"Total amount of athletes' ransom of 363.1 billion won" Al Hilal, a non-Asian power, 'shock eliminated' in the round of 16 ACLE

*This content was translated by AI.

Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal, which has been evaluated as a so-called "post-Asian level," was eliminated early in the round of 16 of the 2025-2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Elite (ACLE).

Al-Hilal was eliminated after losing 2-4 in the penalty shootout after failing to match Al-Sad (Qatar) 3-3 in the round of 16 at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the 14th (Korea time).

It is a shocking "early elimination" of the team, which has been considered the strongest power in Asia by raising its power significantly while possessing a large number of players who have been active in Europe.

Al-Hilal made a splash in the quarterfinals by drawing with Real Madrid (Spain) and beating Manchester City (England) at the FIFA Club World Cup in 2025 last year, and also reached the semifinals by defeating Gwangju FC, which was led by then-current Suwon Samsung coach Lee Jung-hyo, 7-0 in the ACLE quarterfinals last season.

In February, Karim Benzema, a "Ballon d'Or native," who played for Real Madrid and others, was newly recruited, and prominent players such as Darwin Núñez from Liverpool, Mau Kong, Marcus Leonardo from Brazil, Serbia's national team Sergei Milinkovic-Savic who played for Lazio, Portugal's current national team from Wolverhampton, Hoobeng Neves from Real Madrid and AC Milan, and Theo Hernandez from Real Madrid and AC Milan are among the others.

The total amount of the team's ransom based on transfer mark, a transfer site, reached 284 million euros (about 363.1 billion won), ranking first overall among the 2025-2026 ACLE participating teams. Earlier in the league stage, he was the only one in East and West Asia to pass without defeat (7 wins and 1 draw), drawing attention as a strong favorite.

However, Al-Hilal lost the first round of the ACLE tournament and lost early, losing his pride. Even Alsad was a team that managed to advance to the tournament in eighth place in West Asia with only two wins, two draws and four losses (8 points) in the league stage.

The game was a fierce battle in which Al-Hilal scored first and Al-Sad immediately balanced, and eventually entered a penalty shootout after drawing 3-3 in regular time and not breaking the balance in overtime.

Al-Hilal first took the advantage due to the miss of Roberto Firmino, the opponent's first kicker, but Benzema, the team's third kicker, and Simon Buabre, the fourth kicker, missed one after another, eventually losing the penalty shootout score 2-4.

Al-Sad, who advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Al-Hilal, will compete with Vissel Kobe of Japan for the semifinals. The round of 16 in West Asia was originally scheduled to be held in a home-and-away manner, but it was changed to a single match in Saudi Jeddah from the 14th to the 15th due to the recent situation in the Middle East. Among the K-League teams, FC Seoul and Gangwon FC reached the round of 16, but were eliminated after losing to Vissel Kobe and Machida Zelvia, respectively.

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*This content was translated by AI.