The 2019 AFC Cup group stage is scheduled to be played from 25 February to 26 June 2019.[1] A total of 36 teams compete in the group stage to decide the 11 places in the knockout stage of the 2019 AFC Cup.[2]
The draw for the group stage will be held on 22 November 2018, 14:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 36 teams will be drawn into nine groups of four: three groups each in the West Asia Zone (Groups A–C) and the ASEAN Zone (Groups F–H), and one group each in the Central Asia Zone (Group D), the South Asia Zone (Group E), and the East Asia Zone (Group I). Teams from the same association in the West Asia Zone and ASEAN Zone cannot be drawn into the same group.
The mechanism of the draw is as follows:
For the West Asia Zone and the ASEAN Zone, draw mechanism is to be announced.
For the Central Asia Zone, the South Asia Zone, and the East Asia Zone, no draw will be held, and the teams will be allocated to the groups according to their association ranking published on 15 December 2017.
The following 36 teams enter into the group stage draw, which include the 27 (exact number to be confirmed) direct entrants and the nine (exact number to be confirmed) winners of the play-off round of the qualifying play-offs, whose identity will be not known at the time of the draw.
In the group stage, each group is played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The following teams advance to the knockout stage:
The winners of each group and the best runners-up in the West Asia Zone and the ASEAN Zone advance to the Zonal semi-finals.
The winners of each group in the Central Asia Zone, the South Asia Zone, and the East Asia Zone advance to the Inter-zone play-off semi-finals.
In the event that a group contains only three teams, it may be played on a double round-robin basis hosted by two of the teams if at least two of the three teams agree to this format (Regulations Article 10.1.7).[2]
The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order (Regulations Article 10.5):[2]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
The schedule of each matchday is as follows (W: West Asia Zone; C: Central Asia Zone; S: South Asia Zone; A: ASEAN Zone; E: East Asia Zone).[1]
Matches in the West Asia Zone are played on Mondays and Tuesdays (Matchdays 1–3: two groups on Monday, one group on Tuesday; Matchdays 4–6: one group on Monday, two groups on Tuesday).
Matches in the ASEAN Zone are played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (Matchdays 1–3: two groups on Tuesday, one group on Wednesday; Matchdays 4–6: one group on Tuesday, two groups on Wednesday).
^The standby teams would replace a team from the same association which played in the AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs and advanced to the AFC Champions League group stage.
TBD (Winner Play-off West Asia 1)
Istiklol
Altyn Asyr
Dordoi
Regar-TadAZ (for Istiklol)[3]
Al-Wehdat
Al-Jaish
Hilal Al-Quds
Nejmeh
Al-Kuwait
Al-Najma
Al-Suwaiq
Abahani Limited Dhaka
Chennaiyin
Manang Marshyangdi Club
Hà Nội
Tampines Rovers
Yangon United
Nagaworld
Ceres–Negros
Persija Jakarta
Lao Toyota
April 25
Kitchee
Hang Yuen