A total of 1,037,702 spectators packed stadiums across Asia to watch 94 action-packed group phase encounters as 32 teams slugged it out to grab the berths in the Round of 16.

This year’s milestone has overhauled the numbers achieved in the five previous editions at this stage of the competition.

AFC President Mohamed bin Hammam praised the high-quality game of the clubs for this record.

“The numbers show that Asian teams are popular in the continent and their game has attained the professionalism required in this modern era,” he said.

“I hope that the knockout stages of the competition will throw up interesting battles and the spectators will keep going to the stadiums to cheer their favourite teams.”

The highest number of attendance in the group stage till now was in 2007 when 818,513 fans watched the group stage action. But the numbers dropped in 2008 to 686,875 before the revamped continental showcased reeled them in.

The average attendance per game has also seen a steady increase this year with the numbers reaching 11,039, 2862 more fans than last year and 545 more than 2007.

Two Iranian clubs - Esteghlal and Persepolis - attracted the highest number of fans when playing at home with 222,545 spectators watching six matches of their favourite teams at the Tehran’s Azadi Stadium.

A total of 522,662 fans watched the group stage action in the inaugural edition of the ACL in 2004 while the numbers increased to 572,841 the next year. In 2006, 466,243 spectators watched the 64 group games.