2002/03 AFC Champions League

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In 2002, after the financial success of the World Cup in Japan & Korea, AFC embark on a new direction for Asia.

AFC embarked on a new direction for Asia as it knew the urgent need to re-market Asia football for a global audience thus its discarded the Asian Club Championship and Asian Cup Winners’ Cup; putting all its effort into launching the AFC Champions League.

Geylang United and Home United were the first Singapore participants in the new Asian Club competition.

The Eagles were back in Asia after a four year absence having won the 2001 S-league title but by 2002 now they were a pale shadow of that incredible team with the nucleus of the championship winning side torn apart after the farce of the 2001 Singapore Cup Final. While the Eagles were still strong enough to finish third in both the S-league and Singapore Cup, it was a far cry from a year earlier.

The Eagles were hardly in an ideal state to enter the inaugural AFC Champions League.

Fortunately the Eagles had the luck of the draw with them facing Brunei DPMM in the qualifying second round stage. The Eagles practically finished the tie in the first leg at Bedok when two goals from Noor Ali and one goal from Aleksandar Duric gave the Eagles a commanding 3-0 lead. In the second leg with another two goals from their marksman Aleksandar Duric, the Eagles romped to a 4-0 victory at Brune to give the Eagles a 7-0 overall win.

After that, the Eagles were only one qualifying stage away from the group stage of the AFC Champions League but with them drawn against Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua, it was going to be difficult to reach that milestone.

The record had shown S-league clubs meeting Chinese clubs four times in Asia and up-to-date have not even recorded a single draw or win, losing all of them while only scoring once in the process.

Indeed the record stay intact as Shanghai Shenhua dispatched the Eagles with ease over the two-leg. The tie was practically over after the first leg as the Eagles lost 0-3 in China and lost an important key player Noor Ali for the return leg after he was send off. The Eagles try to make a match of it in Singapore but all hopes were lost as the Chinese side took a two goal lead. Nevertheless a second half goal by Duric meant they could still write themselves into history with the second goal ever by Singapore clubs against Chinese clubs but that was all they could master with the Chinese side scoring another to win the second leg in Bedok 3-1.

For Singapore second representative Home United, it was an equally tough season with the Protectors finishing an amazing 20-point behind S-league Champion SAFFC and knocked out early by giant-killer Dolphins in the Singapore Cup. Their rookie English coach Jason Withe paid the maximum price for it as he was sacked in mid-season with another Englishman Steve Darby named as his replacement. However with the short time available to Steve Darby, the squad morale was low from the chaos caused by Jason Withe term in charge and he was not able to work any miracle.

Still, at first sight, when drawn against Hong Kong Treble Champions South China - FA Cup, Senior Challenge Shield and League - there was still a reasonable chance that the Protectors could advance with the Protectors having gained much experience from the last two years playing in Asia and the fact the team have shown they have the desire to compete in Asia.

In the first leg while the Protectors lost 1-2 at Hong Kong, they got an important away goal from striker Egmar Goncalves and it meant 1-0 win back in Singapore will be enough.

In the second leg at Bishan, the Protectors looked to be achieving that result as they took the early lead from a Peres De Oliveira goal and with minutes ticking away they looked to be through on the away goal rule. There was until the final five minutes when the Hong Kong side equalized after a lapse in their concentration when a corner was not cleared properly resulting in it being send back and the Hong Kong side capitalised on it. It was a cruel blow to the Protectors as they had chances throughout to kill off the match but never capitalised on it before finally paying the price for it.

The inaugural 2002/03 Asian Champion League was hardly a season of glory as both Singapore representatives were knocked out before the group stages and both did not really played above nor beyond themselves. It leave one wondering about the road Singapore clubs are taking as another Asian campaign end.

Singapore representatives

2002/03 AFC Champion League – Geylang United

Stage	Home Team			Away Team	Date
Qualifying Second Round, first leg	Geylang United	3	0	DPMM (Brunei)	6/10/2002
Qualifying Second Round, second leg	DPMM (Brunei)	0	4	Geylang United	23/10/2002
Qualifying Third Round, first leg	Shanghai Shenhua (China)	3	0	GeylangUnited	13/11/2002
Qualifying Third Round, second leg	Geylang United	1	2	Shanghai Shenhua (China)	27/11/2002

2002/03 AFC Champion League – Home United

Stage	Home Team			Away Team	Date
Qualifying Second Round, first leg	South China (HK)	2	1	Home United	8/10/2002
Qualifying Second Round, second leg	Home United	1	1	South China (HK)	22/10/2002