Tough AFC Champions League draw for BEC

AFC - AFC Champions League 2002/3 runners-up BEC Tero Sasana of Thailand will have their work cut out if they hope to return to the final again in the upcoming season. 

The Thai side were placed in arguably the toughest of the seven first-stage groups when the official draw for the AFC Champions League 2004 season was conducted at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. 

BEC are in Group E, a virtual 'group of death' that also includes Chinese league champions Shanghai Shenhua, Korean Cup winners Chonbuk Motors and Japan's Jubilo Iwata. 

The Group Stage of the AFC Champions League will run from February to May, and with only the winners of each group advancing to the knock-out stages of the competition, none of the competing teams will be able to afford any slip-ups during the opening round. 

Defending champions Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates have received a bye into the quarter-finals, which will be played over two legs in September. 

The semi-finals will be held on 20 and 27 October, and the final is scheduled for 24 November and 1 December. 

The Group Stage draw was conducted on a regional basis with four groups consisting of West Asian sides and three consisting of East Asian teams. 

Group A 
Zob Ahan (Iran) 
Al Riffa (Bahrain)
Qatar Sports Club (Qatar)
Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan) 

Group B
Al Wahda (UAE)
Al Qadisiya (Kuwait)
Air Force (Iraq)
Al Sadd (Qatar) 

Group C
Al Sharjah (UAE)
Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Al Ahli (Bahrain)
Police (Iraq) 

Group D
Sepahan (Iran)
Al Arabi (Kuwait)
Al Ittihad (Saudi Arabia)
Neftchi (Uzbekistan) 

Group E
Chonbuk Motors (Korea Republic)
Shanghai Shenhua (China)
BEC Tero Sasana (Thailand)
Jubilo Iwata (Japan) 

Group F
Hoang Anh Gia Lai (Vietnam)
Dalian Shide (China)
Krung Thai Bank (Thailand)
PSM Makassar (Indonesia) 

Group G
Binh Dinh (Vietnam)
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (Korea Republic)
Persik Kediri (Indonesia)
Yokohama F. Marinos (Japan) 

AFC Champions League 2004 Schedule 
Group Stage
Match Day 1 - 11th February, 2004
Match Day 2 - 25th February, 2004
Match Day 3 - 7th April, 2004
Match Day 4 - 21st April, 2004
Match Day 5 - 5th May, 2004
Match Day 6 - 19th May, 2004 

Quarter-Finals
Match Day 7 - 15th September, 2004
Match Day 8 - 22nd September, 2004 

Semi-Finals
Match Day 9 - 20th October, 2004
Match Day 10 - 27th October, 2004 

Final 
Match Day 11 - 24th November, 2004
Match Day 12 - 1st December, 2004