2019 AFC Champions League knockout stage

The 2019 AFC Champions League knockout stage was played from 18 June to 24 November 2019.^[1] A total of 16 teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2019 AFC Champions League.^[2]

Qualified teams[]

The winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage advanced to the round of 16, with both West Region (Groups A–D) and East Region (Groups E–H) having eight qualified teams.

Region	Group	Winners	Runners-up
West Region	A	Zob Ahan	Al-Nassr
	B	Al-Wahda	Al-Ittihad
	C	Al-Hilal	Al-Duhail
	D	Al-Sadd	Al-Ahli
East Region	E	Shandong Luneng	Kashima Antlers
	F	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Guangzhou Evergrande
	G	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Urawa Red Diamonds
	H	Ulsan Hyundai	Shanghai SIPG

Format[]

In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split into the two regions until the final. Each tie is played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 11.3).^[2]

Schedule[]

The schedule of each round was as follows.^[1] Up to the semi-finals, matches in the West Region were played on Mondays and Tuesdays, while matches in the East Region were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Round	First leg	Second leg
Round of 16	18–19 June 2019 (E), 5–6 August 2019 (W)	25–26 June 2019 (E), 12–13 August 2019 (W)
Quarter-finals	26–28 August 2019	16–18 September 2019
Semi-finals	1–2 October 2019	22–23 October 2019
Final	9 November 2019	24 November 2019

Bracket[]

The bracket of the knockout stage was determined as follows:

Round	Matchups
Round of 16	(Group winners host second leg) West Region Group A runners-up vs. Group B winners Group B runners-up vs. Group A winners Group C runners-up vs. Group D winners Group D runners-up vs. Group C winners East Region Group E runners-up vs. Group F winners Group F runners-up vs. Group E winners Group G runners-up vs. Group H winners Group H runners-up vs. Group G winners
Quarter-finals	(Matchups and order of legs decided by draw, involving four round of 16 winners each in West Region and East Region) West Region QF1 QF2 East Region QF3 QF4
Semi-finals	(Winners of QF1 and QF3 host first leg, winners of QF2 and QF4 host second leg) West Region SF1: Winners of QF1 vs. Winners of QF2 East Region SF2: Winners of QF3 vs. Winners of QF4
Final	(Winners of SF1 host first leg, winners of SF2 host second leg, as reversed from previous season's final) Winners of SF1 vs. Winners of SF2

The bracket was decided after the draw for the quarter-finals, which was held on 2 July 2019, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[3][4]

	Round of 16						Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Al-Nassr	1	3	4
	Al-Wahda	1	2	3
							Al-Nassr	2	1	3
							Al-Sadd	1	3	4
	Al-Duhail	1	1	2
	Al-Sadd	1	3	4
													Al-Sadd	1	4	5
	West Region
													Al-Hilal	4	2	6
	Al-Ittihad	2	4	6
	Zob Ahan	1	3	4
							Al-Ittihad	0	1	1
							Al-Hilal	0	3	3
	Al-Ahli	2	1	3
	Al-Hilal	4	0	4
																			Al-Hilal	1	2	3
																			Urawa Red Diamonds	0	0	0
	Shanghai SIPG (p)	1	1	2 (5)
	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	1	1	2 (3)
							Shanghai SIPG	2	1	3
							Urawa Red Diamonds (a)	2	1	3
	Urawa Red Diamonds	1	3	4
	Ulsan Hyundai	2	0	2
													Urawa Red Diamonds	2	1	3
	East Region
													Guangzhou Evergrande	0	0	0
	Guangzhou Evergrande (p)	2	2	4 (6)
	Shandong Luneng	1	3	4 (5)
							Guangzhou Evergrande (a)	0	1	1
							Kashima Antlers	0	1	1
	Kashima Antlers (a)	1	2	3
	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	0	3	3

Round of 16[]

Summary[]

In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group from the same region, with the group winners hosting the second leg, and the matchups determined by the group stage draw.

West Region

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Nassr	4–3	Al-Wahda	1–1	3–2
Al-Ittihad	6–4	Zob Ahan	2–1	4–3
Al-Duhail	2–4	Al-Sadd	1–1	1–3
Al-Ahli	3–4	Al-Hilal	2–4	1–0

East Region

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Kashima Antlers	3–3 (a)	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	1–0	2–3
Guangzhou Evergrande	4–4 (6–5 p)	Shandong Luneng	2–1	2–3 (a.e.t.)
Urawa Red Diamonds	4–2	Ulsan Hyundai	1–2	3–0
Shanghai SIPG	2–2 (5–3 p)	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	1–1	1–1 (a.e.t.)

West Region[]

Al-Nassr won 4–3 on aggregate.

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Al-Ittihad won 6–4 on aggregate.

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Al-Sadd won 4–2 on aggregate.

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Al-Hilal won 4–3 on aggregate.

East Region[]

3–3 on aggregate. Kashima Antlers won on away goals.

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4–4 on aggregate. Guangzhou Evergrande won 6–5 on penalties.

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Urawa Red Diamonds won 4–2 on aggregate.

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2–2 on aggregate. Shanghai SIPG won 5–3 on penalties.

Quarter-finals[]

Summary[]

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 2 July 2019.^[4] In the quarter-finals, the four round of 16 winners from the West Region (whose identity was not known at the time of the draw) played in two ties, and the four round of 16 winners from the East Region played in two ties, with the matchups and order of legs decided by draw, without any seeding or country protection.

West Region

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Nassr	3–4	Al-Sadd	2–1	1–3
Al-Ittihad	1–3	Al-Hilal	0–0	1–3

East Region

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Shanghai SIPG	3–3 (a)	Urawa Red Diamonds	2–2	1–1
Guangzhou Evergrande	1–1 (a)	Kashima Antlers	0–0	1–1

West Region[]

Al-Sadd won 4–3 on aggregate.

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Al-Hilal won 3–1 on aggregate.

East Region[]

3–3 on aggregate. Urawa Red Diamonds won on away goals.

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1–1 on aggregate. Guangzhou Evergrande won on away goals.

Semi-finals[]

Summary[]

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

West Region

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Sadd	5–6	Al-Hilal	1–4	4–2

East Region

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Urawa Red Diamonds	3–0	Guangzhou Evergrande	2–0	1–0

West Region[]

Al-Hilal won 6–5 on aggregate.

East Region[]

Urawa Red Diamonds won 3–0 on aggregate.

Final[]

In the final, the two semi-final winners played each other, with the order of legs (first leg hosted by team from the West Region, second leg hosted by team from the East Region) reversed from the previous season's final.

Al-Hilal won 3–0 on aggregate.

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• AFC Champions League, the-AFC.com
• AFC Champions League 2019, stats.the-AFC.com