2018 AFC Cup group stage

The 2018 AFC Cup group stage is scheduled to be played from 12 February to 16 May 2018. A total of 36 teams compete in the group stage to decide the 11 places in the knockout stage of the 2018 AFC Cup.

The draw for the group stage was held on 6 December 2017, 14:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 36 teams were 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 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 36 teams entered into the group stage draw, which included the 31 direct entrants and the five winners of the play-off round of the qualifying play-offs, whose identity was 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:

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).

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):

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). Matches in the West Asia Zone are played on Mondays and Tuesdays, while matches in the Central Asia Zone, the South Asia Zone, the ASEAN Zone, and the East Asia Zone are played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

...
Wikipedia