ACL attendance inches towards million mark

AFC – KUALA LUMPUR, After match day 5 action in the AFC Champions League, the group stage attendance is inching towards the one million mark.

A total of 823,846 fans have watched the 80 games – an average of 10,298 – played so far across the length and breadth of the continent.

The best match day 5 attendance was logged by the fans of Chinese outfit Tianjin Teda, who qualified for the Round of 16 with a 3-0 rout of Korean side Jeju United. More than 26,000 turned out to watch the Chinese club earn their berth in the next stage.

Iranian giants’ Piroozi aka Persepolis’ match against Saudi outfit Al Ittihad was attended by more than 25,000 fans, who of course failed to fill out the massive 100,000-seater Azadi Stadium. Despite Piroozi beating Al Ittihad 3-2 their chances of qualifying disappeared after Uzbeks Bunyodkor stole a march on head-to-head to cross the tape.

Korean side FC Seoul was cheered by 23,000 fans as they beat UAE’s Al Ain 3-0 at the Seoul World Cup Stadium. FC Seoul have already qualified for the Round of 16.

So far this year the best attended match has been the Piroozi versus Bunyodkor match, watched by more than 31,000 spectators at the Azadi Stadium.