2015 AFC Cup

2015 AFC Cup

Tournament details
Dates	9 February – 31 October 2015
Teams	41 (from 23 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Johor Darul Ta'zim (1st title)
Runners-up	Istiklol
Tournament statistics
Matches played	122
Goals scored	339 (2.78 per match)
Attendance	496,305 (4,068 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Daniel McBreen Riste Naumov (8 goals each)
Best player	Mohd Safiq Rahim

The 2015 AFC Cup was the 12th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).^[1]

Johor Darul Ta'zim won the tournament after defeating Istiklol in the final.

Al-Qadsia were the defending champions, but they were eliminated in the semi-finals after the Kuwait Football Association was suspended by FIFA.

Association team allocation

The AFC Competitions Committee proposed a revamp of the AFC club competitions on 25 January 2014,^[2] which was ratified by the AFC Executive Committee on 16 April 2014.^[3] The member associations are ranked based on their national team's and clubs' performance over the last four years in AFC competitions, with the allocation of slots for the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC club competitions determined by the 2014 rankings:^[4]

• The top 24 member associations (MAs) as per the AFC rankings which do not receive direct slots in the AFC Champions League are eligible to participate in the AFC Cup group stage (including losers of the AFC Champions League qualifying play-off).
• The MAs ranked 25 to 32 are eligible to participate in the AFC Cup group stage, and the associations ranked 33 to 47 are eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-off (including those of "emerging countries" which participated in the AFC President's Cup, whose last edition was in 2014).

The AFC Competitions Committee decided on the participation of member associations in the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC Cup on 28 November 2014.^[5][6][7]

West Zone Rank Member Association Points[4] Slots ACL Play-off Group stage Play-off Zone All Play-off round Prelim. round 6 10 Iraq[A] 47.106 0 2 0 0 7 11 Kuwait 45.225 1 1 0 0 8 12 Jordan 44.309 1 1 0 0 9 14 Oman 30.586 1 0 1 0 10 16 Bahrain 25.547 1 0 1 0 11 17 Lebanon[B] 25.488 0 1 1 0 12 19 Syria[B] 22.883 0 1 1 0 13 25 Palestine 15.911 0 1 0 1 14 28 Tajikistan 11.761 0 1 0 1 15 29 Afghanistan[C] 11.464 0 0 0 0 16 30 Turkmenistan[D] 10.554 0 0 0 2 17 32 Kyrgyzstan[E] 8.761 0 0 0 1 18 35 Yemen[E] 5.249 0 0 0 1 19 36 Sri Lanka 4.071 0 0 0 0 20 37 Bangladesh[F] 3.643 0 0 0 1 21 38 Nepal[F] 3.268 0 0 0 1 22 39 Pakistan 2.732 0 0 0 0 23 46 Bhutan 0.000 0 0 0 0 Total 4 8 4 8 12

East Zone Rank Member Association Points[4] Slots ACL Play-off Group stage Play-off Zone All Play-off round 7 18 Indonesia 25.004 1 1 0 8 20 Hong Kong 20.077 1 1 0 9 21 Myanmar[G] 18.282 1 1 0 10 22 Malaysia[H] 18.153 1 1 0 11 23 India[H] 16.756 1 1 0 12 24 Singapore[H] 16.097 1 1 0 13 26 Maldives 15.884 0 1 1 14 27 Philippines 12.268 0 1 1 15 31 North Korea[I] 9.000 0 0 0 16 33 Laos[J] 7.554 0 1 0 17 34 Guam 5.946 0 0 0 18 39 East Timor 2.732 0 0 0 19 41 Macau 2.625 0 0 0 20 42 Cambodia 2.464 0 0 0 21 43 Chinese Taipei 2.089 0 0 0 22 44 Mongolia 1.554 0 0 0 23 45 Brunei 0.804 0 0 0 Total 6 9 2

Notes

Teams

The following 41 teams from 23 associations entered the competition.^[8]

Teams in italics played in the 2015 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off, but failed to advance to the AFC Champions League group stage (had they advanced to the AFC Champions League group stage, they would have been replaced by another team from the same association).

