2020 AFC Champions League final

The 2020 AFC Champions League Final was the final of the 2020 AFC Champions League, the 39th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 18th under the AFC Champions League title.

2020 AFC Champions League Final

The Ulsan Hyundai team lifting the 2020 AFC Champions League trophy
Event	2020 AFC Champions League
Persepolis Ulsan Hyundai 1 2
Date	19 December 2020 (2020-12-19)
Venue	Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah
Man of the Match	Sin Jin-ho (Ulsan Hyundai)[1]
Referee	Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)[2]
Attendance	8,517
Weather	Mostly cloudy 24 °C (75 °F)
← 2019 2021 →

The final was contested as a single match between Persepolis from Iran and Ulsan Hyundai from South Korea. Under the original format and schedule, the final would have been contested in two-legged home-and-away format, with the first leg played on 22 November and the second leg on 28 November 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was suspended between March and September 2020, and upon its resumption, all matches were relocated to centralised venues in Qatar, and the final was played at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah on 19 December 2020.^[3]

Ulsan Hyundai won their second AFC Champions League title. As Asian champions, they qualified for the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar.

Teams

In the following table, the finals until 2002 were in the Asian Club Championship era, and since 2003 in the AFC Champions League era.

Team	Region	Previous finals appearances (bold indicates winners)
Persepolis	West Region (Zone: CAFA)	1 (2018)
Ulsan Hyundai	East Region (Zone: EAFF)	1 (2012)

Venue

Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar, hosted the final.

On 16 October 2020, the AFC announced that the final would be played in Doha, Qatar.^[3] This was the first Asian club competition final held at Al Janoub Stadium.

On 18 December 2020, the AFC announced that they had agreed with the Qatar Football Association to allow a limited number of fans to attend the match, which was the first match since restart of the tournament to have spectators.^[4]

Road to the final

Further information: 2020 AFC Champions League

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away; *: played in Qatar after restart).

Persepolis		Round	Ulsan Hyundai
Opponent	Result	Group stage	Opponent	Result
Al-Duhail	0–2 (A)	Matchday 1	FC Tokyo	1–1 (H)
Sharjah	2–2 (A)	Matchday 2	Shanghai Shenhua	3–1 (*)
Al-Taawoun	1–0 (*)	Matchday 3	Perth Glory	2–1 (*)
Al-Taawoun	1–0 (*)	Matchday 4	Perth Glory	2–0 (*)
Al-Duhail	0–1 (*)	Matchday 5	FC Tokyo	2–1 (*)
Sharjah	4–0 (*)	Matchday 6	Shanghai Shenhua	4–1 (*)
Group C winners Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1 Persepolis 6 10 2 Al-Taawoun 6 9 3 Al-Duhail 6 9 4 Sharjah 6 7 Source: AFC		Final standings	Group F winners Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1 Ulsan Hyundai 6 16 2 FC Tokyo 6 10 3 Shanghai Shenhua 6 7 4 Perth Glory 6 1 Source: AFC
Opponent	Result	Knockout stage	Opponent	Result
Al-Sadd	1–0 (*)	Round of 16	Melbourne Victory	3–0 (*)
Pakhtakor	2–0 (*)	Quarter-finals	Beijing FC	2–0 (*)
Al-Nassr	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–3 p) (*)	Semi-finals	Vissel Kobe	2–1 (a.e.t.) (*)

Format

The final was played as a single match. If tied after regulation time, extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out would have been used to decide the winning team.^[5]

Match

Persepolis	1–2	Ulsan Hyundai
Abdi 45'	Live Report Stats Report	Júnior 45+4', 55' (pen.)

19 December 2020 (2020-12-19)

15:00 UTC+3

Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah

Attendance: 8,517

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)

Persepolis

Ulsan Hyundai

GK 81 Hamed Lak RB 17 Mehdi Shiri  74' CB 6 Hossein Kanaanizadegan CB 4 Jalal Hosseini (c) LB 77 Saeid Aghaei CM 66 Milad Sarlak CM 8 Ahmad Nourollahi RW 88 Siamak Nemati AM 5 Bashar Resan LW 2 Omid Alishah  90' CF 16 Mehdi Abdi Substitutes: GK 34 Amir Mohammad Yousefi GK 44 Božidar Radošević DF 15 Mohammad Ansari DF 38 Ehsan Hosseini MF 11 Kamal Kamyabinia MF 23 Ali Shojaei  90' MF 26 Saeid Hosseinpour FW 25 Aria Barzegar FW 36 Arman Ramezani  74' Manager: Yahya Golmohammadi

GK 1 Jo Su-huk RB 23 Kim Tae-hwan CB 44 Kim Kee-hee CB 4 Dave Bulthuis  79' LB 6 Park Joo-ho  72' DM 16 Won Du-jae RM 72 Lee Chung-yong  72' CM 10 Yoon Bit-garam CM 8 Sin Jin-ho (c)  83' LM 7 Kim In-sung  90+1' CF 9 Júnior Negrão  82'  83' Substitutes: GK 25 Seo Ju-hwan DF 2 Jeong Dong-ho DF 15 Jung Seung-hyun  83' DF 66 Seol Young-woo  90+1' DF 77 Hong Chul  72' MF 22 Koh Myong-jin MF 17 Kim Sung-joon MF 98 Lee Sang-heon FW 11 Lee Keun-ho  72' FW 19 Bjørn Maars Johnsen  83' Manager: Kim Do-hoon

Man of the Match: Assistant referees:[2] Ramzan Al-Naemi (Qatar) Saud Al-Maqaleh (Qatar) Fourth official:[2] Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka) Fifth official:[2] Mohd Yusri Muhamad (Malaysia) Video assistant referee:[2] Khamis Al-Marri (Qatar) Assistant video assistant referees:[2] Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan) Mohd Amirul Izwan Yaacob (Malaysia)

Match rules[5] 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if tied. Penalty shoot-out if still tied after extra time. Ten named substitutes, of which up to five may be used, with a sixth allowed in extra time.[note 1]

Notes

1. Each team was only given three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time.

References

1. "Persepolis FC v Ulsan Hyundai FC". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 19 December 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
2. "Qatar's Al-Jassim to officiate AFC Champions League Final". Asian Football Confederation. 17 December 2020.
3. "AFC Champions League Final to be played in Doha, Qatar". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 16 October 2020.
4. "AFC Champions League Final to mark the long-awaited return of fans". Asian Football Confederation. 18 December 2020.
5. "2020 AFC Champions League Competition Regulations" (PDF). Asian Football Confederation.

External links

• AFC Champions League, the-AFC.com
• AFC Champions League 2020, stats.the-AFC.com