# 2008 AFC Champions League final

The 2008 AFC Champions League Final was a two-legged football tie to determine the 2008 champions of Asian club football. Gamba Osaka defeated Adelaide United 5-0 on aggregate to take the title. The first leg took place on 5 November 2008 at 19:00 local time (UTC+9) at Osaka Expo '70 Stadium in Osaka, Japan and the second leg took place on 12 November 2008 at 19:30 local time (UTC+10:30) at Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide, Australia.
It was the first final to feature a club from Australia and the second consecutive season with a Japanese finalist, in 2014 a second Australian club, the Western Sydney Wanderers made the final and won it. The winners, Gamba Osaka, received US$600,000 prize money and qualified to represent Asia in the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup, where they were defeated in the semi-finals by Premier League and UEFA Champions League winners Manchester United. Despite losing this final, Adelaide United also qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup by replacing the host country berth, which was provisionally reserved for the J. League champions, and were defeated once again by Gamba Osaka in the quarter-finals.

## 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

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).
| Gamba Osaka | Gamba Osaka | Gamba Osaka | Gamba Osaka | Round | Adelaide United | Adelaide United | Adelaide United | Adelaide United |
| Opponent | Result | Result | Result | Group stage | Opponent | Result | Result | Result |
| Chonburi | 1–1 (H) | 1–1 (H) | 1–1 (H) | Matchday 1 | Pohang Steelers | 2–0 (A) | 2–0 (A) | 2–0 (A) |
| Chunnam Dragons | 4–3 (A) | 4–3 (A) | 4–3 (A) | Matchday 2 | Changchun Yatai | 0–0 (H) | 0–0 (H) | 0–0 (H) |
| Melbourne Victory | 4–3 (A) | 4–3 (A) | 4–3 (A) | Matchday 3 | Bình Dương | 2–1 (A) | 2–1 (A) | 2–1 (A) |
| Melbourne Victory | 2–0 (H) | 2–0 (H) | 2–0 (H) | Matchday 4 | Bình Dương | 4–1 (H) | 4–1 (H) | 4–1 (H) |
| Chonburi | 2–0 (A) | 2–0 (A) | 2–0 (A) | Matchday 5 | Pohang Steelers | 1–0 (H) | 1–0 (H) | 1–0 (H) |
| Chunnam Dragons | 1–1 (H) | 1–1 (H) | 1–1 (H) | Matchday 6 | Changchun Yatai | 0–0 (A) | 0–0 (A) | 0–0 (A) |
| Group G winner Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Gamba Osaka 614 2 Melbourne Victory 67 3 Chunnam Dragons 66 4 Chonburi 65 | Group G winner Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Gamba Osaka 614 2 Melbourne Victory 67 3 Chunnam Dragons 66 4 Chonburi 65 | Group G winner Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Gamba Osaka 614 2 Melbourne Victory 67 3 Chunnam Dragons 66 4 Chonburi 65 | Group G winner Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Gamba Osaka 614 2 Melbourne Victory 67 3 Chunnam Dragons 66 4 Chonburi 65 | Final standings | Group E winner Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Adelaide United 614 2 Changchun Yatai 612 3 Pohang Steelers 65 4 Bình Dương 61 | Group E winner Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Adelaide United 614 2 Changchun Yatai 612 3 Pohang Steelers 65 4 Bình Dương 61 | Group E winner Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Adelaide United 614 2 Changchun Yatai 612 3 Pohang Steelers 65 4 Bình Dương 61 | Group E winner Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Adelaide United 614 2 Changchun Yatai 612 3 Pohang Steelers 65 4 Bình Dương 61 |
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Knock-out stage | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Al-Karamah | 4–1 | 2–1 (A) | 2–0 (H) | Quarter-finals | Kashima Antlers | 2–1 | 1–1 (A) | 1–0 (H) |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | 4–2 | 1–1 (H) | 3–1 (A) | Semi-finals | Bunyodkor | 2–1 | 3–0 (H) | 0–1 (A) |

## Pre-final buildup

Adelaide United considered applying for permission to play their home leg in a stadium larger than Hindmarsh such as Adelaide Oval or AAMI Stadium but the club eventually decided that it would not be right to play such a big match away from their traditional home despite its smaller capacity.

