TEHRAN - Al Hussein got their AFC Champions League Two 2025/26 campaign off to a bright start with a 1-0 win against Iran’s Sepahan on Tuesday.

The home side started well with Khrouba’s free-kick from an acute angle sailing just over the bar before Luis Kacorri got through on the right but saw his cutback cleared by Arya Yousefi.

At the other end, a long throw caused confusion in the Al Hussein box as Sepahan nearly profited but Aref Hajiedi’s point-blank header was well caught by goalkeeper Mohammadreza Akhbari.

A clever piece of play in the 28th minute saw Al Hussein breaking the deadlock, Aref Haitham’s reverse pass sent Khrouba through on goal and the Jordanian forward accepted the invitation to slam home the opener.

The half-time break offered IR Iran’s Sepahan a chance to regroup as they started asking more questions of Al Hussein’s defense in the second half. A fortunate deflection put Ehsan Hajisafi in space close to the goalmouth but his pass to the center rolled harmlessly away with no Sepahan player close by even though Al Hussein custodian Yazeed Abulaila was out of position.

Akhbari’s brilliance kept Sepahan in the hunt, the goalkeeper repelled Adham Alquraishi’s powerful strike before producing the deftest of touches to tip Odeh Fakhoury’s curling effort onto the post.

There was to be one final chance for Sepahan to draw level, Arya Shafidoust shifting into space on the edge of the box before firing a low shot that had Abulaila at full stretch to push away but that was to be it as Al Hussein stayed resilient to claim the win, the-afc.com reported.