1997–98 Asian Club Championship

The 1997–98 Asian Club Championship was the 17th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the AFC region (Asia). It determined that year's club champion of association football in Asia.

1997–1998 Asian Club Championship

Tournament details
Dates	?? 1997 – April 1998
Teams	29
Venue(s)	Hong Kong (final round)
Final positions
Champions	Pohang Steelers (2nd title)
Runners-up	Dalian Wanda
Third place	Al-Hilal
Fourth place	Persepolis
Tournament statistics
Matches played	58
Goals scored	187 (3.22 per match)
Best player(s)	Ahmed Al-Dokhi[1]
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

Pohang Steelers of South Korea won their 2nd consecutive Asian Champions title, beating Dalian Wanda 6–5 on penalties.

First round

West Asia

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Hilal	Bye	N/A	—	—
Navbahor Namangan	Bye	N/A	—	—
Nisa Aşgabat	Bye	N/A	—	—
Persepolis	Bye	N/A	—	—
Taraz Zhambyl	Bye	N/A	—	—
Sur	0–9	Al-Zawraa	0–5	0–4
Al-Ansar	3–1	Al-Arabi	2–1	1–0
Al-Wahda	w/o1	Al-Nasr
Riffa	w/o2	Al-Rayyan
Metallurg Kadamjay	2–4	Dynamo Dushanbe	2–13	0–3

¹ Al-Nasr withdrew.
² Riffa withdrew.
³ First leg also reported 1–2.

East Asia

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Pohang Steelers	13–0	Mohammedan SC	11–0	2–0
Victory SC	4–3	Mahendra Police	3–2	1–1
Finance and Revenue	4–0	Saunders SC	1–0	3–0
Churchill Brothers	1–2	Đồng Tháp F.C.	0–1	1–1
Persebaya Surabaya	2–6	Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i	1–2	1–4
Kashima Antlers	8–2	Geylang United	6–1	2–1
Selangor FA	0–2	South China	0–0	0–2
Dalian Wanda	4–2	Bangkok Bank	4–2	0–0

Intermediate Round

Central Asia

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Navbahor Namangan	4–2	Dynamo Dushanbe	3–0	1–2
Taraz Zhambyl	2–4	Nisa Aşgabat	2–2	0–2

Second round

West Asia

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Ansar	4–0	Al-Wahda	2–0	2–0
Al-Zawraa	0–2	Persepolis	0–0	0–2
Al-Hilal	3–2	Al-Rayyan	3–2	0–0
Navbahor Namangan	8–3	Nisa Aşgabat	6–1	2–2

East Asia

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Pohang Steelers	15–0	Victory SC	3–0	12–0
Finance and Revenue	4–4 (a)	Đồng Tháp F.C.	0–1	4–3
Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i	2–6	Kashima Antlers	1–5	1–1
South China	1–6	Dalian Wanda	0–4	1–2

Quarterfinals

West Asia

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Persepolis	3	2	1	0	3	1	+2	7	Advance to Semi-finals
2	Al-Hilal	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
3	Navbahor Namangan	3	0	2	1	2	4	−2	2
4	Al-Ansar (H)	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

22 February 1998

Al-Hilal	0–1	Persepolis
		Mehdi Mahdavikia

Lebanon

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22 February 1998

Al-Ansar	0–0	Navbahor Namangan

Lebanon

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24 February 1998

Al-Hilal	3–1	Navbahor Namangan

Lebanon

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24 February 1998

Al-Ansar	0–1	Persepolis
		Mehdi Mahdavikia

Lebanon

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26 February 1998

Persepolis	1–1	Navbahor Namangan
Alireza Emamifar

Lebanon

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26 February 1998

Al-Ansar	1–3	Al-Hilal

Lebanon

East Asia

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
Pohang Steelers	3	2	0	1	8	4	+4	6	Advance to Semi-finals
Dalian Wanda (H)	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3	6
Kashima Antlers	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
Finance and Revenue	3	0	0	3	2	12	−10	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

11 February 1998

Dalian Wanda	4–1	Finance and Revenue
Wang Tao 20' Hao Haidong 26' 36' Li Ming 46'		Win Aung 1'

Ningbo, Zhejiang, China PR

Attendance: 8,000

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11 February 1998

Pohang Steelers	2–1	Kashima Antlers
Park Tae-Ha 36' Lee Dong-Gook 56'		Jorginho 58'

Ningbo, Zhejiang, China PR

Attendance: 7,000

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13 February 1998

Kashima Antlers	3–0	Finance and Revenue
Toru Oniki 52' Takayuki Suzuki 88' 89'

Ningbo, Zhejiang, China PR

Attendance: 7,000

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13 February 1998

Pohang Steelers	1–2	Dalian Wanda
Serhiy Konovalov 66'		Wu Chengying 74' Wei Yimin 79'

Ningbo, Zhejiang, China PR

Attendance: 12,000

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15 February 1998

Finance and Revenue	1–5	Pohang Steelers
Aung Naining 55'		Baek Seung-Chul 15' Lee Dong-Gook 56' Serhiy Konovalov 60' Park Tae-Ha 81' 88'

Ningbo, Zhejiang, China PR

Attendance: 22,000

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15 February 1998

Dalian Wanda	1–2	Kashima Antlers
Li Ming 70'		Yasuo Manaka 47' 75'

Ningbo, Zhejiang, China PR

Attendance: 24,000

Knockout Stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	3 April – Hong Kong
	Persepolis	0
					5 April – Hong Kong
	Dalian Wanda	2
					Dalian Wanda	0 (5)
	3 April – Hong Kong
					Pohang Steelers (p)	0 (6)
	Pohang Steelers	1
	Al-Hilal	0
					Third place play-off
					5 April – Hong Kong
					Persepolis	1
					Al-Hilal	4

Semi-finals

3 April 1998

Persepolis	0–2	Dalian Wanda
		Wang Tao 32' Hao Haidong 63'

Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong

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3 April 1998

Pohang Steelers	1–0	Al-Hilal
Park Tae-Ha 45'

Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong

Third place match

5 April 1998

Persepolis	1–4	Al-Hilal

Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong

Final

5 April 1998

Dalian Wanda	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Pohang Steelers
Penalties
	5–6

Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong