The 2026 AFC Champions League Elite final was the final match of the 2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite, the 44th season of Asia's premier club football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the second since it was rebranded as the AFC Champions League Elite. It was played at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 25 April 2026 between defending champions and finals hosts Al-Ahli and Japanese club Machida Zelvia, in their first continental final.
Al-Ahli won 1–0 after extra time, making it the first final since 2011 to go to extra time, and claimed their second Champions League title.
Teams In the following table, the finals until 2002 were in the Asian Club Championship era, and from 2003 to 2024 were in the AFC Champions League era. Team (bold indicates winners) Al-AhliWest (WAFF)3 (1985–86, 2012, 2025)East (EAFF)None
Road to the final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first. (H: home; A: away; N: neutral). Al-Ahli Round Machida Zelvia Opponents ResultsLeague stage Opponents Results Nasaf 4–2 (H)Match 1 FC Seoul 1–1 (H) Al-Duhail 2–2 (A)Match 2 Johor Darul Ta'zim 0–0 (A) Al-Gharafa 4–0 (H)Match 3 Shanghai Port 2–0 (A) Al Sadd 2–1 (A)Match 4 Melbourne City 1–2 (H) Sharjah 0–1 (H)Match 5 Gangwon FC 3–1 (A) Al-Shorta 5–0 (A)Match 6 Ulsan HD 3–1 (H) Al Wahda 0–0 (A)Match 7 Shanghai Shenhua 2–0 (A) Shabab Al Ahli 4–3 (H)Match 8 Chengdu Rongcheng 3–2 (H)West region, 2nd placeFinal standingsEast Region, 1st place Opponents Results Knockout stage Opponents Results Al-Duhail1–0 (H)Round of 16 Gangwon FC 1–0 (0–0, 1–0) (A, H) Johor Darul Ta'zim 2–1 (A)Quarter-finals Al-Ittihad 1–0 (A) Vissel Kobe 2–1 (H)Semi-finals Shabab Al Ahli 1–0 (N)
Match Details
GK 16 Édouard Mendy (c) RB 46 Rayan Hamed CB 28 Merih Demiral CB 3 Roger IbañezLB 2 Zakaria Hawsawi CM 6 Valentin AtanganaCM 79 Franck KessiéRW 7 Riyad Mahrez AM 10 Enzo Millot LW 13 Galeno CF 17 Ivan Toney Substitutes:GK 1 Abdulrahman Al-SanbiGK 62 Abdullah AbdohDF 5 Mohammed Sulaiman DF 29 Mohammed Abdulrahman DF 32 Matteo DamsDF 60 Yazan MadaniMF 14 Eid Al-MuwalladMF 20 Matee MF 30 Ziyad Al-Johani MF 47 Saleh Abu Al-Shamat FW 9 Firas Al-Buraikan FW 77 Ricardo Mathias Manager: Matthias Jaissle GK 1 Kōsei TaniCB 3 Gen Shoji (c) CB 50 Daihachi OkamuraCB 19 Yūta Nakayama RM 88 Hotaka Nakamura CM 16 Hiroyuki MaeCM 31 Neta Lavi LM 26 Kotaro Hayashi AM 99 Tete Yengi CF 27 Erik CF 7 Yūki Sōma Substitutes:GK 13 Tatsuya MoritaGK 44 Yoshiaki AraiDF 5 Ibrahim Drešević DF 6 Henry Heroki Mochizuki MF 8 Keiya Sento MF 11 Asahi Masuyama MF 18 Hokuto Shimoda MF 23 Ryohei ShirasakiFW 9 Shōta Fujio FW 10 Na Sang-ho FW 34 Futa TokumuraFW 49 Kanji KuwayamaManager: Go Kuroda
Assistant referees: Andrey Sapenko (Uzbekistan) Zhou Fei (China) Fourth official: Ma Ning (China) Reserve assistant referee: Mohammad Mustafa Hassan Alkalaf (Jordan) Video assistant referee: Muhammad Taqi (Singapore) Assistant video assistant referee: Firdavs Nosafarov (Uzbekistan) Support video assistant referee: Subkhiddin Bin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)
See also 2026 AFC Champions League Two final 2026 AFC Challenge League final 2026 AFC Women's Champions League final 2026 Al-Ahli Saudi FC season 2026 FC Machida Zelvia season
References
External links , the-AFC.com