The Asian Club Championship – the Asian variety of Champions Cup. The game was improving in Asia, but still lagged behind the rest of the world in every structural aspect. This was last continent to organize international club tournament – in 1967 – but it was played only 5 times before 1985-86. There was huge gap between 1972 and 1985-86 in which no tournament was staged at all. Reasons were mostly political – various countries refused to play with others. Israel was the biggest problem in the 1960s, but after it was expelled the problems did not stop. Regularity was recently established – the Cup was steadily played only from 1985-86 on, yet, lack of interest, distances, money, and ever present political tensions reduced the number of participants. No team won the trophy twice so far – if not counting Maccabi (Tel Aviv, Israel), but they won their 2nd Cup without playing, for Al-Shorta (Iraq) refused to play the final against Israeli team in 1971. Records were not full or clear either, even from the mid-1980, when some regularity finally was established: looks like 26 teams started in the 1988-89 issue, but one team was ‘unofficial’ – that is, they played in the preliminary group stage, but only in it –without intention to go further, or may be having no right to go ahead. Then again, Group 2, played in the United Arab Emirates, doubled also as Gulf Cooperation Council Club Tournament, with its own award. Initially, the participants played in 6 groups, hosted by one city each, and teams were grouped somewhat geographically. The top 2 teams in some groups qualified to the next stage, but in other groups only the winner went ahead. The next stage was semifinal stage – it was played again in group format, 2 groups, which winners moved to the final. 9 teams reached the semifinal stage – Group A, played in Guangzhou, China, had 4 teams – Royal Thai Air Force (Thailand) withdrew – and Group B, played in Kuantan, Malaysia, had 5 teams. Interestingly, the group winners came from the same group in the opening stage: Al-Rasheed (Iraq) won Group A and Al-Saad (Qatar) won group B. Thus, the final – in 2 legs – was between the teams which qualified in the initial Group A, played in Doha, Qatar. Back then Al-Rasheed clinched 1st played on better goal-difference and the match between the rivals ended 0-0.
Final (Mar 31 & Apr 6, 1989)
Al-Rasheed (Bagdad) Irq Al-Saad (Doha) Qat 3-2 0-1 3-3*
[Ahmed Radhi 20, Ali Kadhum 24, 35; Khalid Salman 56, Moh Ghanim 85]
[Khalid Salman 82]
First Leg [Baghdad, Iraq; att: 10,000]
31- 3-89 Al-Rasheed-Al-Saad 3-2
[Ahmed Radhi 20, Ali Kadhum 24,35 – Khalid Salman 56,
Moh Ghanim 85]
[Ref: Abdullah Al-Naser (Saudi Arabia);
Al-Rasheed: Ahmed Ali, Karim Alawi, Sherar Haider, Salam Hashim, Karim Salman, Naeem Sadam, Riyadh Abdul Abbas, Laith Hussein, Ahmed Radhi, Ali Kadhum (Habib Jafar 66), Saad Kais;
Al-Saad: Ahmed Matwi, Saeed Mahboob, Yousef Adsani, Wasif Soufi, Marzouk Juma, Mohammed Amari, Khalid Salman, Mohammed Ghanim, Khalid Habib, Hassan Joher, Khalifa Khamis]
Second Leg [Sheikh Al-Saani Stadium, Doha, Qatar; att: 5,000]
6- 4-89 Al-Saad-Al-Rasheed 1-0
[Khalid Salman 82]
[Ref: Jasim Mendi (Bahrain);
Al-Saad: Ahmed Mabwi, Saeed Mahboob, Wasif Soufi, Yousef Adsani, Marzouk Juma, Mohammed Amari, Khalid Salman, Mohammed Ghanim, Qasim Boor (Salah Salman 87), Hassan Joher, Khalifa Khamis;
Al-Rasheed: Ahmed Ali, Karim Alawi, Adnan Derjal, Salam Hashim, Karim Salman, Naeem Sadam, Riyadh Abdul Abbas, Laith Hussein, Ahmed Radhi, Ali Kadhum, Saad Kais.
On its own terms, the final was dramatic – the opponents were well matched and only won their home legs and minimally at that. Al-Rasheed, however, allowed 2 goals in the their own net in Baghdad and that was their undoing – Al-Saad won 1-0 in Doha and clinched the trophy on away goals.
Al-Raseed (Baghdad) lost the Cup without really losing, but such is football.
Al-Saad – or Al-Sadd… the club from Doha, Qatar, maintains the mystery of the name even now.
Whatever the name, the boys won the Asian champions cup. A first victory of a team from Qatar, so it is historic achievement. Rules were in their favour, not actual strength, but rules favoured their opponents in the first stage of the tournament, when Al-Rasheed ended ahead of Al-Sadd right in Doha – so, it was fair ‘revenge’. The world hardly payed attention to Asian football, so the players could be only local heroes, but one thing was clear: Asian football, at least in some countries, was getting serious – Arab countries, rich from oil money, were investing lavishly in the their football. Given the circumstances, it was mostly infrastructure – building stadiums in generally desert land was quite a task and very expensive. So far, there was no real professional football, but money bring some results anyway – at least in Doha, those who were involved with the game were happy: their team won the Cup.