Urawa Red Diamonds win Asian Champions League to book place at Fifa Club World Cup UAE 2017

Japanese side defeated Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal following the second leg of the final at the Saitama Stadium on Saturday.

Soccer Football - Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds v Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal - AFC Champions League final, second leg - Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan - November 25, 2017. Urawa Red Diamonds' Rafael Da Silva celebrates his goal with a teammate Yosuke Kashiwagi. REUTERS/Toru Hanai
John McAuley
Nov 25, 2017
Beta V.1.0 - Powered by automated translation

Urawa Red Diamonds have won the Asian Champions League for the second time after defeating Al Hilal 2-1 on aggregate in the final - thus booking their place in next month's Fifa Club World Cup in the UAE.

The Japanese side, Asian champions in 2007, triumphed 1-0 in the second leg at the Saitama Stadium on Saturday, when Rafael Silva scored two minutes from time to seal the trophy. Urawa had last week held Saudi Arabia's Hilal to a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Riyadh.

________________________________________

Read more:

________________________________________

In winning, Urawa become the sixth team to confirm their spot at the Club World Cup, which takes place for the third time in the UAE. The December 6-16 event also features Real Madrid and UAE champions Al Jazira, the host representatives.

There remains one place to fill in the seven-team tournament, with the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final taking place on Wednesday between Brazil’s Gremio and Argentina’s Lanus. Gremio are currently 1-0 up in the tie.

Matches for the Club World Cup will be played at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Sports City and Al Ain’s Hazza bin Zayed Stadium. Urawa enter the competition at the quarter-final stage on December 9 and will play the winner of the opening clash between Jazira and New Zealand’s Auckland City.

The winner of the last-eight encounter will then take on Madrid in the semi-finals four days later.

MadridArgentinaAl AinFifa
EDITOR'S PICKS
NEWSLETTERS
MORE FROM THE NATIONAL