In the AFC Champions League (ACL), the most prestigious club competition for Asian football clubs, teams who belong to the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) have engaged in fierce battles. Since the ACL group stage is held separately in the eastern and western blocks, many matches between clubs from Japan, Korea Republic, and China were realised.

Amongst others, Group F saw the fiercest battle. Prior to Match Day 6 on 1st May, Guangzhou Evergrande (China) led the group on ten points, followed by Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (Korea Republic) on nine and Urawa Red Diamonds with seven. With the three teams technically keeping the chance of qualification alive, the last matches of the group kicked off on 1st May at the same time.
The game between Guangzhou and Jeonbuk finished scoreless. Meanwhile, Daisuke Nasu’s goal earned a 1-0 win for Urawa at the home of Muangthong United (Thailand). The Japanese team moved level with Jeonbuk with ten points, but finished third on goal difference.
“Teams with ten points have secured qualification in other groups. Unfortunately, the situation was more tense in our group,” said Urawa coach Mihailo Petrovic after the game. Their challenge for a second ACL title ended prematurely in the group stage.

Group E saw a seesaw affair. While FC Seoul (Korea Republic) secured first place ahead of Match Day 6, the battle for qualification continued up until the final minute with Vegalta Sendai (Japan), Buriram United (Thailand), and Jiangsu Sainty (China) vying for the second berth.

At first, Sendai gained an edge in the race. On the 24th minute of the game against Jiangsu, right full-back Naoki Sugai superbly headed in a cross from the left. Although the Chinese side levelled in the 38th minute, the game between FC Seoul and Buriram reached half time scoreless. That meant, if both games had finished as they had been, Sendai could have finished second, exceeding Buriram on goals scored.
After the restart, however, the positions of the three teams changed dizzyingly. FC Seoul took a lead to make Sendai even more advantaged, but Buriram soon equalised.
Jiangsu did not give up, either. On 62 minutes, Albania international forward Hamdi Salihi gave the lead to the away team and silenced the stadium. At this point, Buriram were second, followed by Jiangsu at third and Sendai fourth. FC Seoul regained their lead in the 74th minute to send Jiangsu ahead of the Thai side, only to let it slip after one minute. In a desperate attempt to find an equaliser and rekindle their hopes, Sendai increased the number of players on the front line in the second half and their centre back stayed upfront later, but the home side couldn’t get what they wanted.

Eventually, Buriram held FC Seoul to a draw and edged out Jiangsu on goal difference with the two level on seven points. Jiangsu earned the first win in Japan for a Chinese team since 2010, but they were one step short of qualification.

In Group G, where Beijing Guoan (China), Pohang Steelers (Korea Republic), and Sanfrecce Hiroshima (Japan) gathered, Uzbek renowned club Bunyodcor won the group. While Beijing Guoan qualified as runners-up, J. League champions Hiroshima finished last with three draws and three losses.

J. League teams struggled in this group stage and only Kashiwa Reysol showed their presence. They qualified as winners of Group H and advanced to the last 16 for the second season in a row. Kashiwa earned 14 points ? the highest points tally equal to Al Ahli (Saudi Arabia).

The knockout stage (Round 16) will be held on 15th and 22nd May with five teams from the EAFF involved. The battle aiming to be the top of Asia is going to intensify from that stage forward.