AFC Champions League 2005

The third edition of the AFC Champions League took place from March 9th to November 5th, 2005 . Al-Ittihad from Saudi Arabia , which qualified directly for the quarter-finals, was able to defend its title.

Group stage

BYE: Al-Ittihad 

Group A

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Pas	6th	5	1	0	012: 400	+8	16
2.	Al Salmiya Club	6th	3	0	3	008: 900	−1	09
3.	Al-Rayyan	6th	2	1	3	006: 700	−1	07th
4th	Al Shurta	6th	0	2	4th	002: 800	−6	02

Group B

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Al Ain	6th	4th	1	1	013: 600	+7	13
2.	Sepahan	6th	3	2	1	010: 600	+4	11
3.	Al-Shabab	6th	3	1	2	007: 700	± 0	10
4th	Al-Wahda	6th	0	0	6th	005:160	−11	00

Group C

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Al-Sadd	6th	4th	0	2	008: 600	+2	12
2.	Neftchi Farg'ona	6th	3	0	3	008: 700	+1	09
3.	Al Kuwait Kaifan	6th	2	1	3	005: 600	−1	07th
4th	Al-Ahli	6th	2	1	3	008:100	−2	07th

Group D

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Al-Ahli	6th	5	0	1	018: 500	+13	15th
2.	Pakhtakor Tashkent	6th	3	0	3	009: 800	+1	09
3.	Al-Zawraa	6th	2	1	3	006:130	−7	07th
4th	Al Jaish	6th	1	1	4th	007:140	−7	04th

Group E

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Shenzhen Janlibao	6th	4th	1	1	009: 300	+6	13
2.	Suwon Bluewings	6th	4th	1	1	014: 300	+11	13
3.	Júbilo Iwata	6th	3	0	3	011: 400	+7	09
4th	Hoang Anh	6th	0	0	6th	001:250	−24	00

Group F.

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Shandong Luneng Taishan	6th	6th	0	0	015: 200	+13	18th
2.	Yokohama F. Marinos	6th	4th	0	2	010: 400	+6	12
3.	PSM macassar	6th	1	1	4th	004:140	−10	04th
4th	BEC Tero Sasana	6th	0	1	5	003:120	−9	01

Group G

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Busan I'Park	6th	6th	0	0	025: 000	+25	18th
2.	FC Krung Thai Bank	6th	3	0	3	005: 900	−4	09
3.	Persebaya Surabaya	6th	1	1	4th	002:100	−8	04th
4th	Pisico Binh Dinh	6th	1	1	4th	002:150	−13	04th

Quarter finals

On September 14th and 21st , the quarter-finals were played, for which the Chinese and Korean teams in particular had recommended themselves with strong performances. But Shandong, which started with six wins, got badly under the wheels of defending champion Al-Ittihad :

	total		First leg	Return leg
Al Ahli	3: 4	Shenzhen Jianlibao	2: 1	1: 3
Shandong Luneng Taishan	3: 8	Al-Ittihad	1: 1	2: 7
Busan I'Park	5: 1	Al-Sadd	3-0	2: 1
Al Ain	(a)4: 4 (a)	Pas	1: 1	3: 3

Semifinals

At least nominally, the balance between Arabia and East Asia was preserved. But the semi-finals ( September 28th / October 12th ) were won by the Arabs. Especially the secret favorite Busan (8 games, 8 wins, goal difference 30: 1) felt the overwhelming power of defending champion Al-Ittihad:

	total		First leg	Return leg
Al Ain	6-0	Shenzhen Jianlibao	6-0	0-0
Busan I'Park	0: 7	Al-Ittihad	0: 5	0: 2

final

The two previous winners played the first purely Arab final of the AFC Champions League on October 26th and November 5th . Defending champion Al-Ittihad beat the 2003 winner in the second leg:

	total		First leg	Return leg
Al Ain	3: 5	Al-Ittihad	1: 1	2: 4