| Tourney Name: | AFC Champions League |
| Year: | 2014 |
| Dates: | 29 January – 1 November 2014 |
| Num Teams: | 47 |
| Associations: | 19 |
| Count: | 1 |
| Second Other: | Al-Hilal |
| Matches: | 126 |
| Goals: | 325 |
| Top Scorer: |  Asamoah Gyan(12 goals) |
| Player: |  Ante Covic |
| Prevseason: | 2013 |
| Nextseason: | 2015 |
The 2014 AFC Champions League was the 33rd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 12th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Western Sydney Wanderers in the quarter-finals.
In the final, Western Sydney Wanderers of Australia defeated Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia 1–0 on aggregate, to become the first Australian team to win the title,[1] and in doing so qualified for the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup.[2] The Australian club were making their debut in the competition, having won entry to the competition by winning the 2012–13 A-League Premiership in their first year of existence.
The AFC laid out the procedure for deciding the participating associations and the allocation of slots, with inspection of the associations interested in participating in the AFC Champions League to be carried out in 2013, and the final decision to be made by the AFC on 26 November 2013.[3]
The AFC Competitions Committee proposed the following participating criteria for the 2014–2016 editions of the AFC Champions League on 12 March 2013:[4]
On 26 November 2013, the AFC Executive Committee approved the slots for the 2014 edition of the AFC Champions League.[7] [8]
| bgcolor=#f7f8ff colspan=2 | Evaluation for 2014 AFC Champions League | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=#90EE77 width=20 | Fulfills criteria (> 600 points) | ||
| bgcolor=#ccffff width=20 | Does not fulfill criteria, but allocated slots | ||
| bgcolor=#ffffcc width=20 | Not assessed, but allocated slots |
| +West Asia Zone | |||||||
| Rank | Member Association | Points | Slots | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group stage | Play-off | ||||||
| width=12% | Round 3 | width=12% | Round 2 | width=12% | Round 1 | ||
| 1 |  Iran | 908.47 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | Saudi Arabia | 869.62 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | 848.94 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 4 |  Qatar | 848.56 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 5 |  Uzbekistan | 693.38 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 6 | < | --Please do not move India to the East Asia Zone, see: http://www.the-afc.com/en/about-afc/afc-committees/1127-executive-committee/27301-afc-exco-slots-261113.html--> India | 526.55 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 |  Jordan | 500.89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 8 | Oman | 390.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9 |  Bahrain | 253.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 10 |  Iraq | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 10 | Kuwait | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | |
| Total | 14 | 0 | 5 | 6 | |||
| 11 | |||||||
| +East Asia Zone | ||||||
| Rank | Member Association | Points | Slots | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group stage | Play-off | |||||
| width=12% | Round 3 | width=12% | Round 2 | width=12% | Round 1 | |
| 1 |  Japan | 935.30 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 |  South Korea | 887.45 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 |  China PR | 843.54 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Australia | 804.08 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 |  Thailand | 601.20 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | Singapore | 438.34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 |  Hong Kong | 408.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Vietnam | 301.31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 14 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 8 | ||||||
The following teams entered the competition.
In the following table, the number of appearances and last appearance count only those since the 2002–03 season (including qualifying rounds), when the competition was rebranded as the AFC Champions League. TH means title holders.
The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws held at AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).[9]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying play-off | Round 1 | N/A | 2 February 2014 | |
| Round 2 | 8 February 2014 | |||
| Round 3 | 15 February 2014 | |||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 10 December 2013[10] | 25–26 February 2014 | |
| Matchday 2 | 11–12 March 2014 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 18–19 March 2014 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 1–2 April 2014 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 15–16 April 2014 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 22–23 April 2014 | |||
| Knock-out stage | Round of 16 | 6–7 May 2014 | 13–14 May 2014 | |
| Quarter-finals | 28 May 2014[11] | 19–20 August 2014 | 26–27 August 2014 | |
| Semi-finals | 16–17 September 2014 | 30 September–1 October 2014 | ||
| Final | 25 October 2014 | 1 November 2014 | ||
On 25 November 2013, the AFC Competitions Committee proposed to continue to play the final over two legs on a home-and-away basis (instead of reverting to playing the final as a single match as original proposed),[4] [12] and to split the competition on zonal basis to guarantee an East vs West final for the next three years.[13]
See main article: 2014 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off.
