2016 AFC Cup knockout stage

The 2016 AFC Cup knockout stage was played from 24 May to 5 November 2016.^[1] A total of 16 teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2016 AFC Cup.^[2]

Qualified teams

The winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage qualified for the knockout stage. Both West Zone and East Zone had eight qualified teams.

Zone	Group	Winners	Runners-up
West Zone (Groups A–D)	A	Al-Ahed	Al-Wehdat
	B	Naft Al-Wasat	Al-Faisaly
	C	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Al-Wahda
	D	Al-Muharraq	Al-Jaish
East Zone (Groups E–H)	E	Ceres	Tampines Rovers
	F	Kitchee	Kaya
	G	Mohun Bagan	South China
	H	Johor Darul Ta'zim	Bengaluru FC

Format

In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split between the two zones until the final. In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, while in the round of 16 and final, each tie was played as a single match. The away goals rule (for two-legged ties), extra time (away goals would not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 12.4).^[2]

Starting from this season, the knockout stage was split between the two zones until the final, similar to the AFC Champions League (Regulations Article 12.3).^[2]

Schedule

The schedule of each round was as follows.^[1]

Round	First leg	Second leg
Round of 16	24–25 May 2016
Quarter-finals	13–14 September 2016	20–21 September 2016
Semi-finals	27–28 September 2016	18–19 October 2016
Final	5 November 2016

Bracket

The bracket of the knockout stage was determined as follows:

Round of 16: (group winners host match)

West Zone

Winner Group A vs. Runner-up Group C
Winner Group C vs. Runner-up Group A
Winner Group B vs. Runner-up Group D
Winner Group D vs. Runner-up Group B

East Zone

Winner Group E vs. Runner-up Group G
Winner Group G vs. Runner-up Group E
Winner Group F vs. Runner-up Group H
Winner Group H vs. Runner-up Group F

Quarterfinals: (matchups and order of legs decided by draw)

West Zone

QF1
QF2

East Zone

QF3
QF4

Semifinals: (Winners QF1 and QF3 host first leg, Winners QF2 and QF4 host second leg)

West Zone

SF1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2

East Zone

SF2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4

Final: Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2 (host team decided by draw)

Round of 16		Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2

Al-Wehdat	1
		Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1	4	5

		Al-Jaish	1	0	1
Naft Al-Wasat	0

Al-Jaish	1
						Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1	3	4
West Zone
						Al-Ahed	1	2	3
Al-Ahed	4

Al-Wahda	0
		Al-Ahed	1	2	3

		Al-Muharraq	0	0	0
Al-Muharraq	1

Al-Faisaly	0
										Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1

										Bengaluru FC	0
Ceres	0

South China (a.e.t.)	1
		South China	1	1	2

		Johor Darul Ta'zim	1	2	3
Johor Darul Ta'zim	7

Kaya	2
						Johor Darul Ta'zim	1	1	2
East Zone
						Bengaluru FC	1	3	4
Kitchee	2

Bengaluru FC	3
		Bengaluru FC	1	0	1

		Tampines Rovers	0	0	0
Mohun Bagan	1

Tampines Rovers (a.e.t.)	2

Round of 16

In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group from the same zone, with the group winners hosting the match.^[3]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
West Zone
Al-Ahed	4–0	Al-Wahda
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2–1	Al-Wehdat
Naft Al-Wasat	0–1	Al-Jaish
Al-Muharraq	1–0	Al-Faisaly
East Zone
Ceres	0–1 (a.e.t.)	South China
Mohun Bagan	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Tampines Rovers
Kitchee	2–3	Bengaluru FC
Johor Darul Ta'zim	7–2	Kaya

West Zone

24 May 2016

16:00 UTC+3

Al-Ahed	4–0	Al-Wahda
Atwi 12' Al-Hussain 75' (pen.) Dramé 88', 90+3'	Report

Saida Municipal Stadium, Saida

Attendance: 1,200

Referee: Mohsen Torky (Iran)

24 May 2016

19:00 UTC+3

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2–1	Al-Wehdat
Abdul-Wahid 15' Ahmad 37'	Report	Deeb 43'

