Asia Debate: Is 'One Leg Good, Two Legs Bad' The Right Idea For The Asian Champions League Final?

Football fans in Asia will find out this week if it really is a case of one leg good, two legs bad as far as the Asian Champions League is concerned.

We all have seen the UEFA Champions League finals - the packed arenas, the biggest stars in the world doing battle on the pitch and then lifting the trophy in front of tens of thousands delirious fans.

It is understandable then that the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) wants to move away from the two-legged final and instead hold a one-off match at a neutral venue. 


Such games are usually more exciting, more unpredictable and simply more dramatic than a two-legged affair played on a home and away basis.
It would be great for Asian football if scenes that have been played out in cities such as Istanbul and Moscow of late could be seen in Tokyo on Saturday.  

It is unlikely. Instead, thousands of empty seats could greet the winners at the National Stadium however as Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad take on Pohang Steelers.

The AFC must have been understandably hoping for Nagoya Grampus to reach the final and provide one J-League team for the fans to get behind but an 8-3 aggregate defeat put paid to that. Two overseas teams will appear in the Japanese capital on a cool November evening.


Pohang fans will remember an all-Korean final played in the rather warmer climate of Malaysia in 1997. That dramatic win over Ilhwa Chunma was witnessed by a largely bare Kuala Lumpur Stadium. There were other empty examples.

So it made sense that a two-legged system was introduced when the revamped tournament was launched in 2003. It is hard to see any evidence that anything has changed in the years since.

If there had been thousands of fans travelling to follow their teams in the away leg of the two-legged finals in recent years, then there were be a case for the single match. But no such throngs have gathered overseas.

Top clubs in Asia have less fans then their European counterparts -few consistently attract more than 20,000 supporters- and there just isn’t the same culture of travelling to watch a game.

Not only that, getting from one side of Asia to another can be tough and expensive. Al Ittihad fans from Jeddah face a round-trip of around 12,000 miles. Manchester United fans could fly to Rome and back almost six times and not travel as far. Tokyo hoteliers are not likely to be ordering extra beds.


Distance is not the only problem. South Korea is the closest country to Japan but a trip from the Land of the Morning Calm to its Rising Sun counterpart is not cheap (and on a weekend, not easy to come by) – there is not yet an eastern equivalent of Ryan Air or Easy Jet.

The 55,000 capacity stadium is not going to be filled by away fans – just a few hundred are expected to travel from Jeddah and Pohang. Hope rests on the fact that the large Korean population in Japan may be tempted to attend as well as Japanese football-lovers.

The AFC is confident that there will be a healthy attendance.

"I hope we haven't been so arrogant in deciding to do this," said AFC boss Mohammed bin Hammam when the decision was made last year.


"You have to appreciate the difference in football between now and the past. We are looking to revolutionise football in every area in Asia. We all have the same concerns but let us give it a try for two years and see how it's going to work." 

It is healthy that the head of the AFC acknowledges that there are doubts but that won't help if the final of Asia's club showpiece is beamed around the world with a backdrop of empty seats.

If a change was needed, then one way would be to have a number of venues ready and then, politics and security permitting, the AFC choose the venue most convenient for both parties.

The system in Europe, the smallest of continents, is not the common way. Two-legged finals are still the norm in equivalent competitions in Africa, South America and the CONCAFAF region.

Two legs are still the best way to carry Asian football forward.

What are your views on this topic? Should the final be a single match? Goal.com wants to know what YOU think...

John Duerden

Asia Editor

john.duerden@goal.com