Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Kuala Lumpur: ACL 2012 finalists Ulsan Hyundai and Al Ahli have been are nominated for the AFC Club of the Year at the upcoming AFC Annual Awards 2012 alongside AFC Cup 2012 winners Kuwait Sports Club.
The Koreans had defeated Al Ahli 3-0 earlier this month in the ACL 2012 final to become the third K-League club in four years to be crowned Asian champions.
In the match played at Ulsan Munsu Stadium, Kwak Tae-hwi, Rafinha (Rafael do Santos de Oliveira) and Kim Seung-yong were on target to seal a historic win for Ulsan which ensured their place in next month's FIFA Club World Cup as Asian flag bearers.
Ulsan remained unbeaten in all 12 matches they played and went on to score a mammoth 29 goals while conceding just eight.
Also in the fray for the Thursday's gala at the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur are Ulsan's final rival Al Ahli, who were also making their maiden appearance in an ACL title decider.
The Saudi King's Cup champions of 2011 started the tournament with a defeat to Qatar Star League champions Lekhwiya 1-0 and took three matches to get their first win but they picked up their performances in the knockout stages where they knocked out highflying Al Jazira of the UAE 4-2 in a penalty shootout.
From then on, Al Ahli produced some master class performances which included a 4-1 win over 2007 runner-up Sepahan in the quarter-final and a 2-1 aggregate win over two-time ACL winners and Jeddah rivals Al Ittihad in the semi-final.
Kuwait SC's dominance in the AFC Cup has also caught eye of the selectors as they won the AFC Cup 2012 making it two titles in four years.
Ion Marin's side handed Iraqi reigning league champions Arbil 4-0 defeat in the final at the Iraqi club's Francouse Al Hareeri Stadium earlier this month.
The 2009 champions were left frustrated in the 2011 final when Uzbekistan's Nasaf beat them 2-1 in the final but this time around a brace from Chadi Hammami and a goal each from Rogerinho (Rogerio de Assis Silva Coutinho) and Abdulhadi Khamis sealed a comfortable win for the Kuwaitis.
The tournament couldn't have started off worse for Kuwait SC, losing 5-1 at home to Etiifaq on the opening day but they put aside the psychological setback by going through the rest of their group stage campaign undefeated and after defeating local rival Al Qadsia 3-1 on penalties in the round of 16 they defeated Jordanian powerhouse Al Wehdat in the quarter-finals, which featured a brilliant 3-0 win in the away leg before comprehensively avenging their earlier defeat to Ettifaq by hammering the Saudis 6-1 on aggregate in the semi-final to set up the title clash with Iraq's Arbil.