<figure id="attachment_3302633" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3302633" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-3302633 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/049c2c2c-wires-req-110326-1.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3302633" class="wp-caption-text">JDT players and officials celebrate after their match against Japan’s Sanfrecce. (JOHOR Southern Tigers Facebook pic)</figcaption></figure>
TOKYO: Malaysia&#8217;s Johor Darul Ta&#8217;zim (JDT) reached the Asian Champions League quarter-finals for the first time despite a 1-0 loss to Japan&#8217;s Sanfrecce Hiroshima on Wednesday, advancing 3-2 on aggregate.
Japan&#8217;s Vissel Kobe joined them in the last eight after beating South Korea&#8217;s FC Seoul 2-1 in the second leg for a 3-1 aggregate win.
JDT did just enough to frustrate Sanfrecce in a scrappy second leg in Hiroshima.
Kosuke Kinoshita&#8217;s 90th-minute penalty was not enough for Sanfrecce, who were also looking to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
&#8220;To suffer today, to be able to keep the result in a really difficult game, to make history for the team, for the club &#8212; very proud of everybody,&#8221; said JDT midfielder Nacho Mendez.
&#8220;It&#8217;s like a dream for everybody.&#8221;
JDT were unable to select three players who have been banned for falsifying documents to play for the Malaysia national team.
The players were available for last week&#8217;s first leg before the case went before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which upheld the ban.
One of the players, Brazil-born Joao Figueiredo, started the first leg in Malaysia.
Kobe went into the second leg of their game against Seoul with a 1-0 lead from last week&#8217;s first leg in South Korea.
Seoul&#8217;s Polish striker Patryk Klimala evened the tie 20 minutes in but Kobe substitute Yuya Osako slid home a Yoshinori Muto cross with just over 10 minutes to play.
Yosuke Ideguchi gave Kobe some breathing space with a second goal in the 89th minute.
The Asian Champions League becomes a single-leg knock-out competition from the quarter-finals onwards, with all games set to be played in Saudi Arabia next month.
The Asian Football Confederation last week postponed last-16 matches played by clubs in the Middle East after the US and Israeli strikes on Iran.

MatchPoint Times

Malaysia’s JDT reach Asian Champions League quarter-finals

JDT did just enough to frustrate Sanfrecce in a scrappy second leg in Hiroshima.

IEA announces record release of strategic reserves in response to price surge

Gabungan longgar boleh bentuk pakatan hadapi PRU16, kata Muhyiddin