Saoud bin Abdulrahman Stadium, Al-Wakrah (Qatar)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 2,500

Referee: Ma Ning (China)

25 May 2016

17:00 UTC+4:30

Naft Al-Wasat	0–1	Al-Jaish
	Report	Hamdoko 78'

PAS Stadium, Tehran (Iran)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 50

Referee: Liu Kwok Man (Hong Kong)

25 May 2016

18:45 UTC+3

Al-Muharraq	1–0	Al-Faisaly
Kanú 81'	Report

Bahrain National Stadium, Manama

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Rowan Arumughan (India)

East Zone

24 May 2016

19:30 UTC+8

Ceres	0–1 (a.e.t.)	South China
	Report	Carlos 107'

Panaad Park and Stadium, Bacolod

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Ali Abdulnabi (Bahrain)

24 May 2016

19:00 UTC+5:30

Mohun Bagan	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Tampines Rovers
Singh 72'	Report	Webb 63' Yunos 116'

Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati

Attendance: 282

Referee: Turki Al-Khudhayr (Saudi Arabia)

25 May 2016

20:00 UTC+8

Kitchee	2–3	Bengaluru FC
Rufino 7' Tarrés 42'	Report	Chhetri 31' (pen.), 33' Lalhlimpuia 51'

Mong Kok Stadium, Hong Kong

Attendance: 2,806

Referee: Fu Ming (China)

25 May 2016

20:45 UTC+8

Johor Darul Ta'zim	7–2	Kaya
Lucero 14', 54', 70' Díaz 23' (pen.) Azamuddin 33', 40' Mahali 69'	Report	Porteria 53' Ugarte 88'

Larkin Stadium, Johor Bahru

Attendance: 17,322

Referee: Fahad Al-Marri (Qatar)

Quarter-finals

In the quarter-finals, the four teams from the West Zone were drawn into two ties, and the four teams from the East Zone were drawn into the other two ties, with the order of legs also decided by the draw.^[4]

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 9 June 2016, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Petaling Jaya Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[5] There was no seeding or country protection, so teams from the same association could be drawn into the same tie.^[4]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
West Zone
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	5–1	Al-Jaish	1–1	4–0
Al-Ahed	3–0	Al-Muharraq	1–0	2–0
East Zone
South China	2–3	Johor Darul Ta'zim	1–1	1–2
Bengaluru FC	1–0	Tampines Rovers	1–0	0–0

West Zone

13 September 2016

19:00 UTC+3

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1–1	Al-Jaish
Ahmad 90+8'	Report	Al-Ali 60'

Saoud bin Abdulrahman Stadium, Al-Wakrah (Qatar)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 400

Referee: Timur Faizullin (Kyrgyzstan)

20 September 2016

19:00 UTC+3

Al-Jaish	0–4	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
	Report	Rasan 50' Radhi 67' Ahmad 80' Mohsin 90+2'

Saoud bin Abdulrahman Stadium, Al-Wakrah (Qatar)^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 312

Referee: Liu Kwok Man (Hong Kong)

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya won 5–1 on aggregate.

14 September 2016

15:30 UTC+3

Al-Ahed	1–0	Al-Muharraq
Zreik 5'	Report

Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, Beirut

Attendance: 3,200

Referee: Ma Ning (China)

21 September 2016

18:00 UTC+3

Al-Muharraq	0–2	Al-Ahed
	Report	Musa 23' Zreik 90+3'

Bahrain National Stadium, Manama

Attendance: 2,500

Referee: Turki Al-Khudhayr (Saudi Arabia)

Al-Ahed won 3–0 on aggregate.

East Zone

13 September 2016

20:00 UTC+8

South China	1–1	Johor Darul Ta'zim
Komazec 90+3'	Report	Díaz 22'

Mong Kok Stadium, Hong Kong

Attendance: 3,938

Referee: Ali Sabah (Iraq)

20 September 2016

20:45 UTC+8

Johor Darul Ta'zim	2–1	South China
Lucero 58' Díaz 88'	Report	Komazec 90+5'

Larkin Stadium, Johor Bahru

Attendance: 17,350

Referee: Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan)

Johor Darul Ta'zim won 3–2 on aggregate.

