead link]

12 March 2003

Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 9,000

Referee: Lu Jun

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Esteghlal	2–3	Al-Hilal
Khatibi 18' Samereh 42'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Abedzadeh 34' (o.g.) Ricardo 42' Abdullah 82'

12 March 2003

Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 2,500

Referee: Subkhdiin Mohd Salleh

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Al-Hilal	1–3	Al Sadd
Jumaan 57'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Keita 45' Sergio Ricardo 80' Kamil 90'

15 March 2003

Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 1,200

Referee: Shaban Qassem

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Esteghlal	1–3	Al-Ain
Samereh 67'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Faisal Ali 65' Sanogo 76' Harib 78'

15 March 2003

Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Lu Jun

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Pakhtakor (H)	3	3	0	0	7	0	+7	9
Persepolis	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3	6
Al-Talaba	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
Nisa Asgabat	3	0	0	3	1	10	−9	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

Nisa Asgabat	0–3	Pakhtakor
	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Hamidullaev 44' Soliev 57' Koshelev 72'

9 March 2003

Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Rungklay Mongkol

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Al-Talaba	0–1	Pirozi
	(Report)	YaYa 62'

9 March 2003

Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Masayoshi Okada

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Al-Talaba	3–0	Nisa Asgabat
Abdulsada 10' Mahmoud 24', 90'	(Report)

11 March 2003

Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Bae Jae-yong

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Pakhtakor	1–0	Pirozi
Soliev 22'	(Report)[permanent dead link]

11 March 2003

Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Masayoshi Okada

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Pirozi	4–1	Nisa Asgabat
Khanmohammadi 14', 76' YaYa 47' Aslanian 90'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Meredov 89' (pen.)

13 March 2003

Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Fareed Al Marzouqi

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Pakhtakor	3–0	Al-Talaba
Krokhmal 25', 57' Goçgulyýew 37'	(Report)[permanent dead link]

13 March 2003

Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 55,000

Referee: Rungklay Mongkol

Knock-out stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals							Final
	1	Al-Ain	4	3	7
	4	Dalian Shide	2	4	6
								Al-Ain		2	0	2
								BEC Tero Sasana		0	1	1
	3	BEC Tero Sasana	3	0	3
	2	Pakhtakor	1	1	2

Semi-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
BEC Tero Sasana	3–2	Pakhtakor	3–1	0–1
Al-Ain	7–6	Dalian Shide	4–2	3–4

Matches

BEC Tero Sasana	3–1	Pakhtakor
Srimaka 41' Fuangprakob 69' Chaiman 84'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Soliev 80'

9 April 2003

Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Kwon Jong-chul

Pakhtakor	1–0	BEC Tero Sasana
Djeperov 86'	(Report)[permanent dead link]

22 April 2003

Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Toru Kamikawa

BEC Tero Sasana won 3–2 on aggregate.

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Al-Ain	4–2	Dalian Shide
Sanogo 62' (pen.) 83' Omar 64' Yaslam 75'	(Report)[permanent dead link]	Hao Haidong 17' Li Yao 88'

9 April 2003

Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Abdul Rahman

Dalian Shide	4–3	Al-Ain
Wang Peng 27' Janković 77' Hao Haidong 81', 84'	(Report)	Rodrigo Fabiano 46' Omar 65' Majidi 87'

30 August 2003^[A]

People's Stadium, Dalian

Attendance: 46,000

Referee: Masayoshi Okada

Al-Ain won 7–6 on aggregate.

Final

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Ain	2–1	BEC Tero Sasana	2–0	0–1

Matches

Al-Ain	2–0	BEC Tero Sasana
Jowhar 38' Omar 74'

3 October 2003

Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain

BEC Tero Sasana	1–0	Al-Ain
Chaiman 60' (pen.)

11 October 2003

Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok

Al-Ain won 2–1 on aggregate.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Hao Haidong	Dalian Shide	9
2	Boubacar Sanogo	Al Ain	4
	Therdsak Chaiman	BEC Tero Sasana
4	Patrick Suffo	Al-Hilal	3
	Mohammad Omar	Al Ain
	Ali Samereh	Esteghlal
	Anvarjon Soliev	Pakhtakor
	Kim Dae-eui	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
	Kim Do-hoon	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
	Saul Martínez	Shanghai Shenhua
	Ahn Jung-hwan	Shimizu S-Pulse

Notes

1. Matches was postponed from 22 April 2003 to 30 August 2003 due to SARS outbreak in China.

External links

• AFC Champions League 2002/03
• AFC Champions League 2002/03 - Final stage