2015 AFC Cup knock-out stage

The 2015 AFC Cup knockout stage was played from 26 May to 31 October 2015. A total of 16 teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2015 AFC Cup.[1]

Qualified teams

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 Jordan Al-Wehdat Syria Al-Wahda
B Iraq Al-Shorta Jordan Al-Jazeera
C Tajikistan Istiklol Kuwait Al-Qadsia
D Syria Al-Jaish Kuwait Al-Kuwait
East Zone
(Groups E–H) 		E Indonesia Persipura Jayapura India Bengaluru FC
F Malaysia Johor Darul Ta'zim Hong Kong Kitchee
G Hong Kong South China Malaysia Pahang
H Indonesia Persib Bandung Myanmar Ayeyawady United

Format

In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament. In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, while in the round of 16 and final, each tie was played as a single match. The away goals rule (for two-legged ties), extra time (away goals would not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.[1]

Schedule

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

Round First leg Second leg
Round of 16 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 31 October 2015

Bracket

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 match.[1] The matchups were determined as follows:

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 18 June 2015, 15:00 UTC+8, at the Grand Millennium Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[3] Teams from different zones could 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 and Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4, with winners QF2 and QF4 hosting the second leg.[4]

In the final, the host team was determined by a draw, held after the quarter-final draw.[4]

Round of 16 Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
            
Iraq Al-Shorta 0
Kuwait Al-Kuwait 2
Kuwait Al-Kuwait 6 1 7
Hong Kong Kitchee 0 1 1
Indonesia Persib Bandung 0
Hong Kong Kitchee 2
Kuwait Al-Kuwait 4 — —
Tajikistan Istiklol (w/o) 0 — —
Tajikistan Istiklol (pen.) 1(4)
Syria Al-Wahda 1(2)
Tajikistan Istiklol 4 1 5
Malaysia Pahang 0 3 3
Indonesia Persipura Jayapura 0
Malaysia Pahang (awd.) 3
Tajikistan Istiklol 0
Malaysia Johor Darul Ta'zim 1
Jordan Al-Wehdat 0
Kuwait Al-Qadsia 1
Kuwait Al-Qadsia 3 0 3
Syria Al-Jaish 0 2 2
Syria Al-Jaish 1
Jordan Al-Jazeera 0
Kuwait Al-Qadsia 3 — —
Malaysia Johor Darul Ta'zim (w/o) 1 — —
Malaysia Johor Darul Ta'zim 5
Myanmar Ayeyawady United 0
Malaysia Johor Darul Ta'zim 1 3 4
Hong Kong South China 1 1 2
Hong Kong South China 2
India Bengaluru FC 0

Round of 16

Team 1  Score  Team 2
West Zone
Al-Wehdat Jordan 0–1 Kuwait Al-Qadsia
Istiklol Tajikistan 1–1 (a.e.t.)
(4–2 p) 		Syria Al-Wahda
Al-Shorta Iraq 0–2 Kuwait Al-Kuwait
Al-Jaish Syria 1–0 Jordan Al-Jazeera
East Zone
Persipura Jayapura Indonesia 0–3 (awd.) Malaysia Pahang
South China Hong Kong 2–0 India Bengaluru FC
Johor Darul Ta'zim Malaysia 5–0 Myanmar Ayeyawady United
Persib Bandung Indonesia 0–2 Hong Kong Kitchee
Persipura Jayapura IndonesiaCancelled
0–3 (Awarded)		Malaysia Pahang
Report

The Persipura Jayapura v Pahang match was not played as scheduled as Pahang players were denied entry into Indonesia due to visa issues.[5] The AFC announced on 10 June 2015 that as a result, Persipura Jayapura forfeited the match and was considered to have lost the match by 3–0, based on the AFC Cup 2015 Competition Regulations and the AFC Disciplinary Code.[6]

South China Hong Kong2–0India Bengaluru FC
McBreen 28' (pen.), 58' Report
Attendance: 3,381
Istiklol Tajikistan1–1 (a.e.t.)Syria Al-Wahda
Al Kurdi 34' (o.g.) Report Al Kurdi 21'
Penalties
Davronov soccer ball with check mark
Nazarov soccer ball with check mark
Fatkhuloev soccer ball with check mark
Umarbaev soccer ball with check mark		 4–2 soccer ball with red X Omari
soccer ball with check mark Kataya
soccer ball with check mark Hamdoko
soccer ball with red X Khadouj
Attendance: 17,100
Referee: Jumpei Iida (Japan)
Al-Wehdat Jordan0–1Kuwait Al-Qadsia
Report Al Ansari 76'
Attendance: 10,000
Persib Bandung Indonesia0–2Hong Kong Kitchee
Report Belencoso 32'
Lam Ka Wai 44'
Attendance: 12,352
Referee: Dmitriy Mashentsev (Kyrgyzstan)
Johor Darul Ta'zim Malaysia5–0Myanmar Ayeyawady United
Safiq 1'
Figueroa 46', 90+1'
Díaz 61', 74'		 Report
Attendance: 16,850
Referee: Jameel Abdulhusin (Bahrain)
Al-Jaish Syria1–0Jordan Al-Jazeera
Sharifa 90' (pen.) Report
Attendance: 300
Al-Shorta Iraq0–2Kuwait Al-Kuwait
Report Al Buraiki 80' (pen.)
Rogerinho 90+4'
Attendance: 165
Referee: Tan Hai (China)
Notes
  1. ^
    Teams from Syria were not allowed to host their home matches in their country due to security concerns.
  2. ^
    Teams from Iraq were not allowed to host their home matches in their country due to security concerns.

