Football: South Korea to host Asian Champions League knockout matches

An Asian Champions League match between South Korea's Ulsan Hyundai (white) and Vietnam's Viettel in Bangkok in July 2021. PHOTO: AFP/ASIAN FOOTBALL CONFEDERATION

HONG KONG (REUTERS) - The South Korean city of Jeonju will host the two quarter-finals and the semi-final of the eastern half of the Asian Champions League in October, the Asian Football Confederation announced on Friday (July 30).

The matches will be held on a centralised basis rather than as home and away legs due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the quarter-finals to be played on Oct 17. The semi-final will be three days later.

The quarter-final line-up will be determined in mid-September, when the round-of-16 matches will be played as one-off ties.

Reigning champions Ulsan Hyundai from South Korea take on Japan's Kawasaki Frontale and Daegu FC meet Nagoya Grampus on Sept 14 in the last 16.

Two-time winners Jeonbuk Motors play BG Pathum United from Thailand the following day as Japan's Cerezo Osaka and Pohang Steelers from South Korea also meet.

The winners of the eastern semi-final will take on the team who emerge from the semi-finals in the west of the continent. The host for those matches, which will also be played on a centralised basis, has yet to be announced.

Group matches in this edition of the Asian Champions League were also played on a centralised basis, with Thailand and Uzbekistan hosting games in the east and India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates the venues used in the west.

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