## Final summary

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Gamba Osaka | 5–0 | Adelaide United | 3–0 | 2–0 |

### First leg

| Gamba Osaka | Adelaide United |
GAMBA OSAKA: :
| GK | 22 | Yosuke Fujigaya |
| DF | 2 | Sota Nakazawa |
| DF | 5 | Satoshi Yamaguchi (c) |
| DF | 21 | Akira Kaji |
| MF | 7 | Yasuhito Endo |
| MF | 10 | Takahiro Futagawa |
| MF | 13 | Michihiro Yasuda | 75' |
| MF | 16 | Hayato Sasaki | 69' |
| MF | 17 | Tomokazu Myojin | 64' |
| MF | 27 | Hideo Hashimoto |
| FW | 9 | Lucas |
| Substitutes: |||
| GK | 1 | Naoki Matsuyo |
| DF | 3 | Mineiro |
| DF | 6 | Yohei Fukumoto |
| DF | 19 | Takumi Shimohira | 75' |
| FW | 11 | Ryuji Bando |
| FW | 18 | Roni | 69' |
| FW | 30 | Masato Yamazaki | 64' |
| Manager: |||
| Akira Nishino ||||
ADELAIDE UNITED: :
| GK | 30 | Eugene Galekovic | 90' |
| DF | 4 | Angelo Costanzo | 41' |
| DF | 6 | Cássio | | 84' |
| DF | 14 | Scott Jamieson |
| DF | 18 | Robert Cornthwaite |
| DF | 19 | Sasa Ognenovski |
| MF | 7 | Lucas Pantelis | | 73' |
| MF | 8 | Kristian Sarkies | 35' |
| MF | 13 | Travis Dodd (c) |
| MF | 22 | Diego Walsh |
| FW | 10 | Cristiano |
| Substitutes: |||
| GK | 20 | Mark Birighitti |
| DF | 5 | Michael Valkanis |
| MF | 21 | Jason Spagnuolo | | 73' |
| MF | 24 | Paul Reid |
| MF | 26 | Fabian Barbiero |
| FW | 25 | Robert Younis | | 84' |
| Manager: |||
| Aurelio Vidmar ||||

### Second leg

| Adelaide United | Gamba Osaka |
ADELAIDE UNITED: :
| GK | 20 | Mark Birighitti |
| DF | 5 | Michael Valkanis | 41' |
| DF | 6 | Cássio |
| DF | 14 | Scott Jamieson |
| DF | 18 | Robert Cornthwaite |
| DF | 19 | Sasa Ognenovski |
| MF | 8 | Kristian Sarkies | | 58' |
| MF | 13 | Travis Dodd (c) |
| MF | 22 | Diego Walsh | | 69' |
| MF | 24 | Paul Reid |
| FW | 10 | Cristiano | 37' | 69' |
| Substitutes: |||
| MF | 7 | Lucas Pantelis | | 69' |
| MF | 21 | Jason Spagnuolo | | 58' |
| MF | 26 | Fabian Barbiero |
| MF | 27 | Matthew Mullen |
| FW | 25 | Robert Younis | | 69' |
| Manager: |||
| Aurelio Vidmar ||||
GAMBA OSAKA: :
| GK | 22 | Yosuke Fujigaya |
| DF | 2 | Sota Nakazawa |
| DF | 5 | Satoshi Yamaguchi (c) |
| DF | 21 | Akira Kaji |
| MF | 7 | Yasuhito Endo | 68' |
| MF | 10 | Takahiro Futagawa |
| MF | 13 | Michihiro Yasuda | | 64' |
| MF | 16 | Hayato Sasaki | | 58' |
| MF | 17 | Tomokazu Myojin | | 81' |
| MF | 27 | Hideo Hashimoto |
| FW | 9 | Lucas |
| Substitutes: |||
| GK | 1 | Naoki Matsuyo |
| DF | 3 | Mineiro |
| DF | 6 | Yohei Fukumoto |
| DF | 19 | Takumi Shimohira | 83' | 64' |
| FW | 11 | Ryuji Bando | | 81' |
| FW | 18 | Roni |
| FW | 30 | Masato Yamazaki | | 58' |
| Manager: |||
| Akira Nishino ||||