2007 AFC Champions League final

The 2007 AFC Champions League Final was a two-legged association football tie to determine the 2007 champions of Asian club football. Urawa Red Diamonds from Japan defeated Iran's Sepahan 3-1 on aggregate to take the title. The first leg took place on 7 November 2007 at 16:00 local time (UTC+3:30) at Foolad Shahr Stadium in Fooladshahr, Isfahan in Iran and the second leg took place on 14 November 2007 at 19:20 local time (UTC+9) at Saitama Stadium, Saitama, Japan.

2007 AFC Champions League final
Event2007 AFC Champions League
First leg
Date7 November 2007
VenueFoolad Shahr Stadium, Fooladshahr
RefereeSubkhiddin Mohd Salleh
Attendance30,000
Second leg
Date14 November 2007
VenueSaitama Stadium, Saitama
RefereeRavshan Irmatov
Attendance59,034
2006
2008

This was the first final to feature clubs from Iran and Japan. This was the first AFC Champions League final involving an Iranian club, and the first in an Asian top club football competition since PAS Tehran in the 1992–93 Asian Club Championship. The winners, Urawa Red Diamonds, received US$600,000 prize money and qualified to represent Asia in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup. Although they were defeated, Sepahan still competed in the FIFA Club World Cup by replacing the host country berth, which is reserved for the J. League champions.

Format

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The rules for the final were exactly the same as for the previous knockout rounds. The tie was contested over two legs with away goals deciding the winner if the two teams were level on goals after the second leg. If the teams could still not be separated at that stage then extra time would have been played with a penalty shootout taking place if the teams were still level after that.

Route to the final

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Sepahan

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Opponents Round H/A Score1 Sepahan goalscorers
  Al Ittihad Group Stage H 2–1 Mehdi Seyed-Salehi(2)
  Al Shabab Group Stage A 1–0 Mehdi Seyed-Salehi
  Al Ain Group Stage A 2–3 Mehdi Seyed-Salehi, Emad Mohammed
  Al Ain Group Stage H 1–1 Hossein Papi
  Al Ittihad Group Stage A 5–0 Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail, Mohammad Nouri(2), Emad Mohammed(2)
  Al Shabab Group Stage H 1–0 Mehdi Seyed-Salehi
  Kawasaki Frontale Quarter Final, Leg 1 H 0–0
  Kawasaki Frontale Quarter Final, Leg 2 A 0–0(p5–4)
  Al Wahda Semi Final, Leg 1 H 3–1 Mahmoud Karimi(2), Moharram Navidkia
  Al Wahda Semi Final, Leg 2 A 0–0

1Sepahan's goals always recorded first.

Urawa Red Diamonds

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Opponents Round H/A Score1 Urawa Reds goalscorers
  Persik Kediri Group Stage H 3–0 Yamada, Nagai, Ono
  Sydney FC Group Stage A 2–2 Ponte, Nagai
  Shanghai Shenhua Group Stage H 1–0 Abe
  Shanghai Shenhua Group Stage A 0–0
  Persik Kediri Group Stage A 3–3 Ono, Ponte, Abe
  Sydney FC Group Stage H 0–0
  Jeonbuk Motors Quarter Final, Leg 1 H 2–1 Hasebe, Tatsuya Tanaka
  Jeonbuk Motors Quarter Final, Leg 2 A 2–0 Tatsuya Tanaka, Own Goal
  Seongnam Ilhwa Semi Final, Leg 1 A 2–2 Tatsuya Tanaka, Ponte
  Seongnam Ilhwa Semi Final, Leg 2 H 2–2(p5–3) Washington, Hasebe

1Urawa Red Diamonds' goals always recorded first.

