① A lot of spectators, a lot of stars, and the backside of the most spectacular ACLE of all time
① A lot of spectators, a lot of stars, and the backside of the most spectacular ACLE of all time
Blog Article
"Footballist" is the only Korean media to cover the semifinals and final of the AFC Champions League (ACLE). It sheds light on why Asia is becoming more colorful, what Saudi Arabian spectators felt firsthand, and what models Korean teams should compete in the exploding Asian club soccer world. [Editor's note]
The intensity of work is loose and there are no entertainment including alcohol and gambling. Because it is too hot in the middle of the day, it is common for people to get up late and walk around at night. The stands are a rare place where residents of the city can burst their energy. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was a place where foreigners could not access except for the road to Mecca, the holy site of Islam, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia. Here, the first final stage of the AFC Champions League Elite (ACLE) was held.
With the launch of the 2024-2025 ACLE, AFC has taken a similar direction to that of Europe. The two sides were in the same direction as UEFA in two aspects. By increasing the types of competitions, AFC has created an international competition in which even less competitive leagues can participate. At the top-tier competition, the introduction of the league stage expanded the number of face-to-face confrontations between strong teams. A total of 24 teams participated in this season's ACLE, which hosted separate league stages in East and West Asia, to determine the round of 16 best teams first. Only the round of 16 best teams were held in a home-and-away manner.
The final stage is the final stage to win, and the event was organized by AFC with the intention of making a festival. Unlike previous competitions, which went up to the final round in a home-and-away manner, the quarter-finals will all gather in one city to determine the winner with a short-term tournament. The first team to win the tournament after the reorganization was Al-Ahli. It beat Yokohama Marinos (Japan) in the quarter-finals and Saudi rival Al-Hilal in the semifinals to reach the final. It won the final match on the 4th (Korea time) by beating Kawasaki Frontale (Japan) 2-0.
▲ The Most Gorgeous Players, The Most Gorgeous Show
This year's event looked the most splendid among ACLE players, and attracted the most worldwide attention beyond Asia. The first factor was, of course, the reputation of players participating. Cristiano Ronaldo, the most famous player in the AFC Championship, as well as Marcello Brozovic, John Duran and Emrik Laport, played for Alnasr. Alhilal had Aleksandar Mitrovic, João Cancelo and Kalidou Koulibaly. The performances of the MVP of the tournament, Roberto Firmino, who beat them and won, as well as Iváñez, Frank Kesier, Riyad Mahrez and Edouard Mendy, were outstanding.
AFC has significantly reorganized the venue to meet its goal of "growing the competition to match the level of national competition." Major sponsors of the competition have increased from six to 11 this year. The money has been reinvested in the operation and grooming of the competition. The prize money has exploded, and the total prize money amounts to 10 million U.S. dollars. As Gwangju coach Lee Jung-hyo said, "If we win, we will build a new clubhouse." While the tournament format is to hold the quarterfinals in one place alone, it takes a lot of money and balls, and the splendor of the games has been different from the past. DJ Jas, who is familiar with various soccer finals, appeared in every quarterfinal, arousing audience's excitement. Special effects such as lighting shows, fireworks, and large-scale concerts were followed. In addition, the finals mobilized all means to have spectacular games, including laser shows before games, bands performing after games, and drone shows after award ceremonies.
▲ box office from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia
If it is held in one place from the quarterfinals, the concentration of the competition and short-term fun are maximized. Instead, it is a neutral stadium, not a stadium for each team. AFC has been agonizing over this point for a long time. The reason why ACL finals were often conducted in a home-and-away manner was because of the issue of neutral stadiums. There were a few times when they played at either home or in a few matches due to their own rules, but fairness was too poor.
Despite nominally hosting the games from the quarterfinals in a neutral zone, it was a huge success from the standpoint of spectators. Two of the seven games effectively drew more than 50,000 spectators, effectively filling the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium. The two games attracted 40,000 spectators. The biggest box office failure was the quarterfinal match between Kawasaki Frontale and Qatar's Al-Sad, which only drew about 2,800 spectators.
Among them, the semifinal match between Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli was the highlight of this year's competition. It was a match between Al-Ahli, who originally used the stadium as his home, and Al-Hilal, who flew from Riyadh. What stood out was the arrangement of the stands in which the entire stadium was divided in half without neutral seats. It was as if there were only two supporters' seats, each with a human chain in the middle of E-seat, and about 25,000 people in half. At that state, the cheering matches of excited spectators were so massive that the ground shook from a distance. It is very rare for a neutral stadium to be so full. In addition, Saudi soccer fans showed aggressive cheering. And it was European superstars such as Roberto Firmino and Ivan Toney who ran on the grass and scored goals. Saudi Arabia's Salem Aldosari and Firas al-Buraikan scored on the preheated match, proving that they were not reduced to a "mercenary feast." The heat, process, and results all flowed the most.
The success of ACLE this season is evidenced by the overall figures of the tournament as well as the Final Stage. The average attendance through the first six rounds of the league stage was 11,966. This is a 17% increase from the average attendance of 10,194 through the first six rounds of the 2023-2024 group stage. 안전놀이터
This is because strong teams representing each country in Southeast Asia also contributed to the success of the league stage. Until the sixth round, Johordarultakjim (Malaysia) had the largest average crowd of about 32,000. In terms of spectators by game, Alnasr home games with about 37,000 people ranked first, and Johor's home game against Ulsan HD was second with about 34,000. An AFC official said, "The atmosphere of Johor's home game is world-class beyond Asia."