| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 13 August – 27 November 2002 (qualifying rounds) 9 March – 11 October 2003 (group & final stages) |
| Teams | 16 (group stage) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | |
| Runners-up | |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 30 |
| Goals scored | 104 (3.47 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | (9 goals) |
| Best player | |
←2001–02(Asian Club Championship) 2004 → | |
The2002–03 AFC Champions League was the twenty-second edition of Asia's premierfootball competition organised by theAsian Football Confederation, and the first edition under theAFC Champions League title.
Sixteen teams competed in this edition as they went through qualifying before going into four groups of four with only the winner of the group qualifying to the knockout-stage which went to two-legs instead of the single leg that the previous year competition had.
| Entry Round | Teams | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group Stage | West Asia | East Asia | ||
| Third qualifying round | ||||
| Second qualifying round | ||||
| First qualifying round | ||||
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Region | ||||
| Al-Wehdat | 3–2 | 3–2 | 0–0 | |
| Al Ansar | w/o[a] | —[a] | —[a] | |
| Al Aqsa | w/o[b] | —[b] | —[b] | |
| Busaiteen | Bye | N/A | — | — |
| Al Kuwait | Bye | N/A | — | — |
| Köpetdag Aşgabat | Bye | N/A | — | — |
| Riffa | Bye | N/A | — | — |
| Al Ittihad | Bye | N/A | — | — |
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Region | ||||
| Al-Ansar | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–3 | |
| Pakhtakor | 4–3 | 3–0 | 1–3 | |
| Al Ahli | 3–3 (a) | 2–0 | 1–3 | |
| Zhashtyk | 0–4 | 0–2 | 0–2 | |
| Köpetdag Aşgabat | w/o[a] | —[a] | —[a] | |
| Busaiteen | w/o[b] | —[b] | —[b] | |
| Al-Quds | w/o[b] | —[b] | —[b] | |
| Al-Ittihad | w/o[c] | —[c] | —[c] | |
| East Region | ||||
| Saunders SC | 1–7 | 0–2 | 1–5 | |
| Air Force | 2–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 (a.e.t.) | |
| Monte Carlo | Bye | N/A | — | — |
| DPMM | Bye | N/A | — | — |
| Persita Tangerang | Bye | N/A | — | — |
| Petrokimia Putra | Bye | N/A | — | — |
| Churchill Brothers | Bye | N/A | — | — |
| Home United | Bye | N/A | — | — |
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Region | ||||
| Al Ittihad | 1–5 | 1–1 | 0–4 | |
| Al Sadd | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | |
| Esteghlal | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | |
| Al Ahli | 5–4 | 3–2 | 2–2 | |
| Al-Ahli (San'a') | 1–8 | 1–2 | 0–6 | |
| Al-Ittihad | 4–6 | 4–3 | 0–3 | |
| Al-Jaish | w/o[a] | —[a] | —[a] | |
| Al-Quds | w/o[b] | —[b] | —[b] | |
| East Region | ||||
| Geylang United FC | 7–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | |
| Petrokimia Putra | 4–6 | 3–1 | 1–5 | |
| South China | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | |
| Persita Tangerang | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | |
| Monte Carlo | 1–8 | 1–5 | 0–3 | |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | 7–0 | 7–0 | 0–0 | |
| Mohun Bagan | 5–2 | 2–2 | 3–0 | |
| Churchill Brothers | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | |
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Region | ||||
| Al-Jaish | 2–2 (1–4p) | 1–1 | 1–1 | |
| Nisa Asgabat | w/o[a] | —[a] | —[a] | |
| Pakhtakor | 4–2 | 3–2 | 1–0 | |
| Esteghlal | 2–2 (a) | 1–0 | 1–2 | |
| East Region | ||||
| Churchill Brothers | 4–7 | 1–1 | 3–6 | |
| South China | 1–8 | 0–5 | 1–3 | |
| Shanghai Shenhua | 5–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | |
| Daejeon Citizen | 8–1 | 6–0 | 2–1 | |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 7 | Advance toKnockout stage | |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 3 | ||
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 1 |
| Shanghai Shenhua | 1–2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Luo Xiao | (Report)[permanent dead link] | Han Jung-kook Kim Eun-jung |
| Kashima Antlers | 2–2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Hirase Fernando | (Report)[permanent dead link] | Yongant |
| Kashima Antlers | 3–4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Aoki Fernando Nozawa | (Report)[permanent dead link] | Yang Guang Zhang Yuning Martínez |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 7 | Advance toKnockout stage | |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 6 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 4 | ||
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 20 | −19 | 0 |
| Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma | 6–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Park Nam-yeol Kim Dae-eui Kim Do-hoon Drakulić | (Report)[permanent dead link] |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | 1–2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Ahn Jung-hwan | (Report)[permanent dead link] | Drakulić Kim Dae-eui |
| Osotsapa FC | 1–7 | |
|---|---|---|
| Jankam | (Report)[permanent dead link] | Hao Haidong Yan Song Zou Jie Dong Fangzhuo |
| Dalian Shide | 3–1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Hao Haidong Yan Song | (Report)[permanent dead link] | Kim Dae-eui |
| Osotsapa FC | 0–7 | |
|---|---|---|
| (Report)[permanent dead link] | Takagi Sawanobori Alex Ahn Jung-hwan Kitajima |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 9 | Advance toKnockout stage | |
| 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 3 | ||
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 3 |
| Esteghlal | 2–3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Khatibi Samereh | (Report)[permanent dead link] | Abedzadeh Ricardo Abdullah |
| Al-Hilal | 1–3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Jumaan | (Report)[permanent dead link] | Keita Sergio Ricardo Kamil |
| Esteghlal | 1–3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Samereh | (Report)[permanent dead link] | Faisal Ali Sanogo Harib |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +7 | 9 | Advance toKnockout stage | |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 6 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 | ||
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 10 | −9 | 0 |
| Al-Talaba | 3–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Abdulsada Mahmoud | (Report) |
| Persepolis | 4–1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Khanmohammadi Golmohammadi Aslanian | (Report)[permanent dead link] | Meredov |
| Pakhtakor | 3–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Krokhmal Goçgulyýew | (Report)[permanent dead link] |
| Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||
| 4 | 3 | 7 | |||||||||
| 2 | 4 | 6 | |||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 3 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEC Tero Sasana | 3–2 | 3–1 | 0–1 | |
| Al-Ain | 7–6 | 4–2 | 3–4 |
| BEC Tero Sasana | 3–1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Srimaka Fuangprakob Chaiman | (Report)[permanent dead link] | Soliev |
BEC Tero Sasana won 3–2 on aggregate.
| Al-Ain | 4–2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sanogo Omar Yaslam | (Report)[permanent dead link] | Hao Haidong Li Yao |
| Dalian Shide | 4–3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Wang Peng Janković Hao Haidong | (Report) | Rodrigo Fabiano Omar Majidi |
Al-Ain won 7–6 on aggregate.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Ain | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 |
| Al-Ain | 2–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Jowhar Omar |
Al-Ain won 2–1 on aggregate.