Final summary

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Sepahan   1–3   Urawa Red Diamonds 1–1 0–2

First leg

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Sepahan  1 – 1  Urawa Red Diamonds
Mahmoud Karimi   47' Robson Ponte   45'
 
 
 
 
 
Sepahan
 
 
 
 
 
Urawa Reds
SEPAHAN:
GK 1   Abbas Mohammadi
DF 5   Hadi Aghili
DF 8   Mohsen Bengar
DF 17   Jaba Mujiri
MF 4   Moharram Navidkia (c)
MF 6   Jalal Akbari   46'
MF 12   Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail
MF 21   Saeid Bayat
MF 28   Ehsan Hajsafi   60'
FW 13   Mahmoud Karimi   67'
FW 20   Emad Mohammed   46'
Substitutes:
GK 22   Mohammad Savari
GK 24   Masoud Homami
DF 2   Hamid Azizzadeh
DF 7   Farshad Bahadorani
MF 11   Hossein Kazemi   67'
FW 18   Mohsen Hamidi   46'
MF 19   Jalaleddin Alimohammadi
FW 23   Mehdi Seyed-Salehi
MF 25   Ebrahim Loveinian   46'
MF 29   Behzad Soltani
MF 30   Hossein Papi
Manager:
  Luka Bonačić
URAWA REDS:
GK 23   Ryota Tsuzuki
DF 2   Keisuke Tsuboi
DF 5   Nenê
DF 20   Satoshi Horinouchi
MF 13   Keita Suzuki (c)
MF 22   Yuki Abe
MF 17   Makoto Hasebe
MF 14   Tadaaki Hirakawa
MF 10   Robson Ponte
FW 21   Washington
FW 9   Yuichiro Nagai   73'
Substitutes:
GK 1   Norihiro Yamagishi
GK 28   Nobuhiro Kato
DF 12   Shunsuke Tsutsumi
DF 19   Hideki Uchidate
MF 3   Hajime Hosogai
MF 16   Takahito Soma
MF 27   Yoshiya Nishizawa
MF 30   Masayuki Okano
FW 11   Tatsuya Tanaka   73'
FW 18   Junki Koike
Manager:
  Holger Osieck

Second leg

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Urawa Red Diamonds  2 – 0  Sepahan
Yuichiro Nagai   22'
Yuki Abe   71'
Attendance: 59,034
 
 
 
 
 
Urawa Reds
 
 
 
 
 
Sepahan
URAWA REDS:
GK 23   Ryota Tsuzuki
DF 2   Keisuke Tsuboi
DF 4   Marcus Túlio Tanaka
DF 20   Satoshi Horinouchi
MF 13   Keita Suzuki (c)
MF 22   Yuki Abe
MF 17   Makoto Hasebe   55'
MF 14   Tadaaki Hirakawa
MF 10   Robson Ponte   80'
FW 21   Washington   89'
FW 9   Yuichiro Nagai   85'
Substitutes:
GK 1   Norihiro Yamagishi
DF 5   Nenê
DF 12   Shunsuke Tsutsumi
DF 19   Hideki Uchidate   80'
MF 16   Takahito Soma
MF 30   Masayuki Okano   89'
FW 11   Tatsuya Tanaka   85'
FW 18   Junki Koike
Manager:
  Holger Osieck
SEPAHAN:
GK 1   Abbas Mohammadi
DF 5   Hadi Aghili
DF 8   Mohsen Bengar
DF 17   Jaba Mujiri
MF 4   Moharram Navidkia (c)
MF 12   Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail
MF 21   Saeid Bayat   59'
MF 25   Ebrahim Loveinian
MF 28   Ehsan Hajsafi
FW 18   Mohsen Hamidi   46'
FW 20   Emad Mohammed   29'
Substitutes:
GK 22   Mohammad Savari
GK 24   Masoud Homami
DF 2   Hamid Azizzadeh
DF 6   Jalal Akbari
DF 7   Farshad Bahadorani
MF 9   Hadi Jafari
MF 11   Hossein Kazemi   59'
MF 19   Amir Radi
MF 29   Behzad Soltani
MF 30   Hossein Papi   46'
FW 13   Mahmoud Karimi   29'
FW 23   Mehdi Seyed-Salehi
Manager:
  Luka Bonačić

See also

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