On the night from Saturday to Sunday, the “Central Coast Mariners” football players from Australia became the last winners of the second most important club trophy in Asia - the AFC Cup.
In the final match, the Australians defeated the Lebanese “Al-Ahed” with a score of 1:0 thanks to a goal from Alou Kuol in the 84th minute. This triumph was historic for the “Central Coast Mariners”, as clubs from Australia had previously failed to reach the finals of international cups.
The AFC Cup final marked the end of an era for the tournament. In the autumn it will be replaced by a new three-tier system: the elite AFC Champions League, the AFC-2 Champions League and the AFC Challenge League.
Let us remind that this year, Turkmen clubs “Merv” and “Altyn Asyr” also made an attempt to compete for the AFC Cup, playing in the same group with “Abdysh-Ata” from Kyrgyzstan and the Tajik “Ravshan”.
According to the results of the group stage, “Abdysh-Ata” took first place in quartet “E” and secured access to the playoff round of the AFC Cup.