# 2006 AFC Champions League

The 2006 AFC Champions League was the 25th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament and the fourth edition under the current AFC Champions League title. Al-Ittihad automatically qualified for the quarter-finals as the title holders.
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won their first AFC Champions League title after beating Al-Karamah 3–2 on aggregate in the final. Jeonbuk also became the first team in history of Asia to have won the Champions League before the national league title (they won their first K League championship three years later, in 2009).

## Format
### Group stage

A total of 28 clubs were divided into seven groups of four, according to the region. Each club played double round-robin (home and away) against fellow three group members for a total of six matches. Clubs received three points for a win, one for a tie, and no points for a loss. The clubs were ranked according to points. If two or more teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied:
* Points earned between the clubs in question
* Goal difference between the clubs in question
* Goals for between the clubs in question
* Points earned within the group
* Goal difference within the group
* Goals for within the group
The seven group winners along with the defending champion advanced to the quarter-finals.

### Knockout round

All 8 clubs were randomly matched; however, the only restriction was that the clubs from the same country could not face each other in the quarter-finals. The games were played over two legs, home and away, and the aggregate score decided the winner. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was used. If still tied, clubs played extra time, where the away goals rule still applied. If still tied, the game went to penalties.
* ↑ As two clubs from Group F and two clubs from Group G were disqualified, the remaining clubs in these groups played each other home and away.

## Teams

| West Asia | West Asia | East Asia | East Asia |
| Quarter-finals ||||
| Team | Qualifying method | Team | Qualifying method |
| Al-Ittihad | Defending champions |
| Group Stage ||||
| Team | Qualifying method | Team | Qualifying method |
| Foolad | 2004–05 Iran Pro League champions | Dalian Shide | 2005 Chinese Super League champions & 2005 Chinese FA Cup winners |
| Saba Battery | 2004–05 Hazfi Cup winners and 2005 Iranian Super Cup winners | Shanghai Shenhua | 2005 Chinese Super League runners-up |
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 2004–05 Iraqi Premier League champions | Persipura Jayapura | 2005 Liga Indonesia Premier Division champions |
| Al-Minaa | 2004–05 Iraqi Premier League runners-up | Arema Malang | 2005 Copa Indonesia winners |
| Al Qadisiya | 2004–05 Kuwaiti Premier League champions | Gamba Osaka | 2005 J.League Division 1 champions |
| Al-Arabi | 2005 Kuwait Emir Cup winners | Tokyo Verdy 1969 | 2004 Emperor's Cup winners |
| Al-Gharafa | 2004–05 Qatar Stars League champions | Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i | 2005 K League champions |
| Al Sadd | 2004–05 Emir of Qatar Cup winners | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 2005 Korean FA Cup winners |
| Al Hilal | 2004–05 Saudi Premier League champions & 2004–05 Saudi Crown Prince Cup winners | TTM FC | 2004–05 Thai League champions |
| Al Shabab | 2004–05 Saudi Premier League runners-up | PEA FC | 2004–05 Thai League runners-up |
| Al-Ittihad | 2004–05 Syrian Premier League champions & 2004-05 Syrian Cup winners | Đồng Tâm Long An | 2005 V-League champions & 2005 Vietnamese Cup winners |
| Al-Karamah | 2004–05 Syrian Premier League runners-up | Da Nang | 2005 V-League runners-up |
| Al Wahda | 2004–05 UAE Football League champions |
| Al Ain | 2004–05 UAE President's Cup winners |
| Pakhtakor | 2005 Uzbek League champions & 2005 Uzbekistan Cup winners |
| Mash'al | 2005 Uzbek League runners-up |

### Notes

* ^ The two clubs from Indonesia (Persipura Jayapura and Arema Malang) and the two clubs from Thailand (TTM FC and PEA FC) were disqualified from the competition by the AFC for failing to submit their player registration forms in time. Consequently, Groups F and G only have two teams each.

