Machida Zelvia players celebrate after a win over Gangwon FC in the Asian Champions League on March 10. | jiji

Go Kuroda, a former high school coach, was hired as Machida's coach ahead of the 2023 campaign. | JIJI

Machida Zelvia shared its clubhouse with senior citizens doing fitness classes less than a decade ago. Now it is one win away from being Asian champion.

The team from the Tokyo suburbs will look to complete its remarkable transformation from nonleague nobody to continental conqueror when it faces defending champion Al Ahli, from Saudi Arabia's, in the Asian Champions League final on Saturday in Jeddah.

Machida is making its debut in Asia's top club competition and was playing nonleague soccer as recently as 2013.

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