2007 AFC Champions League final
Football match
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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.
| Event | 2007 AFC Champions League | ||||||
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| First leg | |||||||
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| Date | 7 November 2007 | ||||||
| Venue | Foolad Shahr Stadium, Fooladshahr | ||||||
| Referee | Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh | ||||||
| Attendance | 30,000 | ||||||
| Second leg | |||||||
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| Date | 14 November 2007 | ||||||
| Venue | Saitama Stadium, Saitama | ||||||
| Referee | Ravshan Irmatov | ||||||
| Attendance | 59,034 | ||||||
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 normal host country berth, which is reserved for the J. League champions.
Format
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
Sepahan
| 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
| 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
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
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Sepahan  |
1–3 | Urawa Red Diamonds |
1–1 | 0–2 |
First leg
| Sepahan | 1 – 1 | Urawa Red Diamonds |
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Mahmoud Karimi  47' |
Robson Ponte 45' |
     Sepahan
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Urawa Reds
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Second leg
| Urawa Red Diamonds | 2 – 0 | Sepahan |
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| Yuichiro Nagai 22' Yuki Abe 71' |
Urawa Reds
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Sepahan
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See also
External links
- (in Persian) Sepahan Official club website
- (in English) Urawa Red Diamonds Official Site