The 2002–03 AFC Champions League was the twenty-second edition of Asia's premier football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and the first edition under the AFC Champions League title.
Sixteen teams competed in this edition as they went through qualifying before going into four groups of four with only the winner of the group qualifying to the knockout-stage which went to two-legs instead of the single leg that the previous year competition had.
Teams Entry RoundTeamsGroup StageWest AsiaEast Asia Persepolis Al-Talaba Dalian Shide Kashima Antlers Al Hilal Al Ain Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma BEC Tero Sasana Third qualifying round Esteghlal Al-Zawraa Shanghai Shenhua Shimizu S-Pulse Al-Ahli Al-Arabi Daejeon Citizen Osotsapa Al-Ittihad Regar-TadAZ Saigon Port South China Nisa Aşgabat FK Neftchy Farg'ona Club Valencia Geylang United Second qualifying round Al Ahli Al Sadd DPMM Mohun Bagan Khujand Pakhtakor Churchill Brothers Petrokimia Putra Al-Ahli Al-Faisaly Persita Tangerang Monte Carlo Al-Quds Al-Jaish New Radiant Home United Saunders SC Air ForceFirst qualifying round Busaiteen Riffa Al-Wehdat Zhashtyk Al Kuwait Al-Nejmeh Al Ansar Al Nasr Al Aqsa Al-Ittihad Köpetdag Aşgabat
Qualification Round
First qualifying round
Second qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Fourth qualifying round
Group stage
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Knockout stage Bracket
Semi-finals
Matches
BEC Tero Sasana won 3–2 on aggregate.
Al-Ain won 7–6 on aggregate.
Final
Matches
Al-Ain won 2–1 on aggregate.
Top scorers
RankPlayerTeamGoals1 Hao Haidong Dalian Shide92 Boubacar Sanogo Al Ain4 Therdsak Chaiman BEC Tero Sasana4 Patrick Suffo Al-Hilal3 Mohammad Omar Al Ain Ali Samereh Esteghlal Anvarjon Soliev Pakhtakor Kim Dae-eui Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Kim Do-hoon Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Saul Martínez Shanghai Shenhua Ahn Jung-hwan Shimizu S-Pulse
Notes
External links AFC Champions League 2002/03 AFC Champions League 2002/03 - Final stage