Quarter-finals

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Al-Qadsia Kuwait 3–2 Syria Al-Jaish 3–0 0–2
Johor Darul Ta'zim Malaysia 4–2 Hong Kong South China 1–1 3–1
Al-Kuwait Kuwait 7–1 Hong Kong Kitchee 6–0 1–1
Istiklol Tajikistan 5–3 Malaysia Pahang 4–0 1–3

First leg

Johor Darul Ta'zim Malaysia1–1Hong Kong South China
Figueroa 49' (pen.) Report Awal 63'
Attendance: 14,700
Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)
Al-Qadsia Kuwait3–0Syria Al-Jaish
Al Ansari 12'
Fuakumputu 64'
Al-Mutawa 69'		 Report
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Ma Ning (China)
Istiklol Tajikistan4–0Malaysia Pahang
Chahjouyi 35'
Vasiev 36', 77'
Makhmudov 51'		 Report
Attendance: 15,000

Second leg

South China Hong Kong1–3Malaysia Johor Darul Ta'zim
Awal 28' Report Mahali 26'
Safee 30', 45+2'
Attendance: 6,412

Johor Darul Ta'zim won 4–2 on aggregate.

Al-Jaish Syria2–0Kuwait Al-Qadsia
Ebrahim 35' (o.g.)
Al-Baher 51'		 Report
Attendance: 1,500

Al-Qadsia won 3–2 on aggregate.

Kitchee Hong Kong1–1Kuwait Al-Kuwait
Paulinho 9' Report Al Hajri 49'
Attendance: 1,392

Al-Kuwait won 7–1 on aggregate.

Pahang Malaysia3–1Tajikistan Istiklol
Hafiz 31', 58'
Saarvindran 90+2'		 Report Makhmudov 61'
Attendance: 1,309

Istiklol won 5–3 on aggregate.

Notes
  1. ^
    Teams from Syria were not allowed to host their home matches in their country due to security concerns.

Semi-finals

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Al-Qadsia Kuwait w/o Malaysia Johor Darul Ta'zim 3–1 Cancelled
Al-Kuwait Kuwait w/o Tajikistan Istiklol 4–0 Cancelled

First leg

Al-Kuwait Kuwait4–0Tajikistan Istiklol
Vinícius 40', 80' (pen.), 86' (pen.)
Al Harbi 90+2'		 Report
Attendance: 350
Referee: Mohsen Torky (Iran)

Second leg

On 16 October 2015, the Kuwait Football Association was suspended by FIFA.[7] As a result, both Al-Qadsia and Al-Kuwait were no longer eligible to compete in the AFC Cup. The second legs of both semi-finals were cancelled, and Johor Darul Ta'zim and Istiklol advanced to the final by walkover.[8]

Johor Darul Ta'zim MalaysiaCancelledKuwait Al-Qadsia
Report
Referee: Ma Ning (China)

Final

Main article: 2015 AFC Cup Final
Team 1  Score  Team 2
Istiklol Tajikistan 0–1 Malaysia Johor Darul Ta'zim
Istiklol Tajikistan0–1Malaysia Johor Darul Ta'zim
Report Velázquez 23'
Attendance: 18,000
Referee: Minoru Tōjō (Japan)

References

  1. ^ a b c "AFC Cup 2015 Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC.
  2. ^ "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2015" (PDF). AFC.
  3. ^ "AFC Cup 2015 Quarter-finals draw concluded". AFC. 18 June 2015.
  4. ^ a b c "Stage set for AFC Cup quarter-finals draw". AFC. 16 June 2015.
  5. ^ "Statement on Persipura Jayapura v Pahang FA AFC Cup Round of 16 fixture". AFC. 25 May 2015.
  6. ^ "Persipura Jayapura forfeit AFC Cup match v Pahang FA". AFC. 10 June 2015.
  7. ^ "Suspension of the Kuwait Football Association". FIFA.com. 16 October 2015. Archived from the original on October 18, 2015.
  8. ^ "FIFA Suspension of Kuwait FA: AFC Cup implications". AFC. 17 October 2015.

External links