| Tourney Name: | AFC Champions League |
| Year: | 2010 |
| Num Teams: | 37 |
| Associations: | 15 |
| Champion Other: |  Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma |
| Count: | 2 |
| Second Other: |  Zob Ahan |
| Matches: | 117 |
| Goals: | 339 |
| Attendance: | 1390376 |
| Top Scorer: |  José Mota(9 goals) |
| Player: |  Saša Ognenovski |
| Prevseason: | 2009 |
| Nextseason: | 2011 |
The 2010 AFC Champions League was the 29th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 8th under the current AFC Champions League title. The final was held at the National Stadium in Tokyo on 13 November 2010.[1] The winner, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, qualified for the 2010 FIFA Club World Cup in UAE.
The preliminary qualification scheme for the AFC 2010 was released in 2008.[2] A total of 38 clubs were due to participate in the 2010 AFC Champions League (eventually reduced to 37).
| +West Asia | |||||||
| Pos | Member Association | Points | Clubs | Spots | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=15% | Group stage | width=15% | Play-off | width=14% | AFC Cup | ||
| 4 | Saudi Arabia | 365 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | UAE | 356 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
| 7 | Iran | 340 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| 9 |  Uzbekistan | 289 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| 10 |  Qatar | 270 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 13 |  India | 202 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meet the criteria | ||
| Do not meet the criteria |
| +East Asia | |||||||
| Pos | Member Association | Points | Clubs | Spots | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=15% | Group stage | width=15% | Play-off | width=14% | AFC Cup | ||
| 1 |  Japan | 470 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | Korea Republic | 441 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 |  China PR | 431 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | Australia | 343 | 7+1† | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 8 |  Indonesia | 296 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| 11 | Singapore | 279 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 12 |  Thailand | 221 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 14 | Vietnam | 191 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, India, Vietnam each have 1 team qualifyHowever, Al Kuwait, the 2009 AFC Cup winners, were removed as their league did not meet the Champions League criteria.
Iran, China PR, Japan, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia Australia, Uzbekistan, Qatar IndonesiaIn 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 ACL 2010 schedule was released on 17 July 2009.[3] It will have the same format as the 2009 AFC Champions League.
| Date | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 December | Draw for qualifying play-off, group stage, and round of 16 | |
| 30 January | Qualifying play-off semi-finals | |
| 6 February | Qualifying play-off finals | |
| 23–24 February | Group stage Match Day 1 | |
| 9–10 March | Group stage Match Day 2 | |
| 23–24 March | Group stage Match Day 3 | |
| 30–31 March | Group stage Match Day 4 | |
| 13–14 April | Group stage Match Day 5 |
| Date | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| 27–28 April | Group stage Match Day 6 | |
| 11–12 May | Round of 16 | |
| 25 May | Draw for remaining rounds[4] | |
| 15 September | Quarter-finals 1st leg | |
| 22 September | Quarter-finals 2nd leg | |
| 6 October | Semi-finals 1st leg | |
| 20 October | Semi-finals 2nd leg | |
| 13 November | Final (National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan) |
See main article: 2010 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off.
The teams have been divided into two zones. East has four teams while West has three after AFC Cup champions Kuwait SC's failure to fulfil the criteria set by AFC to compete in the play-offs.[5] The draw for the qualifying play-off was held on 7 December 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[6] All losers from the qualifying play-off will enter the 2010 AFC Cup.
|-!colspan="3"|West Asia Semi-final|-!colspan="3"|West Asia Final|-!colspan="3"|East Asia Semi-finals|-!colspan="3"|East Asia Final|}
See main article: 2010 AFC Champions League group stage. The draw for the group stage was held on 7 December 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Each club plays double round-robin (home and away) against fellow three group members, a total of 6 matches each. Clubs receive 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss. The clubs are ranked according to points and tie breakers are in following order:
Winners and runners-up of each group will qualify for the next round.
See main article: 2010 AFC Champions League knockout stage.
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 7 December 2009, along with the draw for the qualifying play-off and group stage. The matches were played on 11 and 12 May 2010.
|-|+West Asia|}|+East Asia|}
The draw for the remaining rounds was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 25 May 2010.[7] Because of the country protection rule, if there are two clubs from the same country, they will not face each other in the quarter-finals. Therefore, the two clubs from Saudi Arabia may not be drawn with each other in the quarter-finals. However, the same rule does not apply if there are more than two clubs from the country. Therefore, the four clubs from the Korea Republic may be drawn with each other in the quarter-finals.[8]
The first legs were played on 15 September, and the second legs were played on 22 September 2010.
|}
The first legs were played on 5 and 6 October, and the second legs were played on 20 October 2010.
|}
See main article: 2010 AFC Champions League Final.
The final was played on 13 November 2010. It was a one-leg match played at the National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan.
Note: Goals scored in qualifying round not counted.
| Rank | Player | Club | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | José Mota | Suwon Samsung Bluewings | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | ||||||
| 2 |  Mauricio Molina | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |||||||
| 3 | Denilson | FC Bunyodkor | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||
| Mohammad Reza Khalatbari | Zob Ahan | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
| Farhad Majidi | Esteghlal | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||
| Leandro | Al-Sadd | 3 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||||
| Flávio | Al-Shabab | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||
| Araújo | Al-Gharafa | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||
| Eninho | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | ||||||||||
| Mehdi Rajabzadeh | Mes Kerman / Zob Ahan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
| Yasser Al-Qahtani | Al-Hilal | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
