AFC Cup™ Final Flashback: When JDT were crowned Malaysia’s first Asian champions

JDT's rise has been remarkable. They recently won their seventh successive Malaysia Super League title and in the past two Continental campaigns have claimed scalps such as former Asian champions Kashima Antlers and Suwon Samsung Bluewings, the latter at their sparkling new 40,000-capacity Sultan Ibrahim Stadium.

However, it was five years ago today – October 31, 2015 – that they enjoyed what remains arguably the greatest night in their history as the Southern Tigers became the first team from Southeast Asia to taste AFC Cup glory after defeating Tajikistan's FC Istiklol 1-0 in Dushanbe to write their name into the history books.

The Inter-Zone final victory in Jizzakh continues a remarkable rise for a club that was playing second-tier football as recently as 2020 before going on to defeat domestic powerhouse Johor Darul Ta’zim to win their first Malaysia Cup for more than three decades last season and qualify for a maiden AFC Cup.

And they did not stop there, with KL City advancing from their group before overcoming Vietnam’s Viettel FC and Indonesia’s PSM Makassar to win the ASEAN Zone and then defeating India’s ATK Mohun Bagan in Kolkata in the Inter-Zone semi-finals.

As the dust now settles on the shootout success in Uzbekistan and yet another result that will go down in the club’s history, the-AFC.com looks at how The City Boys have reacted to their latest triumph.