2024 AFC Cup final

The 2024 AFC Cup final was the final match of the 2023–24 AFC Cup, the 19th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the final edition under the AFC Cup title, as the competition was revamped under the name AFC Champions League Two starting in 2024–25.^[1] The final was contested as a single match between Al-Ahed from Lebanon and Central Coast Mariners from Australia. The match was played at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat on 5 May 2024.

2024 AFC Cup final

Event	2023–24 AFC Cup
Al-Ahed Central Coast Mariners 0 1
Date	5 May 2024 (2024-05-05)
Venue	Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat, Oman
Referee	Omar Al-Ali (UAE)
Attendance	1,930
← 2022 2025 (ACL Two) →

Central Coast Mariners won the final 1–0 to crown their maiden title and become the first Australian club to win the competition. By also winning the competition, Australia became the first and only nation in the AFC to have had clubs winning both the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup, after Western Sydney Wanderers' win of the 2014 AFC Champions League. It was also the third, and final time, that a club from outside West Asia had won the competition.

Background

This was the first meeting between Central Coast Mariners and Al-Ahed. For Central Coast Mariners, this was their first AFC Cup final appearance in the club's history under the appointment of Mark Jackson.^[2] The Mariners were competing to win their first continental trophy and complete a treble with the league premiership and the finals series in hand after the final. At the time, no Australian clubs have secured three trophies in a season or an AFC Cup title.^[3] In contrast, this was Al-Ahed's second AFC Cup final appearance, having won 1–0 in 2019 against April 25 at Kuala Lumpur Stadium,^[4] the first continental title for the club and Lebanese football.^[5] The final was due to be the last edition of the AFC Cup before the reformat to the AFC Champions League Two the next season.^[6]

Team	Zone	Previous finals appearances (bold indicates winners)
Al-Ahed	West Asia Zone (WAFF)	1 (2019)
Central Coast Mariners	ASEAN Zone (AFF)	None

Venue

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman, hosted the match.

The match was originally scheduled to be hosted by Al-Ahed at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium in Beirut, Lebanon. However, due to the ongoing Lebanese liquidity crisis, combined with concerns of the Gaza war, the match was instead played on a neutral ground at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman as the home stadium of the Lebanese side.^[7]

Road to the final

Further information: 2023–24 AFC Cup

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).

Al-Ahed				Round	Central Coast Mariners
Opponent	Result			Group stage	Opponent	Result
Al-Nahda	2–1 (H)			Matchday 1	Terengganu	0–1 (A)
Al-Fotuwa	0–1 (A)			Matchday 2	Stallion Laguna	9–1 (H)
Jabal Al-Mukaber	Cancelled (H)			Matchday 3	Bali United	6–3 (H)
Jabal Al-Mukaber	Cancelled (A)			Matchday 4	Bali United	2–1 (A)
Al-Nahda	1–2 (A)			Matchday 5	Terengganu	1–1 (H)
Al-Fotuwa	2–1 (H)			Matchday 6	Stallion Laguna	3–0 (A)
Group A runners-up Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1 Al-Nahda 4 9 2 Al-Ahed 4 6 3 Al-Fotuwa 4 3 4 Jabal Al-Mukaber 0 0 Source: AFC				Final standings	Group G winners Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1 Central Coast Mariners 6 13 2 Terengganu 6 12 3 Bali United 6 7 4 Stallion Laguna 6 1 Source: AFC
Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg	Knockout stage	Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Kahrabaa	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	0–1 (H)	1–0 (A)	Zonal semi-finals	Phnom Penh Crown	4–0 (H)	—
Al-Nahda	3–2	1–0 (H)	2–2 (A)	Zonal finals	Macarthur FC	3–2 (a.e.t.) (A)
—				Inter-zone play-off semi-finals	Odisha	4–0	4–0 (H)	0–0 (A)
				Inter-zone play-off finals	Abdysh-Ata Kant	4–1	1–1 (A)	3–0 (H)

Format

The final was played as a single match, with the host team (winners of the West Asia Zonal final) alternated from the previous season's final.

If the game would be tied after regulation time, the winning team would be decided by extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out.

Match

Details

Al-Ahed	0–1	Central Coast Mariners
	Report	Kuol 84'

5 May 2024 (2024-05-05)

20:00 UTC+4

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat

Attendance: 1,930

Referee: Omar Al-Ali (United Arab Emirates)

Al-Ahed

Central Coast Mariners

GK 95 Mostafa Matar RB 6 Hussein Zein (c)  75'  83' CB 18 Felix Michel Melki  90+7' CB 5 Khalil Khamis LB 2 Diaa Al-Haq Mohammad RM 10 Mohamad Haidar  60' CM 22 Walid Shour  81' CM 12 Hassan Srour LM 21 Mohammad Al Marmour  88' CF 99 Mohammad Al Hallak CF 9 Lee Erwin Substitutes: GK 1 Shareef Azaki GK 13 Shaker Wehbe MF 7 Ali Al Haj  60' DF 8 Hussein Dakik MF 11 Karim Darwich  88' FW 20 Karim Fadel MF 24 Hassan Farhat FW 71 Zein Farran DF 23 Ali Hadid DF 4 Nour Mansour  83' MF 30 Mahmoud Zbib MF 91 Karim Abo Zeid Manager: Raafat Mohammad

GK 20 Danny Vukovic (c) RB 2 Mikael Doka CB 23 Dan Hall CB 3 Brian Kaltak LB 18 Jacob Farrell RM 39 Miguel Di Pizio  66' CM 6 Max Balard CM 26 Brad Tapp  89' LM 7 Christian Theoharous  46' CF 99 Ryan Edmondson  64' CF 4 Josh Nisbet Substitutes: GK 30 Jack Warshawsky FW 37 Bailey Brandtman FW 9 Alou Kuol  64' DF 33 Nathan Paull FW 17 Jing Reec FW 22 Ronald Barcellos  46' DF 15 Storm Roux  66' MF 16 Harry Steele  89' FW 14 Dylan Wenzel-Halls MF 28 William Wilson Manager: Mark Jackson

Assistant referees: Mohammed Al-Hammadi (United Arab Emirates) Jasem Al-Ali (United Arab Emirates) Fourth official: Sultan Al-Hammadi (United Arab Emirates) Reserve assistant referee: Abdulla Al-Marri (Qatar) Video assistant referees: Adel Al-Naqbi (United Arab Emirates) Yahya Al-Mulla (United Arab Emirates)

Statistics

Overall

Statistic	Al-Ahed	Central Coast
Goals scored	0	1
Total shots	6	10
Shots on target	2	4
Yellow cards	3	0
Red cards	0	0