West Zone Team Qualifying method App Last App Group stage direct entrants (Groups A–D) Al-Shorta 2013–14 Iraqi Premier League champions 2nd 2014 Erbil 2013–14 Iraqi Premier League runners-up 6th 2014 Al-Qadsia 2013–14 Kuwaiti Premier League champions 6th 2014 Al-Kuwait 2013–14 Kuwait Emir Cup winners 7th 2014 Al-Wehdat 2013–14 Jordan League champions 2013–14 Jordan FA Cup winners 8th 2012 Al-Jazeera 2013–14 Jordan League 3rd place[Note JOR] 1st none Al-Nahda 2013–14 Oman Professional League champions 3rd 2010 Riffa 2013–14 Bahrain First Division League champions 3rd 2014 Al-Nejmeh 2013–14 Lebanese Premier League champions 7th 2014 Al-Wahda 2013–14 Syrian Premier League champions 4th 2014 Taraji Wadi Al-Nes 2013–14 West Bank Premier League champions 1st none Istiklol 2014 Tajik League champions 2014 Tajik Cup winners 1st none Qualifying play-off participants Entering in play-off round Fanja 2013–14 Sultan Qaboos Cup winners 3rd 2014 Al-Hidd 2013–14 Bahrain First Division League 3rd place[Note BHR] 2nd 2014 Salam Zgharta 2013–14 Lebanese FA Cup winners 1st none Al-Jaish 2014 Syrian Cup winners 5th 2014 Entering in preliminary round Hilal Al-Quds 2013–14 Palestine Cup winners 1st none Khayr Vahdat 2014 Tajik League runners-up 1st none Altyn Asyr 2014 Ýokary Liga champions 1st none Ahal 2014 Turkmenistan Cup winners 1st none Dordoi 2014 Kyrgyzstan League champions 1st none Al-Saqr 2013–14 Yemeni League champions 3rd 2011 Sheikh Russel 2014 AFC President's Cup group stage winners 1st none Manang Marshyangdi Club 2014 AFC President's Cup group stage winners 1st none

East Zone Team Qualifying method App Last App Group stage direct entrants (Groups E–H) Persib Bandung 2014 Indonesia Super League champions 1st none Persipura Jayapura 2014 Indonesia Super League runners-up[Note IDN] 3rd 2014 Kitchee 2013–14 Hong Kong First Division League champions 5th 2014 South China 2013–14 Hong Kong Season Play-off winners 6th 2014 Yadanarbon 2014 Myanmar National League champions 1st none Ayeyawady United 2014 MFF Cup winners 3rd 2013 Johor Darul Ta'zim 2014 Malaysia Super League champions 2nd 2009 Pahang 2014 Malaysia FA Cup winners 3rd 2007 Bengaluru FC 2013–14 I-League champions 1st none East Bengal 2013–14 I-League runners-up[Note IND] 8th 2013 Warriors 2014 S.League champions 4th 2013 Balestier Khalsa 2014 Singapore Cup winners 1st none New Radiant 2014 Dhivehi League champions 7th 2014 Global 2014 UFL Division 1 champions[Note PHI] 1st none Lao Toyota FC 2014 Lao League runners-up 1st none Qualifying play-off participants Entering in play-off round Maziya 2014 Maldives FA Cup winners 3rd 2014 Ceres 2014 UFL FA League Cup winners[Note PHI] 1st none

Notes

Al-Shorta

Erbil

Al-Qadsia
Al-Kuwait

Jordan

Teams from Jordan:
Al-Wehdat
Al-Jazeera

Al-Nahda

Fanja (p)

Riffa
Al-Hidd (p)

Lebanon

Teams from Lebanon:
Al-Nejmeh
Salam Zgharta (p)

Syria

Teams from Syria:
Al-Wahda
Al-Jaish (p)

Palestine

Teams from Palestine:
Taraji Wadi Al-Nes
Hilal Al-Quds (p)

Istiklol
Khayr Vahdat (p)

Altyn Asyr (p)
Ahal (p)

Dordoi (p)

Al-Saqr (p)

Sheikh Russel (p)

Manang Marshyangdi Club (p)

Persib Bandung

Persipura Jayapura

Kitchee
South China

Yadanarbon

Ayeyawady U

Johor DT

Pahang

Bengaluru FC

East Bengal

Warriors
Balestier K

New Radiant
Maziya (p)

