1996–97 Asian Club Championship

The 1996–97 Asian Club Championship was the 16th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the AFC region (Asia). It determined that year's club champion of association football in Asia.

1996–1997 Asian Club Championship
Tournament details
Dates?? 1996 – March 1997
Teams26
Final positions
Champions Pohang Steelers (1st title)
Runners-up Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma
Third place Persepolis
Fourth place Al-Zawraa
Tournament statistics
Matches played50
Goals scored155 (3.1 per match)
Top scorer(s) Park Tae-Ha
Best player(s) An Ik-Soo
Fair play award Al-Zawraa

Pohang Steelers of South Korea won the final and became Asian champions for the first time after beating Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma in the first ever Asian top club tournament that ended in a one-country final.

First round

West Asia
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
FK Neftchy Farg'ona 8–2 Pamir Dushanbe 4–1 4–1
AiK Bishkek 3–6 Yelimay Semipalatinsk 2–4 1–2
Köpetdag Aşgabat 0–1 Persepolis 0–0 0–1
Kazma 10–1 Dhofar 9–0 1–1
West Riffa 2-4 Al-Nejmeh 2–1 0–3
Al-Nasr w/o4 Al-Sharjah
Al-Rayyan bye
Al-Zawraa bye

2 Al-Sharjah withdrew.

East Asia
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Shanghai Shenhua 9–2 Instant-Dict FC 7–1 2–1
Công an Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh 1–2 Johor F.C. 0–1 1–1(a.e.t.)
JCT FC 2–2 (4–2p) New Road Team 1–1 1–1
PSM Makassar 1–4 Pohang Steelers 1–0 0–4
New Radiant 1–0 Pettah United SC 1–0 n/p1
Yokohama Marinos w/o2 GD Artilheiros
Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma bye
Thai Farmers Bank FC bye

1 The 2nd leg was cancelled due to political violence in Sri Lanka.
2 GD Artilheiros withdrew.

Second round

West Asia
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Al-Zawraa 3–1 FK Neftchy Farg'ona 1–0 2–1
Yelimay Semipalatinsk 3–5 Persepolis 3–0 0–5
Al-Nejmeh 1–4 Al-Nasr 1–0 0–4
Al-Kazma 1–2 Al-Rayyan 0–1 1–1

East Asia
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma 1–0 Shanghai Shenhua 0–0 1–0
Yokohama Marinos 3–1 Johor F.C. 2–0 1–1
JCT FC 1–2 New Radiant 1–0 0–2
Thai Farmers Bank FC 1–5 Pohang Steelers 1–3 0–2

Quarterfinals

West Asia
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Persepolis 3 2 0 1 6 5 +1 6
Al-Zawraa 3 1 1 1 3 2 +1 4
Al-Nasr 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4
Al-Rayyan 3 1 0 2 3 5 −2 3
Source:
Al-Rayyan 2–1 Al-Nasr
Zamel Essa 55'
Mohammed Salem Al-Enazi 62'		 Majed Abdullah 72'
Persepolis 2–1 Al-Zawraa
Reza Shahroudi 39'
Edmond Bezik 75'		 Abbas 71'
Al-Nasr 3–2 Persepolis
Ohene Kennedy 70' 87' 89' Edmond Bezik 62'
Khodadad Azizi 75'
Al-Zawraa 2–0 Al-Rayyan
Attiya 40'
Mahdi 55'
Al-Rayyan 1–2 Persepolis
Mohamed Mutlaq 65' Khodadad Azizi 44' 89'
Al-Nasr 0–0 Al-Zawraa

East Asia
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma 3 2 1 0 12 2 +10 7
Pohang Steelers 3 1 2 0 8 2 +6 5
Yokohama Marinos 3 1 1 1 14 5 +9 4
New Radiant 3 0 0 3 0 25 −25 0
Source:
Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma 9–0 New Radiant
Lee Sang-Yoon 15'
Kim Dong-Gun 37' 59'
Hwang Yeon-Seok 44'
Lee Ki-Beom 51'
Han Jung-Guk 68' 73'
Gennadi Stepouchkine 69'
Alex Agbo 89'
Pohang Steelers 2–2 Yokohama Marinos
Lee Young-Sang 48'
Rade Bogdanović 75'		 Alberto Acosta 32'
Tunitake Miura 39'
New Radiant 0–6 Pohang Steelers
Cho Jin-Ho 32' 49' (pen.) 83' 89'
Serhiy Konovalov 34' 61'
Yokohama Marinos 2–3 Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma
Alberto Acosta 34'
Satoru Noda 57'		 Lee Sang-Yoon 14' 51'
Hwang Yeon-Seok 60'
Yokohama Marinos 10–0 New Radiant
M. Suzuki 4'
Alberto Acosta 12' 28' 38' 57' 89'
Yoshito Terakawa 13' 35'
Y. Uena 40'
T. Hirama 75'
Pohang Steelers 0–0 Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma

Semifinals
Persepolis 1–3 Pohang Steelers
Khodadad Azizi 88' Park Tae-Ha 9' 86'
Yahya Golmohammadi 55' (o.g.)
Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma 1–0 Al-Zawraa
Kim Chang-Won 42'

Third place match
Persepolis 4–1 Al-Zawraa
Edmond Bezik 20'
Mehdi Mahdavikia 30'
Karim Bagheri 65' 80'		 Fawzi 8'

Final

[1]

Pohang Steelers 2–1 (a.e.t.) Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma
Park Tae-Ha 78'
Park Ji-Ho  117'  (pen.)		 Hong Jong-Kyoung 79'
Referee: Nik Ahmad

Awards
Award[2] Player Team
Sanyo Most Valuable Player An Ik-Soo Pohang Steelers
Coca-Cola Best Defender An Ik-Soo Pohang Steelers
Diadora Top Goalscorer Park Tae-Ha Pohang Steelers
Snickers Fair Play Award — Al-Zawraa

References
  1. "Pohang's golden goal tilts it". New Straits Times. 10 March 1997. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  2. "1996 ASIAN CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP". Asian Football Confederation. 7 July 1997. Archived from the original on 7 July 1997.
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