2022 AFC Champions League
41st edition of premier club football tournament organized by the AFC / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 2022 AFC Champions League was the 41st edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 20th under the current AFC Champions League title.
Tournament details | |
---|---|
Dates | Qualifying: 8–15 March 2022 Competition proper: 7 April 2022 – 6 May 2023 |
Teams | Group stage: 39 Total (maximum): 49 |
Final positions | |
Champions | Urawa Red Diamonds (3rd title) |
Runners-up | Al-Hilal |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 130 |
Goals scored | 384 (2.95 per match) |
Attendance | 511,749 (3,937 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Edmilson Junior (8 goals) |
Best player(s) | Hiroki Sakai[1] |
Fair play award | Urawa Red Diamonds |
← 2021 2023–24 →
(Note: All statistics do not include qualifying results) |
This edition was the last in an all-year-round (spring-to-autumn) schedule despite actually being held from 2022 to 2023; from the next season onwards, the competition switched to an autumn-to-spring schedule.[2]
This edition saw increase in numbers of preliminary players registration with 35 players, up from 30 in previous editions. This paved the way for more foreign players to be included in squad, although the AFC "3+1" foreign players rule was in effect during the match.[3][4]
Due to scheduling issues, it was confirmed that the final, originally scheduled for October 2022, would not be completed until May 2023. As the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup would already be held by that time, the AFC confirmed on 23 December 2022 that Al-Hilal would be their representative at the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup as the reigning champions from the 2021 AFC Champions League.
Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia were the defending champions. Urawa Red Diamonds defeated Al-Hilal 2–1 on aggregate in the final to win their third title.[5] As Asian champions, they automatically qualified for the 2023–24 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs since they did not qualify through their domestic performance. In addition, they earned the right to play in both the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia and the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.
2021 AFC Cup winners Al-Muharraq, having not obtained an AFC license, were not eligible to participate in this edition.[6]