Global

Ceres (p)

Lao Toyota FC

Location of teams of the 2015 AFC Cup.
West Zone
East Zone
(p) Qualifying play-off participants

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).^[14]

Qualifying play-off

The bracket for the qualifying play-off, which consisted of two rounds (preliminary round and play-off round), was determined by the AFC based on the association ranking of each team.^[17] Each tie was played as a single match, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the match. Extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary. The winners of each tie in the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the 27 automatic qualifiers.^[1]

Preliminary round

Team 1	Score	Team 2
West Zone
Ahal	1–0	Dordoi
Altyn Asyr	0–1	Al-Saqr
Khayr Vahdat	1–0	Sheikh Russel
Hilal Al-Quds	w/o[K]	Manang Marshyangdi Club

Notes

Play-off round

Team 1	Score	Team 2
West Zone
Fanja	2–3	Ahal
Al-Hidd	2–1	Al-Saqr
Salam Zgharta	3–0	Khayr Vahdat
Al-Jaish	0–0 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	Hilal Al-Quds
East Zone
Maziya	1–0	Ceres

Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 11 December 2014.^[17] The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. Each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the round of 16.

Tiebreakers

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:^[1]

1. Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
3. Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
4. Greater number of away goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
5. If, after applying criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 10 apply;
6. Goal difference in all the group matches;
7. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
8. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
9. Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card);
10. Team who belongs to the member association with the higher AFC ranking.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		WEH	WAH	NAH	SZG
1	Al-Wehdat	6	4	1	1	16	3	+13	13	Advance to knock-out stage		—	0–1	4–0	5–1
2	Al-Wahda	6	3	2	1	8	4	+4	11			1–1	—	1–2	3–1
3	Al-Nahda	6	2	1	3	7	11	−4	7			0–3	0–0	—	4–1
4	Salam Zgharta	6	1	0	5	5	18	−13	3			0–3	0–2	2–1	—

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SHO	JAZ	TWN	HID
1	Al-Shorta	6	2	3	1	14	7	+7	9	Advance to knock-out stage		—	4–0	6–2	2–2
2	Al-Jazeera	6	2	3	1	6	7	−1	9			1–1	—	2–0	1–0
3	Taraji Wadi Al-Nes	6	1	3	2	6	11	−5	6			1–0	1–1	—	1–1
4	Al-Hidd	6	0	5	1	6	7	−1	5			1–1	1–1	1–1	—

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		IST	QAD	ERB	AHA
1	Istiklol	6	3	2	1	12	8	+4	11	Advance to knock-out stage		—	2–0	1–3	5–2
2	Al-Qadsia	6	3	1	2	7	6	+1	10			2–2	—	1–2	2–0
3	Erbil	6	2	1	3	8	8	0	7			0–0	0–1	—	2–3
4	Ahal	6	2	0	4	8	13	−5	6			1–2	0–1	2–1	—

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		JAI	KUW	RIF	NEJ
1	Al-Jaish	6	4	2	0	6	1	+5	14	Advance to knock-out stage		—	0–0	1–1	1–0
2	Al-Kuwait	6	3	1	2	9	6	+3	10			0–1	—	2–1	4–1
3	Riffa	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8			0–1	2–1	—	2–1
4	Al-Nejmeh	6	0	1	5	4	12	−8	1			0–2	1–2	1–1	—

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PSJ	BGL	MAZ	WAR
1	Persipura Jayapura	6	5	1	0	17	4	+13	16	Advance to knock-out stage		—	3–1	0–0	6–0
2	Bengaluru FC	6	4	0	2	8	8	0	12			1–3	—	2–1	1–0
3	Maziya	6	2	1	3	7	6	+1	7			1–2	1–2	—	2–0
4	Warriors	6	0	0	6	1	15	−14	0			1–3	0–1	0–2	—

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		JDT	KIT	EBG	BAL
1	Johor Darul Ta'zim	6	5	0	1	11	3	+8	15	Advance to knock-out stage		—	2–0	4–1	3–0
2	Kitchee	6	3	2	1	10	6	+4	11			2–0	—	2–2	3–0
3	East Bengal	6	1	2	3	8	10	−2	5			0–1	1–1	—	3–0
4	Balestier Khalsa	6	1	0	5	3	13	−10	3			0–1	1–2	2–1	—