14 September 2016

16:00 UTC+5:30

Bengaluru FC	1–0	Tampines Rovers
Vineeth 7'	Report

Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru

Attendance: 120^{[note 3]}

Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)

21 September 2016

19:30 UTC+8

Tampines Rovers	0–0	Bengaluru FC
	Report

Jalan Besar Stadium, Singapore

Attendance: 1,985

Referee: Kim Dong-jin (South Korea)

Bengaluru FC won 1–0 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

In the semi-finals, the two quarter-final winners from the West Zone played each other, and the two quarter-final winners from the East Zone played each other, with the order of legs determined by the quarter-final draw.^[4]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
West Zone
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	4–3	Al-Ahed	1–1	3–2
East Zone
Johor Darul Ta'zim	2–4	Bengaluru FC	1–1	1–3

West Zone

27 September 2016

19:00 UTC+3

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1–1	Al-Ahed
Midani 24'	Report	Dakik 62'

Saoud bin Abdulrahman Stadium, Al-Wakrah (Qatar)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 189

Referee: Fahad Al-Marri (Qatar)

18 October 2016

15:30 UTC+3

Al-Ahed	2–3	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
Mansour 14' (pen.) Chaito 36'	Report	Ahmad 28' Mansour 70' (o.g.) Rasan 76'

Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, Beirut

Attendance: 3,700

Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya won 4–3 on aggregate.

East Zone

28 September 2016

20:45 UTC+8

Johor Darul Ta'zim	1–1	Bengaluru FC
Díaz 52'	Report	Lyngdoh 56'

Larkin Stadium, Johor Bahru

Attendance: 18,000

Referee: Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan)

19 October 2016

19:00 UTC+5:30

Bengaluru FC	3–1	Johor Darul Ta'zim
Chhetri 41', 67' Juanan 76'	Report	Safiq 11'

Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru

Attendance: 21,379

Referee: Ali Abdulnabi (Bahrain)

Bengaluru FC won 4–2 on aggregate.

Final

In the final, the two semi-final winners played each other, with the host team decided by a draw, held after the quarter-final draw.^[4]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1–0	Bengaluru FC

5 November 2016

19:00 UTC+3

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1–0	Bengaluru FC
Ahmad 70'	Report

Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha (Qatar)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 5,806

Referee: Kim Jong-hyeok (South Korea)

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Teams from Iraq were not allowed to host their home matches in their country due to security concerns.
^ Teams from Syria were not allowed to host their home matches in their country due to security concerns.
^ The Bengaluru FC v Tampines Rovers match was played behind closed doors due to local unrest.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2016" (PDF). AFC.
^ ^a ^b ^c "2016 AFC Cup Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC. 28 November 2015.
^ "AFC Cup 2016 Draw Results" (PDF). AFC.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Holders JDT set to face South China in AFC Cup quarter-finals". AFC. 9 June 2016.
^ "Stage set for AFC Cup 2016 Knockout Stage draw". AFC. 8 June 2016.
^ "JSW Bengaluru FC v Tampines Rovers match rescheduled". AFC. 13 September 2016.

External links

AFC Cup, the-AFC.com

[Iraq-4] Teams from Iraq were not allowed to host their home matches in their country due to security concerns.

[Syria-7] Teams from Syria were not allowed to host their home matches in their country due to security concerns.

[Bengaluru_FC_v_Tampines_Rovers-9] The Bengaluru FC v Tampines Rovers match was played behind closed doors due to local unrest.^[6]

[calendar-1] "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2016" (PDF). AFC.

[regulations-2] "2016 AFC Cup Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC. 28 November 2015.

[draw2-3] "AFC Cup 2016 Draw Results" (PDF). AFC.

[qfdraw2-5] "Holders JDT set to face South China in AFC Cup quarter-finals". AFC. 9 June 2016.

[qfdraw1-6] "Stage set for AFC Cup 2016 Knockout Stage draw". AFC. 8 June 2016.

[8] "JSW Bengaluru FC v Tampines Rovers match rescheduled". AFC. 13 September 2016.

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