## Group stage
### Group A

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Al Qadisiya | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 11 | −2 | 11 |
| Pakhtakor | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 10 |
| Al-Ittihad | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 8 |
| Foolad | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 4 |

### Group B

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Al Ain | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 13 |
| Al-Hilal | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 10 |
| Mash'al | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 11 | −4 | 8 |
| Al-Minaa | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 11 | −5 | 2 |

### Group C

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Al-Karamah | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 11 | −1 | 12 |
| Saba Battery | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 8 | +5 | 10 |
| Al-Wahda | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 15 | −1 | 7 |
| Al-Gharafa | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 14 | −3 | 6 |

### Group D

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Al-Shabab | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 13 |
| Al Sadd | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 5 | +8 | 13 |
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 9 | −4 | 6 |
| Al-Arabi | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 12 | −7 | 3 |

### Group E

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 13 |
| Dalian Shide | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 12 |
| Gamba Osaka | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 26 | 7 | +19 | 10 |
| Da Nang | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 27 | −26 | 0 |

### Group F

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 6 |
| Tokyo Verdy 1969 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 0 |
| TTM FC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Arema Malang | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* 1 2 TTM FC and Arema Malang were disqualified for failing to fill in their player registration forms in time.

### Group G

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Shanghai Shenhua | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 6 |
| Đồng Tâm Long An | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 0 |
| Persipura Jayapura | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PEA FC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* 1 2 Persipura Jayapura and PEA FC were disqualified for failing to fill in their player registration forms in time.

## Knock-out stage
### Bracket

| Quarter finals | Quarter finals | Quarter finals | Quarter finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| Shanghai Shenhua | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 0 | 4 | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 0 | 4 | 4 | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 2 | 4 | 6 | | | | |
| | | | | Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i | 3 | 1 | 4 | | | | |
| Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i | 6 | 1 | 7 | Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i | 3 | 1 | 4 | | | | |
| Al-Shabab | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | | |
| Al-Shabab | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| | | | | | | | | Al-Karamah | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Al-Ittihad | 2 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | | | | Al-Karamah | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Al-Karamah (a.e.t.) | 0 | 4 | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| Al-Karamah (a.e.t.) | 0 | 4 | 4 | Al-Karamah | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | |
| | | | | Al Qadisiya | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | |
| Al Qadisiya | 2 | 3 | 5 | Al Qadisiya | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | |
| Al Ain | 2 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | | | |

### Quarter-finals

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i | 7–0 | Al-Shabab | 6–0 | 1–0 |
| Shanghai Shenhua | 3–4 | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 1–0 | 2–4 |
| Al Qadisiya | 5–2 | Al Ain | 2–2 | 3–0 |
| Al-Ittihad (2005 Champion) | 2–4 | Al-Karamah | 2–0 | 0–4 (a.e.t.) |

#### Second leg

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won 4–3 on aggregate.
Al Qadisiya won 5–2 on aggregate.
Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i won 7–0 on aggregate.
Al-Karamah won 4–2 on aggregate.

### Semi-finals

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 6–4 | Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i | 2–3 | 4–1 |
| Al-Karamah | 1–0 | Al Qadisiya | 0–0 | 1–0 |

#### Second leg

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won 6–4 on aggregate.
Al-Karamah won 1–0 on aggregate.

### Final

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 3–2 | Al-Karamah | 2–0 | 1–2 |

#### Second leg

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won 3–2 on aggregate.

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | MD1 | MD2 | MD3 | MD4 | MD5 | MD6 | QF1 | QF2 | SF1 | F2 | Total |
| 1 | Magno Alves | Gamba Osaka | 1 | 4 | 2 | | | 1 | | | | | 8 |
| 2 | Fernandinho | Gamba Osaka | | 4 | | | | 2 | | | | | 6 |
| 2 | Nenad Jestrović | Al Ain | | | 2 | | 1 | 2 | 1 | | | | | | 6 |
| 4 | Ali Daei | Saba Battery | 2 | 1 | | | 2 | | | | | | 5 |
| 4 | Gao Lin | Shanghai Shenhua | | | | | 3 | | 1 | 1 | | | | | 5 |
| 4 | A'ala Hubail | Al-Gharafa | | | 2 | | | 3 | | | | | | | | 5 |
| 4 | Kim Hyeung-bum | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 2 | | 1 | | | 2 | | | | | 5 |
| 4 | Bader Al-Mutawa | Al Qadisiya | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | | | | | 5 |
| 4 | Zé Carlos | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | | | | 1 | | | | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 10 | Godwin Attram | Al-Shabab | | 2 | | 1 | 1 | | | | | | 4 |
| 10 | Choi Sung-kuk | Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i | 1 | | | | | | 2 | | 1 | | | 4 |
| 10 | Mohannad Ibrahim | Al-Karamah | | 1 | | | | | | 2 | | 1 | 4 |
| 10 | Carlos Tenorio | Al Sadd | | 1 | 1 | | 2 | | | | | | | | | 4 |
| 10 | Zou Jie | Dalian Shide | 1 | 1 | | 1 | | 1 | | | | | | | | 4 |