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SCA	PAH	GLO	YAD
1	South China	6	6	0	0	19	3	+16	18	Advance to knock-out stage		—	3–1	3–0	3–1
2	Pahang	6	2	2	2	11	10	+1	8			0–1	—	0–0	7–4
3	Global	6	1	2	3	5	12	−7	5			1–6	0–0	—	4–1
4	Yadanarbon	6	1	0	5	10	20	−10	3			0–3	2–3	2–0	—

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PSB	AYE	NRA	LAO
1	Persib Bandung	6	3	3	0	10	5	+5	12	Advance to knock-out stage		—	3–3	4–1	1–0
2	Ayeyawady United	6	2	4	0	13	9	+4	10			1–1	—	0–0	4–3
3	New Radiant	6	1	2	3	4	10	−6	5			0–1	0–3	—	2–1
4	Lao Toyota FC	6	0	3	3	7	10	−3	3			0–0	2–2	1–1	—

Knock-out stage

In the knock-out 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]

Bracket

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

Round of 16

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.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
West Zone
Al-Wehdat	0–1	Al-Qadsia
Istiklol	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Al-Wahda
Al-Shorta	0–2	Al-Kuwait
Al-Jaish	1–0	Al-Jazeera
East Zone
Persipura Jayapura	0–3 (awd.)[L]	Pahang
South China	2–0	Bengaluru FC
Johor Darul Ta'zim	5–0	Ayeyawady United
Persib Bandung	0–2	Kitchee

Notes

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 18 June 2015. 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.^[21]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Qadsia	3–2	Al-Jaish	3–0	0–2
Johor Darul Ta'zim	4–2	South China	1–1	3–1
Al-Kuwait	7–1	Kitchee	6–0	1–1
Istiklol	5–3	Pahang	4–0	1–3

Semi-finals

In the semi-finals, the matchups were determined by the quarter-final draw.^[21]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Qadsia	w/o[M]	Johor Darul Ta'zim	3–1	Cancelled
Al-Kuwait	w/o[M]	Istiklol	4–0	Cancelled

Notes

Final

In the final, the host team was determined by a draw, held after the quarter-final draw.^[21]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Istiklol	0–1	Johor Darul Ta'zim

Winners

AFC Cup 2015 Winners
Johor Darul Takzim F.C. First Title

Awards

Award	Player	Team
Most Valuable Player[24]	Mohd Safiq Rahim	Johor Darul Ta'zim
Top Goalscorer	Daniel McBreen	South China
	Riste Naumov	Ayeyawady United

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Team	MD1	MD2	MD3	MD4	MD5	MD6	2R	QF1	QF2	SF1	SF2	F	Total
1	Daniel McBreen	South China	2	1			1	2	2						8
	Riste Naumov	Ayeyawady United	2		2		2	2							8
3	Dickson Nwakaeme	Pahang	1			2	3								6
4	Juan Belencoso	Kitchee		1	1		2		1						5
	Mahama Awal	South China	2	1						1	1				5
	Boaz Solossa	Persipura Jayapura	1		1		2	1							5
	Rogerinho	Al-Kuwait					2		1	2					5
	Bader Al-Mutawa	Al-Qadsia			2		1			1		1			5
	Luciano Figueroa	Johor Darul Ta'zim				1		1	2	1					5
10	Ranti Martins	East Bengal	1	1		1		1							4
	Marwan Hussein	Al-Shorta			2			2							4
	Mahmoud Za'tara	Al-Wehdat	2	1				1							4
	Vinícius	Al-Kuwait								1		3			4
	Safee Sali	Johor Darul Ta'zim	1					1			2				4
	Mohd Safiq Rahim	Johor Darul Ta'zim	1			1		1	1						4
	Edison Fonseca	Ayeyawady United		1	1		2								4
	Manuchekhr Dzhalilov	Istiklol			1	1		2							4
	Khurshed Makhmudov	Istiklol		1				1		1	1				4

Note: Goals scored in qualifying play-off not counted when determining top scorer (see regulations, Article 77.4).^[1][25]

Source: the-AFC.com^[26][27][28]

See also

• 2015 AFC Champions League

References

External links

• AFC Cup, the-AFC.com