The 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite knockout stage began on 3 March with the round of 16 and ended on 3 May 2025, with the final that decided the champions of the 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite, Al Ahli. A total of 16 teams competed in the knockout stage.
The tournament winners qualified for the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup and 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup. Additionally, the winners entered the league stage of the 2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite, if they had not already qualified through their domestic performance.
Qualified teams The top eight teams in the league stage from each region advanced to the round of 16, with eight teams each from West Region and East Region.
+West RegionTeam1 Al-Hilal2 Al-Ahli3 Al-Nassr4 Al-Sadd5 Al-Wasl6 Esteghlal7 Al-Rayyan8 Pakhtakor +East RegionTeam1 Yokohama F. Marinos2 Kawasaki Frontale3 Johor Darul Ta'zim4 Gwangju FC5 Vissel Kobe6 Buriram United7 Shanghai Shenhua8 Shanghai Port
Format
In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament. The round of 16 saw each team play against a team from the same region on a home-and-away two-legged basis. All ties afterwards were played as a single match, with cross-regional pairings in the quarter-finals. Extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 10). The match-ups for the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final were determined at a single draw event.
Schedule The schedule of the knockout component was as follows.
StageRoundDraw dateWest RegionEast RegionRound of 16No draw3–4 and 10–11 March 20254–5 and 11–12 March 2025FinalsQuarter-finals17 March 202525–27 April 2025Semi-finals29–30 April 2025Final3 May 2025
Bracket
Round of 16 Summary
The first legs were played on 3–5 March, and the second legs were played on 10–12 March 2025.
West Region
Al-Hilal won 4–1 on aggregate.
Al-Ahli won 5–1 on aggregate.
Al-Nassr won 3–0 on aggregate.
Al-Sadd won 4–2 on aggregate.
East Region
Yokohama F. Marinos won 5–1 on aggregate.
Kawasaki Frontale won 4–1 on aggregate.
Buriram United won 1–0 on aggregate.
Gwangju won 3–2 on aggregate.
Finals The four winners from West Region and the four winners from East Region in the round of 16 advanced to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final were held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 25 April to 3 May 2025.
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 17 March 2025. Each quarter-final featured a team from the West Region against a team from the East Region. Based on the league stage results, the two highest-ranked teams overall (i.e., all first-placed teams in each region are ranked above all second-placed teams, etc.) Al-Hilal and Yokohama F. Marinos were allocated positions on opposite sides of the tournament bracket, with the draw determining the positions of the other six teams. The team with the highest overall ranking played in the first quarter-final, while the team with the second-highest overall ranking played in the third quarter-final. The match pairings of the semi-finals and final were pre-determined.
Rank Team 1 Al-Hilal W 1 8 7 1 0 26 7 +19 222 Yokohama F. Marinos E 1 7 6 0 1 21 7 +14 183 Al-Ahli W 2 8 7 1 0 21 8 +13 224 Kawasaki Frontale E 2 7 5 0 2 13 4 +9 155 Al-Nassr W 3 8 5 2 1 17 6 +11 176 Gwangju E 3 7 4 2 1 15 9 +6 147 Al-Sadd W 4 8 3 3 2 10 9 +1 128 Buriram United E 4 8 3 3 2 7 12 −5 12
Venues The matches were played in two stadiums in the city of Jeddah.
Jeddah Capacity: 63,079 Capacity: 27,000
Matches Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Notes
References
External links , the-AFC.com