The 2020 AFC Champions League final was the final of the 2020 AFC Champions League, the 39th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 18th under the AFC Champions League title.
The final was contested as a single match between Persepolis from Iran and Ulsan Hyundai from South Korea. Under the original format and schedule, the final would have been contested in two-legged home-and-away format, with the first leg played on 22 November and the second leg on 28 November 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was suspended between March and September 2020, and upon its resumption, all matches were relocated to centralised venues in Qatar, and the final was played at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah on 19 December 2020.
Ulsan Hyundai won their second AFC Champions League title. As Asian champions, they qualified for the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar.
Teams In the following table, the finals until 2002 were in the Asian Club Championship era, and since 2003 in the AFC Champions League era.
TeamRegionPrevious finals appearances (bold indicates winners) PersepolisWest Region (Zone: CAFA)1 (2018) Ulsan HyundaiEast Region (Zone: EAFF)1 (2012)
Venue
On 16 October 2020, the AFC announced that the final would be played in Doha, Qatar. This was the first Asian club competition final held at Al Janoub Stadium.
On 18 December 2020, the AFC announced that they had agreed with the Qatar Football Association to allow a limited number of fans to attend the match, which was the first match since restart of the tournament to have spectators.
Road to the final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away; *: played in Qatar after restart).
PersepolisRound Ulsan HyundaiOpponentResultGroup stageOpponentResult Al-Duhail0–2 (A)Matchday 1 FC Tokyo1–1 (H) Sharjah2–2 (A)Matchday 2 Shanghai Shenhua3–1 (*) Al-Taawoun1–0 (*)Matchday 3 Perth Glory2–1 (*) Al-Taawoun1–0 (*)Matchday 4 Perth Glory2–0 (*) Al-Duhail0–1 (*)Matchday 5 FC Tokyo2–1 (*) Sharjah4–0 (*)Matchday 6 Shanghai Shenhua4–1 (*)Group C winnersFinal standingsGroup F winnersOpponentResultKnockout stageOpponentResult Al-Sadd1–0 (*)Round of 16 Melbourne Victory3–0 (*) Pakhtakor2–0 (*)Quarter-finals Beijing FC2–0 (*) Al-Nassr1–1 (*)Semi-finals Vissel Kobe2–1 (*)
Format The final was played as a single match. If tied after regulation time, extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out would have been used to decide the winning team.
Match
GK 81 Hamed LakRB 17 Mehdi Shiri CB 6 Hossein KanaanizadeganCB 4 Jalal Hosseini (c)LB 77 Saeid AghaeiCM 66 Milad SarlakCM 8 Ahmad NourollahiRW 88 Siamak NematiAM 5 Bashar ResanLW 2 Omid Alishah CF 16 Mehdi AbdiSubstitutes:GK 34 Amir Mohammad YousefiGK 44 Božidar RadoševićDF 15 Mohammad AnsariDF 38 Ehsan HosseiniMF 11 Kamal KamyabiniaMF 23 Ali Shojaei MF 26 Saeid HosseinpourFW 25 Aria BarzegarFW 36 Arman Ramezani Manager: Yahya Golmohammadi GK 1 Jo Su-hukRB 23 Kim Tae-hwanCB 44 Kim Kee-heeCB 4 Dave Bulthuis LB 6 Park Joo-ho DM 16 Won Du-jaeRM 72 Lee Chung-yong CM 10 Yoon Bit-garamCM 8 Sin Jin-ho (c) LM 7 Kim In-sung CF 9 Júnior Negrão Substitutes:GK 25 Seo Ju-hwanDF 2 Jeong Dong-hoDF 15 Jung Seung-hyun DF 66 Seol Young-woo DF 77 Hong Chul MF 22 Koh Myong-jinMF 17 Kim Sung-joonMF 98 Lee Sang-heonFW 11 Lee Keun-ho FW 19 Bjørn Maars Johnsen Manager: Kim Do-hoon
Man of the Match:
Assistant referees: Ramzan Al-Naemi (Qatar) Saud Al-Maqaleh (Qatar) Fourth official: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka) Fifth official: Mohd Yusri Muhamad (Malaysia) Video assistant referee: Khamis Al-Marri (Qatar) Assistant video assistant referees: Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan) Mohd Amirul Izwan Yaacob (Malaysia)Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if tied. Penalty shoot-out if still tied after extra time. Ten named substitutes, of which up to five may be used, with a sixth allowed in extra time.
Notes
References
External links , the-AFC.com AFC Champions League 2020, stats.the-AFC.com