# 2004 AFC Champions League

The 2004 AFC Champions League was the 23rd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament and the 2nd edition under the current AFC Champions League title. The title was won by Al-Ittihad over Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.

## Format
### Group Stage

A total of 28 clubs were divided into 7 groups of four, based on region i.e. East Asian and Southeast Asian clubs were drawn in groups E to G, while the rest were grouped in groups A to D. Each club played double round-robin (home and away) against fellow three group members, a total of 6 matches each. Clubs received 3pts for a win, 1pt for a tie, 0pts for a loss. The clubs were ranked according to points and tie breakers were in the following order:
* Points earned between the clubs in question
* Goal Differential between the clubs in question
* Goals For between the clubs in question
* Points earned within the group
* Goal Differential 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 conducted in 2 legs, home and away, and the aggregate score decided the match winner. If the aggregate score couldn't produce a winner, "away goals rule" was used. If still tied, clubs played extra time, where "away goals rule" still applied. If still tied, the game went to penalties.

## Teams

For this year the competition was restricted to clubs from countries considered 'mature' in the 'Vision Asia' paper of AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam, with clubs from 'developing' countries entering the newly created AFC Cup and 'emerging' nations to enter the AFC President's Cup from 2005 onwards.

### Qualified Teams

| West Asia | West Asia | East Asia | East Asia |
| Quarter Finals ||||
| Team | Qualifying method | Team | Qualifying method |
| Al Ain | Defending champions |
| Group Stage ||||
| Team | Qualifying method | Team | Qualifying method |
| Riffa | 2002–03 Bahraini Premier League champions | Shanghai Shenhua | 2003 Chinese Jia-A League champions |
| Al-Ahli | 2003 King's Cup winners | Dalian Shide | 2002 Chinese Jia-A League champions |
| Sepahan | 2002–03 Iran Pro League champions | Persik Kediri | 2003 Liga Indonesia Premier Division champions |
| Zob Ahan | 2002–03 Hazfi Cup winners | PSM Makassar | 2003 Liga Indonesia Premier Division runners-up |
| Al-Shorta | Chosen by the Iraq Football Association | Yokohama F. Marinos | 2003 J.League Division 1 champions |
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | Chosen by the Iraq Football Association | Júbilo Iwata | 2003 Emperor's Cup winners |
| Al Qadisiya | 2002–03 Kuwaiti Premier League champions & 2003 Kuwait Emir Cup winners | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 2003 K League champions |
| Al-Arabi | 2002–03 Kuwaiti Premier League runners-up | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 2003 Korean FA Cup winners |
| Qatar SC | 2002–03 Qatar Stars League champions | Krung Thai Bank | 2002–03 Thai League champions |
| Al Sadd | 2002–03 Emir of Qatar Cup winners | BEC-Tero Sasana | 2002–03 Thai League runners-up |
| Al-Ittihad | 2002–03 Saudi Premier League champions | Hoang Anh Gia Lai | 2003 V-League champions |
| Al Hilal | 2003 Saudi Crown Prince Cup winners | Binh Dinh | 2003 Vietnamese Cup winners |
| Al-Wahda | 2002–03 UAE Football League runners-up |
| Sharjah | 2002–03 UAE President's Cup winners |
| Pakhtakor | 2003 Uzbek League champions & 2003 Uzbekistan Cup winners |
| Neftchi Fergana | 2003 Uzbek League runners-up |

#### Notes

* ^ Iraq (IRQ): The 2002–03 Iraqi First Division League was stopped on 28 March 2003 as a result of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's government which led to the formation of a new IFA committee. Al-Shorta and Al-Najaf were first and second respectively at the outbreak of the war and so were chosen to represent Iraq in the AFC Champions League. However Al-Najaf informed the IFA that they were not ready to participate and the IFA thus gave the slot to Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya who were 5th at the time of the cancellation and the next highest-placed team in the table that had not already been admitted into a continental or regional competition.
* ^ United Arab Emirates (UAE): 2002–03 UAE Football League champions, Al Ain, had already qualified for the AFC Champions League as defending champions.

