Wihdat, Hussein seek to advance at Asian Champions League Two

AMMAN —  Wihdat and Hussein hope to keep their momentum when they play upcoming Round 5 matches of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Champions League Two.

Wihdat top Group C ahead of their away match against Sepahan Isfahan whom they beat 2-1 earlier. During their unbeaten run they beat Tajikistan’s Istiklol 1-o twice, held UAE’s Sharjah 2-2. In other group matches, Sepahan upset Sharjah 3-1 after losing 3-1. Sharjah beat Istiklol 1-0 and Sepahan beat Istiklol 4-0.

For Jordan league champs Hussein, their home game against UAE’s Ahli Dubai is vital as they seek to maintain their Group D lead and reverse their earlier 3-1 defeat. They so far beat Uzbekistan’s Nasaf Qarshi twice as well as Kuwait Club 2-1. In other group matches, Ahli held Kuwait 3-3 after they earlier beat them 4-1, Nasaf upset Ahli 2-1 and Kuwait held Nasaf 0-0.  

Going into Round 5, Hussein will miss their star goalie Yazeed Abu Laila who injured his jaw in the Jordan-Kuwait World Cup qualifier, while Wihdat will try to make up for their defeat to Salt in the Jordan Shield Cup final.

Clubs are playing in 8 groups in the 21st edition of the competition, with the top two in each group moving to the quarters of the second tier Asian event that has replaced the AFC Cup. The top tier Asian clubs competition is now branded Asian Champions League Elite.

It is Hussein’s 1st and Wihdat’s 13th time in the competition which was won three times by Jordanian clubs. Faisali won two back-to-back titles in 2005-2006 and Shabab Urdun won once in 2007, Wihdat reached the semis in 2006, 2007 and 2011. No Jordanian clubs played in the 2022 season.

Last season, Wihdat failed to advance beyond Round 1 at the AFC Cup as Faisali were eliminated from the Champions League. In past editions, Wihdat played in the top tier Asian Champions League twice and were eliminated in the group stages in 2021 and 2022. None of the Kingdom's clubs had ever made it past the ACL preliminary round where Faisali played in 2020 and 2018,  Wihdat in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019 and Shabab Urdun in 2014.