AFC Champions League 2009
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 18 February - 7 November 2009 |
| Teams | 35 (from 13 associations) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 Pohang Steelers (3rd title)
|
| Runners-up |
 Al-Ittihad
|
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 111 |
| Goals scored | 340 (3.06 per match) |
| Attendance | 1,396,226 (12,579 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
 Leandro(10 goals) |
| Best player |
No Byung-jun
|
The 2009 AFC Champions League was the 28th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 7th under the current AFC Champions League title. The final took place at National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan on 7 November. The winners, the K-League club Pohang Steelers, qualified for the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup in United Arab Emirates. The most valuable player of the 2009 AFC Champions League was Al-Ittihad's Mohammed Noor.
The champions league was expanded to 35 clubs this year, with 5 teams starting from a knockout qualifying stage. An extra stage in the knockout phase was added so that the runners up as well as the winners from the group stage would progress. The previous season winner no longer got a bye through to the knockout round. Each team was allowed to field a maximum of four foreign players this season, one of whom had to be from an AFC Member Association country. On 5 November 2008 it was announced that Qatar's leading telecom company Qtel will sponsor the AFC Champions League from 2009-2012.
A total of 35 teams participated in the 2009 AFC Champions League.
† One of the A-League clubs, Wellington Phoenix, is based in New Zealand, an OFC member country, therefore not being eligible to compete in the ACL.
Below is the qualification scheme for the 2009 Champions League:
Qualifying play-off: (5 teams)
Group stage: (32 teams)
The following teams had qualified for qualifying play-off, but were removed as their leagues did not meet the Champions League criteria:
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