AFC Cup (Club)

[nzfooty]

Some excitement in the AFC Cup:

Kuwait AFC Cup reign smacked for six by Persipura

JAKARTA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Kuwait Sports Club's two-year dominance of the AFC Cup ended in spectacular fashion after they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Persipura Jayapura 8-4 on aggregate after losing 6-1 in Indonesia on Tuesday.
The Kuwaiti side, winners of the last two editions of Asia's second tier club competition, scored two late goals to snatch a 3-2 home win in last week's first leg but their Indonesian opponents showed no let up in the return encounter on Tuesday.
Argentine Robertino Pugliara opened the scoring with a brilliant scissor-kick strike after two minutes and went on to complete a hat-trick for the Indonesian champions, who ran the defending champions' backline ragged...

More here.

2012 Final

Arbil (Iraq) 0–4 (Kuwait) Al-Kuwait
Franso Hariri Stadium, Arbil
Attendance: 30,000


2013 Final

Al-Qadsia (Kuwait) 0–2 (Kuwait) Al-Kuwait
Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium, Kuwait City
Attendance: 10,000

2014 edition
Link


Performance by nations

This a competition clearly dominated by teams from West Asia

Rank Nation Winners // Runners-up
1 Kuwait 3 // 3
2 Jordan 3 // 1
3 Syria 2 // 2
4 Bahrain 1 // 1
5 Uzbekistan 1 // 0
6 Lebanon 0 // 2
7 Iraq 0 // 1

[nzfooty]

QF (2014)

Persipura Jayapura (Indonesia) 6–1 (Kuwait) Al-Kuwait
Persipura Jayapura won 8–4 on aggregate

Kitchee (Hong Kong) 0–1 (Vietnam) Vissai Ninh Bình
Kitchee won 4–3 on aggregate

Al-Hidd (Bahrain) 2–2 (Kuwait) Al-Qadsia
3–3 on aggregate. Al-Qadsia won on away goals

Erbil (Iraq) 2–0 (Vietnam) Hà Nội T&T
Erbil won 3–0 on aggregate

Interesting to note that the matches here are not being split on a West-East basis (and given West's historical dominance in this competition why should they?)

Semis:

Erbil (Iraq) v (Hong Kong) Kitchee
Al-Qadsia (Kuwait) v (Indonesia) Persipura Jayapura

All things equal, I support East Asian teams so hopefully Kitchee or Persipura win it this year and break the domination of the West.

Persipura is especially attractive to me as New Zealand is likely to become part of Greater Indonesia once the geopolitical consequences
of climate change are set in motion.

[nzfooty]

SF (2014)
First legs:
Erbil (Iraq) 1-1 (Hong Kong) Kitchee
Al-Qadsia (Kuwait) 4-2 (Indonesia) Persipura Jayapura

[nzfooty]

2014 AFC Cup

Persipura Jayapura (Indonesia) 0–6 (Kuwait) Al-Qadsia
Al-Qadsia won 10–2 on aggregate
Some collapse by the Indonesians at home. In the QF they defeated two-time defending champions Al-Kuwait 6-1.

Kitchee (Hong Kong) 1–2 (Iraq) Erbil
Erbil won 3–2 on aggregate

Final
18 October
Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
Erbil (Iraq) v (Kuwait) Al-Qadsia

N.B. Both finalists will qualify for the 2015 AFC Champions League, provided certain criteria are fulfilled.

[nzfooty]

Final
18 October
Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
Attendance: 5,240
Erbil (Iraq) 0-0 (Kuwait) Al-Qadsia (2-4 pen)

N.B. Both finalists will qualify for the 2015 AFC Champions League, provided certain criteria are fulfilled.

[nzfooty]

2015 AFC Cup

Link to Wiki here and to RSSSF here

North Korea were allocated one group stage slot and one play-off slot for the 2015 and 2016 AFC Cup, but withdrew from the 2015 AFC Cup.

Quarter-finals (Aug 25/26 and Sep 15/16)

Al-Qadsia (Kuwait) v (Syria) Al-Jaish
Johor Darul Ta'zim (Malaysia) v (Hong Kong) South China
Al-Kuwait (Kuwait) v (Hong Kong) Kitchee
Istiklol (Tajikistan) v (Malaysia) Pahang

[paquebot]

Interesting to note that the matches here are not being split on a West-East basis (and given West's historical dominance in this competition why should they?)

And yet the AFC is quite alright forcing that on the 'big boy' nations who can better afford the international flights.
I guess everyone can see that the AFC is weighted toward helping West Asia more than assuring fair and equal competition within the continent.

[nzfooty]

Interesting to note that the matches here are not being split on a West-East basis (and given West's historical dominance in this competition why should they?)

And yet the AFC is quite alright forcing that on the 'big boy' nations who can better afford the international flights.
I guess everyone can see that the AFC is weighted toward helping West Asia more than assuring fair and equal competition within the continent.

Yeah, I find this absolutely amazing. I would love some sort of explanation from the AFC.

QF, 2nd leg matches this week. 1st leg results below:

Al-Qadsia (Kuwait) 3-0 (Syria) Al-Jaish
Johor Darul Ta'zim (Malaysia) 1-1 (Hong Kong) South China
Al-Kuwait (Kuwait) 6-0 (Hong Kong) Kitchee
Istiklol (Tajikistan) 4-0 (Malaysia) Pahang

[eujin]

And yet the AFC is quite alright forcing that on the 'big boy' nations who can better afford the international flights.

Does the AFC not bear most of the travel costs? I *believe* that they do for the ACL but vaguely remember there was some Australian fuss about this at some point.

[nzfooty]

Links please

[eujin]

Links please

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&m=956261

The away fixtures are less onerous but still costly - the AFC gives each club US$30k ($28k) towards travel, but that is for a party of 29, and in Sydney's case, trips to Korea, China and Japan are hardly covered by that.

Section 75.4 of http://www.the-afc.com/uploads/afc/files/acc_2015_competition_regulations_final.pdf

Travel Subsidy
75.4.
For each Match of the relevant Stage of the Competition set out below, the Away Club shall receive the corresponding travel subsidy:
75.4.1. Preliminary Stage: Nil
75.4.2. Playoff Stage: USD20,000;
75.4.3. Group Stage: USD20,000;
75.4.4. Round of 16: USD20,000;
75.4.5. Quarter Finals: USD20,000;
etc

[nzfooty]

Cheers.

[changwonmatty]

No East Asian team has made the finals in its 11 year history.....Arab domination.

[MipoFanatic]

Two North Korean clubs have been entered into the 2017 AFC Cup.

Kigwancha (2016 Mangyongdae Prize Sports Games runners-up) enter at the playoff stage, and will face the winner of the preliminary round match between Erchim (Mongolia) and Tatung (Taiwan) in a two-leg affair held in late February.

If Kigwancha proceed (and it's very likely they will), they'll contest Group I against fellow North Korean club April 25, Rovers (Guam), and Taiwan Power Company from March through May.

The winner of Group I will advance to the inter-zonal playoff semi-finals, which is the third-last round of the AFC Cup.

[OttoSilver]

Wow. According to Wikipedia the winner of the league on that side is unknown O.o

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DPR_Korea ... ue_history

April 25 belongs to the army. No wonder they win most of the time. They are likely the only team that eats 7 days a week.