Shanghai Port vs Vissel Kobe Prediction and Betting Tips | September 17th 2025

Shanghai Port will host Vissel Kobe at the Pudong Football Stadium on Wednesday in the opening round of their 2025-26 AFC Champions League Elite campaign. The home side are enjoying a positive campaign in the Chinese Super League at the moment, but will break from their domestic title charge this week as they turn their attention to international football.

They opened their continental campaign last season against Johor Darul Ta'zim and played out a 2-2 draw with the Malaysian club, with Gustavo and Willian Popp netting second-half goals to ensure the spoils were shared.

Vissel Kobe also find themselves in the thick of a title race in the Japanese top flight as they sit fourth in the table, just one point off the top.

Like their midweek opponents, they also had to settle for a point in their Champions League Elite opener last season as they played out a goalless draw with Buriram. The Ushi were quite clearly the better side but were guilty of wasteful finishing, and will hope they avoid the same mistakes this time around.

Shanghai Port vs Vissel Kobe Head-to-Head and Key Numbers

• Wednesday's game will mark just the third meeting between the two teams. Vissel Kobe have won their previous two games in this fixture.
• The two teams last faced off in last season's Champions League Elite, with the visitors winning the group-stage clash 4-0.
• The hosts have managed just one clean sheet in their last 16 games across all competitions.
• Neither side have won the AFC Champions League Elite in their history. Port's best run in the competition came back in 2017 when they made it to the semifinals, while Vissel Kobe managed the same in 2020.

Shanghai Port vs Vissel Kobe Prediction

The Red Eagles' latest result ended a run of back-to-back winless outings, and they will be looking to kick on from that this week. They are slight underdogs heading into Wednesday's game, but will rely on their home advantage to secure a positive outcome.

Ushi are on a run of back-to-back unbeaten outings and have lost just one of their last seven games across all competitions. They have had mixed results on the road of late, but should have enough to avoid defeat here.

Prediction: Shanghai Port 1-1 Vissel Kobe

Shanghai Port vs Vissel Kobe Betting Tips

Tip 1 - Result: Draw

Tip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Under 2.5 goals (Each of the visitors' last 10 matches have produced more than 2.5 goals)

Tip 3 - Both teams to score: YES (Both sides have found the back of the net in each of the hosts' last nine matches)

Edited by Peter P