The 2024 AFC Cup final was the final match of the 2023–24 AFC Cup, the 19th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the final edition under the AFC Cup title, as the competition was revamped under the name AFC Champions League Two starting in 2024–25. The final was contested as a single match between Al-Ahed from Lebanon and Central Coast Mariners from Australia. The match was played at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat on 5 May 2024.
Central Coast Mariners won the final 1–0 to crown their maiden title and become the first Australian club to win the competition. By also winning the competition, Australia became the first and only nation in the AFC to have had clubs winning both the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup, after Western Sydney Wanderers' win of the 2014 AFC Champions League. It was also the third, and final time, that a club from outside West Asia had won the competition.
Background This was the first meeting between Central Coast Mariners and Al-Ahed. For Central Coast Mariners, this was their first AFC Cup final appearance in the club's history under the appointment of Mark Jackson. The Mariners were competing to win their first continental trophy and complete a treble with the league premiership and the finals series in hand after the final. At the time, no Australian clubs have secured three trophies in a season or an AFC Cup title. In contrast, this was Al-Ahed's second AFC Cup final appearance, having won 1–0 in 2019 against April 25 at Kuala Lumpur Stadium, the first continental title for the club and Lebanese football. The final was due to be the last edition of the AFC Cup before the reformat to the AFC Champions League Two the next season.
TeamZonePrevious finals appearances (bold indicates winners) Al-AhedWest Asia Zone (WAFF)1 (2019) Central Coast MarinersASEAN Zone (AFF)None
Venue
The match was originally scheduled to be hosted by Al-Ahed at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium in Beirut, Lebanon. However, due to the ongoing Lebanese liquidity crisis, combined with concerns of the Gaza war, the match was instead played on a neutral ground at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman as the home stadium of the Lebanese side.
Road to the final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).
Al-AhedRound Central Coast MarinersOpponentResultGroup stageOpponentResult Al-Nahda2–1 (H)Matchday 1 Terengganu0–1 (A) Al-Fotuwa0–1 (A)Matchday 29–1 (H)Cancelled (H)Matchday 3 Bali United6–3 (H)Cancelled (A)Matchday 4 Bali United2–1 (A) Al-Nahda1–2 (A)Matchday 5 Terengganu1–1 (H) Al-Fotuwa2–1 (H)Matchday 6 Stallion Laguna3–0 (A)Group A runners-upFinal standingsGroup G winnersOpponentAgg.Knockout stageOpponentAgg. Al-Kahrabaa1–1 0–1 (H)1–0 (A)Zonal semi-finals4–0 (H)— Al-Nahda3–21–0 (H)2–2 (A)Zonal finals Macarthur FC3–2 (A)—Inter-zone play-off semi-finals Odisha4–04–0 (H)0–0 (A)Inter-zone play-off finals Abdysh-Ata Kant4–11–1 (A)3–0 (H)
Format The final was played as a single match, with the host team (winners of the West Asia Zonal final) alternated from the previous season's final.
If the game would be tied after regulation time, the winning team would be decided by extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out.
Match
Details
GK 95 Mostafa MatarRB 6 Hussein Zein (c) CB 18 Felix Michel Melki CB 5 Khalil KhamisLB 2 Diaa Al-Haq MohammadRM 10 Mohamad Haidar CM 22 Walid Shour CM 12 Hassan SrourLM 21 Mohammad Al Marmour CF 99 Mohammad Al HallakCF 9 Lee ErwinSubstitutes:GK 1 Shareef AzakiGK 13 Shaker WehbeMF 7 Ali Al Haj DF 8 Hussein DakikMF 11 Karim Darwich FW 20 Karim FadelMF 24 Hassan FarhatFW 71 Zein FarranDF 23 Ali HadidDF 4 Nour Mansour MF 30 Mahmoud ZbibMF 91 Karim Abo ZeidManager: Raafat Mohammad GK 20 Danny Vukovic (c)RB 2 Mikael DokaCB 23 Dan HallCB 3 Brian KaltakLB 18 Jacob FarrellRM 39 Miguel Di Pizio CM 6 Max BalardCM 26 Brad Tapp LM 7 Christian Theoharous CF 99 Ryan Edmondson CF 4 Josh NisbetSubstitutes:GK 30 Jack WarshawskyFW 37 Bailey BrandtmanFW 9 Alou Kuol DF 33 Nathan PaullFW 17 Jing ReecFW 22 Ronald Barcellos DF 15 Storm Roux MF 16 Harry Steele FW 14 Dylan Wenzel-HallsMF 28 William WilsonManager: Mark Jackson
Assistant referees: Mohammed Al-Hammadi (United Arab Emirates) Jasem Al-Ali (United Arab Emirates) Fourth official: Sultan Al-Hammadi (United Arab Emirates) Reserve assistant referee: Abdulla Al-Marri (Qatar) Video assistant referees: Adel Al-Naqbi (United Arab Emirates) Yahya Al-Mulla (United Arab Emirates)
Statistics +OverallStatistic Al-Ahed Central CoastGoals scored 0 1Total shots 6 10Shots on target 2 4Yellow cards 3 0Red cards 0 0
Notes
References
External links , the-AFC.com AFC Cup 2024, stats.the-AFC.com