Six teams, as their respective country's domestic champions, competed in a knockout tournament to determine the first Asian champion: the Iranian FA did not send a team, while India's representative, Indian Railways, withdrew before the tournament due to excessive travel costs.
Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. from Israel became the inaugural champions of Asia after defeating Selangor from Malaysia 2–1 in the final at Bangkok, becoming one of only two teams in history to win their continent's main club competition while only playing one match (the other was Adelaide City, who won the 1987 Oceania Club Championship).