## Group stage
### Group A

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Pakhtakor | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 7 |
| Zob Ahan | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 5 |
| Qatar SC | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 |
| Riffa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* ↑ Riffa withdrew, citing security concerns; they were suspended from AFC competitions for two years.

### Group B

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Al-Wahda | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 6 |
| Al Sadd | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 4 |
| Al Qadisiya | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* ↑ On 20 April, following the match between Al-Qadisiya and Al-Sadd, Kuwaiti security personnel assaulted the visiting players; Al-Qadisiya were ejected from the competition and banned from AFC competitions for three years. Their matches were deleted from the records.

### Group C

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Sharjah | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 10 |
| Al-Hilal | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 7 |
| Al-Shurta | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 0 |
| Al-Ahli | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* ↑ Al-Ahli withdrew as the Bahraini FA called up seven of their players for the national team and Olympic squads for their World Cup and Olympic Games qualifying matches.

### Group D

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Al-Ittihad | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 4 | +10 | 13 |
| Sepahan | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 10 | +5 | 13 |
| Al-Arabi | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 10 | −2 | 8 |
| Neftchi | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 18 | −13 | 0 |

### Group E

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 5 | +9 | 12 |
| Jubilo Iwata | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 11 | +3 | 12 |
| Shanghai Shenhua | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 9 |
| BEC Tero | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 16 | −10 | 3 |

### Group F

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Dalian Shide | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 15 |
| Hoang Anh Gia Lai | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 7 |
| Krung Thai Bank | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 11 | −3 | 7 |
| PSM Makassar | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 12 | −3 | 6 |

### Group G

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 4 | +20 | 15 |
| Yokohama F. Marinos | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 3 | +16 | 15 |
| Persik Kediri | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 27 | −22 | 4 |
| Binh Dinh | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 17 | −14 | 1 |

## Knock-out stage
### Bracket

| Quarter finals | Quarter finals | Quarter finals | Quarter finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| Dalian Shide | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| Al-Ittihad | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | | | | | | |
| Al-Ittihad | 1 | 1 | 2 | Al-Ittihad | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | |
| | | | | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | |
| Al-Ain | 0 | 1 | 1 | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 1 | 4 | 5 | | | | | | | | |
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 1 | 4 | 5 | | | | | Al-Ittihad | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| | | | | | | | | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 6 | 5 | 11 | | | | | | | | | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Sharjah | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | | | |
| Sharjah | 0 | 2 | 2 | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | |
| | | | | Pakhtakor | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | |
| Al-Wahda | 1 | 0 | 1 | Pakhtakor | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | |
| Pakhtakor | 1 | 4 | 5 | | | | | | | | |

### Quarter-finals

First-leg home team shown first. First-leg home team score shown first for both legs.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Al-Ain | 1–5 | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 0–1 | 1–4 |
| Dalian Shide | 1–2 | Al-Ittihad | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| Al-Wahda | 1–5 | Pakhtakor | 1–1 | 0–4 |
| Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 11–2 | Sharjah | 6–0 | 5–2 |

#### Second leg

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors won 5–1 on aggregate.
Al-Ittihad won 2–1 on aggregate.
Pakhtakor won 5–1 on aggregate.
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma won 11–2 on aggregate.

### Semifinals

First-leg home team shown first. First-leg home team score shown first for both legs.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Al-Ittihad | 4–3 | Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 2–1 | 2–2 |
| Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 2–0 | Pakhtakor | 0–0 | 2–0 |

#### Second leg

Al-Ittihad won 4–3 on aggregate.
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma won 2–0 on aggregate.

### Final

First-leg home team shown first. First-leg home team score shown first for both legs.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Al-Ittihad | 6–3 | Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 1–3 | 5–0 |

#### Second leg

Al-Ittihad won 6–3 on aggregate.