The group stage of the brand new AFC Challenge League 2024-25 drew to a conclusion last weekend while the AFC Champions League Elite and AFC Champions League Two saw Matchday Four action this week.
As many as five ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ teams were in action across the three Asian club competitions, with PKR Svay Rieng FC and Shan United FC battling it out in the AFC Challenge League.
Buriram United competed in the top-tier AFC Champions League Elite while the duo of Lion City Sailors FC and Kaya FC-Iloilo participated in the AFC Champions League Two.
Join ASEAN United FC as we recap all the teams’ recent matches on the continental stage.
Svay Rieng to meet Shan United in Challenge League quarters
Cambodian champions PKR Svay Rieng FC and champions of Myanmar Shan United FC will lock horns in the quarter-finals of the 2024-25 AFC Challenge League after both teams successfully navigated their respective groups.
The Brazilian duo of Pablo and Cristian Roque scored from the penalty spot in either half to help Svay Rieng see off Mongolian champions SP Falcons 2-1 in Ulaanbaatar and despite a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Indonesia’s Madura United two days later, Svay Rieng went through as Group E runners-up into the knockout phase.
In Group D, Shan United finished top of the pile after Ye Yint Aung’s brilliantly taken early double guided them to a 2-0 victory against Young Elephants of Laos. This was followed by a 2-2 draw against Chinese Taipei’s Tainan City as Shan finished above them on goal difference to win the group.
The two Shopee Cup clubs will now face off in the quarter-finals of the Challenge League with the first leg scheduled to take place on March 6, 2025 and the return leg a week later.
Kaya win in Hong Kong; Sailors suffer heartbreak
Filipino champions Kaya FC-Iloilo registered their first win in Group E of the AFC Champions League Two with a gritty 2-1 result away in Hong Kong against Eastern SC.
Kaya took the lead through Daizo Horikoshi’s penalty in the first half only for Marcos Gondra to respond with a superb equaliser after the dismissal of Jovin Bedic in the 69th minute. Despite the odds stacked against them, Robert Lopez Mendy clinically scored from the spot in the 86th minute to bring Kaya’s campaign right back on track.
Lion City Sailors, on the other hand, were comfortably leading Indonesia’s Persib Bandung 2-0 at Jalan Besar Stadium until David da Silva’s 82nd-minute strike gave the visitors a lifeline followed by a dramatic turn of events in which Mateo Kocijan and Tyronne del Pino netted in stoppage time as the Singaporean side suffered a 3-2 defeat to fall to second place in Group F with two games to go.
Elsewhere, Thai League 1 champions Buriram United had a night to forget in Yokohama against last season’s runners-up with the Marinos running out comfortable 5-0 victors after Sasalak Haiprakhon’s 27th-minute red card gave Buriram an uphill task in what was their first defeat in this season’s AFC Champions League Elite.
Photo: PKR Svay Rieng FC
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