The bracket for the qualifying play-off was determined by the AFC based on the association ranking of each team, with teams from the higher-ranked associations entering at later rounds.[8] Teams from the same association may not play each other in the qualifying play-off.[14] Each tie was played as a single match, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the match. Extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary. The winners of each tie in round 3 advanced to the group stage to join the 28 automatic qualifiers. All losers of each round from associations with only play-off slots entered the 2014 AFC Cup group stage.[2]
|-!colspan=3|West Asia Zone|-!colspan=3|East Asia Zone|}
|-!colspan=3|West Asia Zone|-!colspan=3|East Asia Zone|}
|-!colspan=3|West Asia Zone|-!colspan=3|East Asia Zone|}
See main article: 2014 AFC Champions League group stage.
The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2013.[15] The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. Each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the round of 16.
See main article: 2014 AFC Champions League knock-out stage.
In the knock-out stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split between the two zones until the final. Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.[2]
In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group in the same zone, with the group winners hosting the second leg.[2]
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 28 May 2014.[16] The "country protection" rule was not applied, so teams from the same association could be drawn into the same tie.[17]
See main article: 2014 AFC Champions League Final.
The draw to decide the order of two legs of the final was held after the quarter-final draw.[16]
| Award | Player | Team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most Valuable Player[18] | Ante Covic | Western Sydney Wanderers | |
| Top Goalscorer | Asamoah Gyan | Al-Ain | |
| Fair Play Award | — | Al-Hilal |
| +AFC Champions League 2014 Dream Team[19] | |||
| Starting XI | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Player | Team | |
| GK | Ante Covic | Western Sydney Wanderers | |
| DF | Shannon Cole | Western Sydney Wanderers | |
| DF | Nikolai Topor-Stanley | Western Sydney Wanderers | |
| DF | Kwak Tae-Hwi | Al-Hilal | |
| DF | Abdullah Al-Zori | Al-Hilal | |
| MF |  Nadir Belhadj | Al-Sadd | |
| MF | Omar Abdulrahman | Al-Ain | |
| MF |  Thiago Neves | Al-Hilal | |
| MF | Elkeson | Guangzhou Evergrande | |
| FW | Asamoah Gyan | Al-Ain | |
| FW | Nasser Al-Shamrani | Al-Hilal | |
| Substitutes | |||
| GK | Abdullah Al-Sudairy | Al-Hilal | |
| DF | Kim Ju-Young | FC Seoul | |
| DF | Cha Du-Ri | FC Seoul | |
| MF | Lee Myung-Joo | Al-Ain | |
| MF | Yun Il-Lok | FC Seoul | |
| FW | Tomi Juric | Western Sydney Wanderers | |
| Rank | Player | Team | Total | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Asamoah Gyan | Al-Ain | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |||||
| 2 | Nasser Al-Shamrani | Al-Hilal | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 10 | ||||||||
| 3 | Elkeson | Guangzhou Evergrande | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||||
| Mokhtar Fallatah | Al-Ittihad | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||||
| Luciano | Foolad | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Kim Seung-dae | Pohang Steelers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
| Vágner Love | Shandong Luneng Taishan | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| 8 |  Abdelaziz Barrada | Al-Jazira | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Nadir Belhadj | Al-Sadd | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Tomi Juric | Western Sydney Wanderers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Yoichiro Kakitani | Cerezo Osaka | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Thiago Neves | Al-Hilal | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Nilmar | El Jaish | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Mehdi Sharifi | Sepahan | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||||||
 Kalu Uche | Al-Rayyan | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |