Iran, Saudis, Japan dominate ACL

PFDC – KUALA LUMPUR, While other countries have been granted four automatic Asian Champions League (ACL) spots, Iran and Saudi Arabia were dominating the 2012 Champions League in West Asia.

Both countries could cheer about all of their three teams going through, although only having been granted two and three direct spots respectively.

The Saudis had three direct spots, whereas Al Ettifaq failed in qualification against Esteghlal.

Esteghlal on the other hand had eliminated fellow Iranian team Zob Ahan in an earlier round of qualification, which basically had ruled out the promised possibility to have all four Iranian teams in the group stage.

Unfortunately the next all-Iranian duel will take place in the round of 16, with Sepahan hosting Esteghlal next Tuesday. Persepolis will take on Al Ittihad in Saudi Arabia a day later.

Usually direct duels between two teams of the same country are avoided in early stages of similar competitions, such as the UEFA Champions League.

The European competition of course also allocates the spots for each country based on performance in international competitions and announces the number of spots for the next season two years in advance too, so that the teams know about qualification criteria ahead of every domestic season.

The AFC on the other hand announces ad-hoc decision, often making investments for a expected Champions League participation obsolete shortly ahead the start of a competition.

Zob Ahan Esfahan for example were celebrating 2012 Champions League qualification in summer 2011 after putting much effort into securing the third place in the league, before being informed in winter 2011 that they will instead have to complete in two rounds of qualification instead.

Meanwhile Qatar and the UAE had been given four automatic spots according to the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) rating criteria, which isn’t based on quality of the teams or fairplay at all, and instead focuses on factors such as facilities and broadcasting quality.

However, all of Qatar’s four teams were eliminated in group stage already, while the UAE this time brought two of their teams through to the playoffs, where they are heavy underdogs. against their Saudi Arabian opposition.

In East Asia, Japan have three representatives in the playoffs, while South Korea have only two teams and Australia one team left in the competition.

Below comes the ACL round of 16 schedule (one leg only).

May 22  
Al Jazira (UAE) – Al Ahli (KSA)
Sepahan (IRN) – Esteghlal (IRN)
May 23  
Al Ittihad (KSA) – Persepolis (IRN)
Al Hilal (KSA) – Bani Yas (UAE)
May 29  
Adelaide United (AUS) – Nagoya Grampus (JPN)
Seongnam Ilhwa (SKO) – Bunyodkor (UZB)
May 30  
Ulsan Hyundai (SKO) Kashiwa Reysol (JPN)
Guangzhou Ev. (CHN) FC Tokyo (JPN)