2008 AFC Cup


The 2008 AFC Cup was the fifth edition of the AFC Cup, played amongst clubs from nations of the AFC, who are considered to be 'developing countries' as per the 'Vision Asia' members paper of AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam.
Al-Muharraq defeated Safa 10–5 on aggregate in the final, with Brazilian striker Rico scoring six of the clubs ten goals over the two legs. This marked the first time a club from Bahrain won an AFC Club competition. Both finalists initially qualified for the qualifying play-off round in the 2009 [AFC Champions League], but were later demoted to the 2009 AFC Cup as neither clubs leagues met the AFC's Champions League criteria.
Shabab Al-Ordon were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage of the competition.

Qualified teams

The league champions and cup winners from the thirteen 'developing' were eligible to participate in the competition. As Indonesian clubs withdrew from the 2008 AFC Champions League, the following changes were made:
  • The second ranked teams from Thailand and Vietnam were reassigned from the AFC Cup to the AFC Champions League.
  • Turkmenistan were excluded from the competition, as its clubs would now participate in the AFC President's Cup.
  • Clubs from India would participate in the West Asian zone.

Group stage

Group A


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Group B


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Group C


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Group D


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Group E


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Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 16 September, and the second legs were played on 23 September 2008.

Matches

Safa won 7–0 on aggregate.
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Al-Nahda won 4–2 on aggregate.
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Dempo won 5–4 on aggregate.
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''Al-Muharraq won 7–1 on aggregate.''

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 7 October, and the second legs were played on 21 October 2008.

Matches

2–2 on aggregate. Al-Muharraq won on away goals.
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''Safa won 5–1 on aggregate.''

Final

The first and second legs of the final were played on 31 October and 7 November 2008, respectively.

Matches

''Al-Muharraq won 10–5 on aggregate.''

Statistics

Top goalscorers

RankScorerTeamGoals
1