2007 AFC Champions League final explained

Event:2007 AFC Champions League
Team1:Sepahan
Team2:Urawa Red Diamonds
Team1association:
Team2association:
Team1score:1
Team2score:3
Team1score1:1
Team2score1:1
Team1score2:0
Team2score2:2
Firstleg:First leg
Secondleg:Second leg
Date1:7 November 2007
Date2:14 November 2007
Stadium1:Foolad Shahr Stadium
Stadium2:Saitama Stadium
City1:Fooladshahr
Attendance1:30,000
Attendance2:59,034
Referee1:Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh
Referee2:Ravshan Irmatov
Previous:2006
Next:2008

The 2007 AFC Champions League Final was a two-legged association football tie to determine the 2007 champions of Asian club football. Urawa Red Diamonds from Japan defeated Iran's Sepahan 3-1 on aggregate to take the title. The first leg took place on 7 November 2007 at 16:00 local time at Foolad Shahr Stadium in Fooladshahr, Isfahan in Iran and the second leg took place on 14 November 2007 at 19:20 local time (UTC+9) at Saitama Stadium, Saitama, Japan.

This was the first final to feature clubs from Iran and Japan. This was the first AFC Champions League final involving an Iranian club, and the first in an Asian top club football competition since PAS Tehran in the 1992–93 Asian Club Championship. The winners, Urawa Red Diamonds, received US$600,000 prize money and qualified to represent Asia in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup. Although they were defeated, Sepahan still competed in the FIFA Club World Cup by replacing the host country berth, which is reserved for the J. League champions.

Format

The rules for the final were exactly the same as for the previous knockout rounds. The tie was contested over two legs with away goals deciding the winner if the two teams were level on goals after the second leg. If the teams could still not be separated at that stage then extra time would have been played with a penalty shootout taking place if the teams were still level after that.

Route to the final

Sepahan

OpponentsRoundH/AScore1Sepahan goalscorers
Al IttihadGroup StageH2 - 1Mehdi Seyed-Salehi(2)
Al ShababGroup StageA1 - 0Mehdi Seyed-Salehi
Al AinGroup StageA2 - 3Mehdi Seyed-Salehi, Emad Mohammed
Al AinGroup StageH1 - 1Hossein Papi
Al IttihadGroup StageA5 - 0Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail, Mohammad Nouri(2), Emad Mohammed(2)
Al ShababGroup StageH1 - 0Mehdi Seyed-Salehi
Kawasaki FrontaleQuarter Final, Leg 1H0 - 0
Kawasaki FrontaleQuarter Final, Leg 2A0 - 0(p5 - 4)
Al WahdaSemi Final, Leg 1H3 - 1Mahmoud Karimi(2), Moharram Navidkia
Al WahdaSemi Final, Leg 2A0 - 0
1Sepahan's goals always recorded first.

Urawa Red Diamonds

OpponentsRoundH/AScore1Urawa Reds goalscorers
Persik KediriGroup StageH3 - 0Yamada, Nagai, Ono
Sydney FCGroup StageA2 - 2Ponte, Nagai
Shanghai ShenhuaGroup StageH1 - 0Abe
Shanghai ShenhuaGroup StageA0 - 0
Persik KediriGroup StageA3 - 3Ono, Ponte, Abe
Sydney FCGroup StageH0 - 0
Jeonbuk MotorsQuarter Final, Leg 1H2 - 1Hasebe, Tatsuya Tanaka
Jeonbuk MotorsQuarter Final, Leg 2A2 - 0Tatsuya Tanaka, Own Goal
Seongnam IlhwaSemi Final, Leg 1A2 - 2Tatsuya Tanaka, Ponte
Seongnam IlhwaSemi Final, Leg 2H2 - 2(p5 - 3)Washington, Hasebe
1Urawa Red Diamonds' goals always recorded first.

Final summary

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First leg

SEPAHAN:
width=25!width=25
GK 1 Abbas Mohammadi
DF 5 Hadi Aghili
DF 8
DF 17 Jaba Mujiri
MF 4 Moharram Navidkia (c)
MF 6
MF 12 Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail
MF 21 Saeid Bayat
MF 28
FW 13
FW 20
Substitutes:
GK 22 Mohammad Savari
GK 24 Masoud Homami
DF 2 Hamid Azizzadeh
DF 7 Farshad Bahadorani
MF 11
FW 18
MF 19 Jalaleddin Alimohammadi
FW 23 Mehdi Seyed-Salehi
MF 25
MF 29 Behzad Soltani
MF 30 Hossein Papi
Manager:
Luka Bonačić
URAWA REDS:
width=25!width=25
GK 23 Ryota Tsuzuki
DF 2 Keisuke Tsuboi
DF 5 Nenê
DF 20 Satoshi Horinouchi
MF 13 Keita Suzuki (c)
MF 22 Yuki Abe
MF 17 Makoto Hasebe
MF 14 Tadaaki Hirakawa
MF 10 Robson Ponte
FW 21 Washington
FW 9
Substitutes:
GK 1 Norihiro Yamagishi
GK 28 Nobuhiro Kato
DF 12 Shunsuke Tsutsumi
DF 19 Hideki Uchidate
MF 3 Hajime Hosogai
MF 16 Takahito Soma
MF 27 Yoshiya Nishizawa
MF 30 Masayuki Okano
FW 11
FW 18 Junki Koike
Manager:
Holger Osieck

Second leg

URAWA REDS:
width=25!width=25
GK 23 Ryota Tsuzuki
DF 2 Keisuke Tsuboi
DF 4 Marcus Túlio Tanaka
DF 20 Satoshi Horinouchi
MF 13 Keita Suzuki (c)
MF 22 Yuki Abe
MF 17
MF 14 Tadaaki Hirakawa
MF 10
FW 21
FW 9
Substitutes:
GK 1 Norihiro Yamagishi
DF 5 Nenê
DF 12 Shunsuke Tsutsumi
DF 19
MF 16 Takahito Soma
MF 30
FW 11
FW 18 Junki Koike
Manager:
Holger Osieck
SEPAHAN:
width=25!width=25
GK 1 Abbas Mohammadi
DF 5 Hadi Aghili
DF 8
DF 17 Jaba Mujiri
MF 4 Moharram Navidkia (c)
MF 12 Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail
MF 21
MF 25 Ebrahim Loveinian
MF 28 Ehsan Hajsafi
FW 18
FW 20
Substitutes:
GK 22 Mohammad Savari
GK 24 Masoud Homami
DF 2 Hamid Azizzadeh
DF 6 Jalal Akbari
DF 7 Farshad Bahadorani
MF 9 Hadi Jafari
MF 11
MF 19 Amir Radi
MF 29 Behzad Soltani
MF 30
FW 13
FW 23 Mehdi Seyed-Salehi
Manager:
Luka Bonačić

See also

External links