2016 AFC Champions League group stage

The 2016 AFC Champions League group stage was played from 23 February to 4 May 2016. A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 16 places in the knockout stage of the 2016 AFC Champions League.

The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2015, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Petaling Jaya Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.

The seeding of each team in the draw was determined by their association and their qualifying position within their association. The mechanism of the draw was as follows:

The following 32 teams (16 from West Zone, 16 from East Zone) entered into the group stage draw, which included the 24 direct entrants and the eight winners of the qualifying play-off, whose identity were not known at the time of the draw.

In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the round of 16.

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order (Regulations Article 11.5):

The schedule of each matchday was as follows.

On 25 January 2016, the AFC announced the following changes to the schedule due to Saudi Arabia's refusal to play in Iran after the attack on their diplomic missions in Iran and the ensuing deterioration of Iran–Saudi Arabia relations:

After the changes, all matches between teams from Iran and Saudi Arabia (including possible play-off winners) were rescheduled to be played on matchdays 5 and 6 (19–20 April and 3–4 May). The venues of these matches would be decided after an evaluation deadline of 15 March 2016. As there had not been a return to normal relations between the two countries by then with Saudi Arabia refusing to lift their travel restrictions to Iran, the AFC accepted the Saudi Arabian Football Federation's proposal of playing all matches between teams from Iran and Saudi Arabia in neutral venues. This involved a total of six matches, two each in Groups A, B and C (no matches were moved in Group D as the play-off team from Iran failed to advance to the group).

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