After 25 games, the preliminary group stage of the 22nd AHF Men’s Asian Club League Championship has completed in Samcheok, Korea Republic.

A total of 11 club teams from eight countries are doing battle in the competition which runs from 7-17 November with the winners being crowned continental champions and booking a place at the 2020 IHF Men’s Super Globe. The tournament features an initial two preliminary groups with the top two in each group going directly through to the semi-finals and then final.

Preliminary Group A, with five teams, was an extremely tight affair with three teams ending up on six points each as Qatar’s Al-Arabi, Al-Sharja from UAE and Al-Kuwait all won three out of their four games.

This meant that the table went down to a mini-league with results between the three teams taken into account to decide the two semi-finalists.

In this table, Al-Arabi, with the better overall goal difference (+4) finished top with Al-Sharja and Al-Kuwait still not able to be separated by goal difference between the teams concerned (-2). Therefore, it went down to goals scored in their games, with Al-Sharja taking second spot and a semi-final place thanks to their 51 goals, compared to Al-Kuwait’s 47 strikes.

Home side SK Hawks could only manage one win, against Iran’s Zagros, to finish in fourth spot, with the Iranian side finishing bottom, without a point.

Group B, with six teams, was also just as complicated, with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Wehda, Qatar’s Al-Wakra and Bar Bar from Bahrain all tied on eight points with four wins each, including wins over each other, resulting in all three teams having two points each in their mini-group. 

However, Al-Wehda, with an overall goal difference of +1 amongst the games concerned, took top spot and Al-Wakra squeezed through in second place with a neutral (0) goal difference, compared to Bar Bar’s -1 overall.

Oman finished in fourth with two wins, Iran’s Foolad beat Kuwait’s Al-Arabi for their solitary win, leaving the side from Kuwait in bottom place.

Today (Thursday 14 November) is a rest day for the competition before the semi-finals and placement matches get underway tomorrow.

The first semi-final sees an all-Qatar clash with Al-Arabi taking on Al-Wakra at 17:15 (local time), while the second semi-final pitches Al-Wehda, who finished fourth at the 2019 IHF Men’s Super Globe, against Al-Sharja (19:15).

All games from Korea will be shown live and free and the Handball Korea YouTube page.

PHOTO: Asian Handball Federation