Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Asian Champions' Cup

 

Asian Champions' Cup 1971

(all matches at the National Stadium in Bangkok, Mar 21-Apr 2, 1971;
 originally to be held in Kuwait, but moved to Thailand by the AFC)

Preliminary Round (group allocation matches)
21- 3 Bangkok Bank             Tha  ROK Army                 SKo   1-2
        [Praderm Muangkasem 79; Kim Chong-Ho 23, Choi Sang-Chul 32; att: 8000]
21- 3 Aliyat Al-Shurta         Irq  Taj Club                 Irn   3-2
        [Ghanem Abdul-Hamid 2, Shaker Ismail 35, 65; Gholamhossein Mazloumi 23, 81]
22- 3 Al-Arabi                 Kuw  Punjab                   Ind   8-1
        [Hassan Shehata 13 50, Ibrahim Fahad 28, Ali Al-Mulla 31, 36, 61, 68,
         Taha Basri 63; Surjeet Singh 17; att: 3000]
22- 3 Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr  Perak                    Mly   1-0
        [Meir Nimni 20]
(each group to contain two winners and two losers from this round)

NB: Jardines (Hongkong) withdrew

Group A 
24- 3 Al-Arabi                 Kuw  Perak                    Mly   3-0
        [Ibrahim Fahad 17, Hassan Shehata 66, Taha Basri 73; att: 10000]
24- 3 Taj Club                 Irn  ROK Army                 SKo   2-1
        [Alireza Hajghasem 43, 67; Lim Tae-Joo 46]
26- 3 ROK Army                 SKo  Perak                    Mly   3-0
        [Choi Sang-Chul 19, Park Yi-Chun 56, Chung Kyu-Poong 78; att: 9000]
26- 3 Taj Club                 Irn  Al-Arabi                 Kuw   0-0
28- 3 Taj Club                 Irn  Perak                    Mly   3-0
        [Masoud Mojdehi 59, Mehdi Lavasani 62, Wong Hee Kok 66 OG; att: 8000]
28- 3 ROK Army                 SKo  Al-Arabi                 Kuw   1-0
        [Park Yi-Chun 73]

 1.Taj Club                        3  2  1  0  5- 1  5
 2.ROK Army                        3  2  0  1  5- 2  4
 3.Al-Arabi                        3  1  1  1  3- 1  3
 4.Perak                           3  0  0  3  0- 9  0

Group B 
25- 3 Bangkok Bank             Tha  Punjab                   Ind   2-0
        [Narong Pisetsamrascheep 5, Prasarn Daencharoenvanakit 7; att: 8000]
25- 3 Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr  Aliyat Al-Shurta         Irq   w/o x
27- 3 Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr  Punjab                   Ind   4-1
        [Meir Nimni 10, Shlomo Gerbi 16, Giora Spiegel 39, Dror Bar-Nur 71;
         Surjeet Singh 83 pen; att: 9000]
27- 3 Bangkok Bank             Tha  Aliyat Al-Shurta         Irq   0-2
        [Ghanem Abdul-Hamid 75, Sabah Hatem 82]
29- 3 Aliyat Al-Shurta         Irq  Punjab                   Ind   6-1
        [Sabah Hatim 23, 53, 62, Mudhafar Nouri 50, 87, Ravi Kumar 64og;
         Sukhvinder Singh 78]
29- 3 Bangkok Bank             Tha  Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr   1-4
        [Kasetchai Suvanthada 65; Shlomo Gerbi 10, Dror Bar-Nur 20, 29, Giora Spiegel 32]
x Aliyat Al-Shurta withdrew from this match, awarded to Maccabi

 1.Maccabi Tel-Aviv                3  3  0  0  8- 2  6
 2.Aliyat Al-Shurta (Bagdad)       3  2  0  1  8- 1  4
 3.Bangkok Bank                    3  1  0  2  3- 6  2
 4.Punjab                          3  0  0  3  2-12  0

Semifinals (in Bangkok)
31- 3 Aliyat Al-Shurta         Irq  Taj Club                 Irn   2-0
        [Munaim Hussein 6, Shaker Ismail 81; att: 12000]
31- 3 Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr  ROK Army                 SKo   2-0
        [Shlomo Gerbi 29, 63]

Third Place Match (in Bangkok)
 2- 4 Taj Club                 Irn  ROK Army                 SKo   3-2
        [Alireza Hajghasem 19, Gholamhossein Mazloumi 57, Ali Jabbari 80;
         Chung Kyu-Poong 63, Lim Tae-Joo 87; att: 3000]

Final (in Bangkok)
 2- 4 Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr  Aliyat Al-Shurta         Irq   w/o x
x Aliyat Al-Shurta withdrew from this match, awarded to Maccabi

NB: instead of the final, an exhibition match was played
 2- 4 Combined Bangkok         Tha  Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr   1-2
        [Aikkachai Sondhikan 6; Dror Bar-Nur 2, 61]

Maccabi (Tel-Aviv) returned home with the Asian trophy – their second and last. Politics gravely affected the Asian competitions and soon Israel will be banned from participating just like South Africa in Africa. The Asian Champions' Cup was cancelled in 1972, when some clubs withrew for financial reasons and Racing (Beirut) refused to play because of Maccabi (Natanya) presence – with that the Asian Champions' Cup vanished until 1986.