2022 AFC Cup explained

Tourney Name:	AFC Cup
Year:	2022
Dates:	Qualifying: Competition proper:
Num Teams:	Competition proper: 38 (originally) Total: 44
Associations:	27
Champion Other:	Al-Seeb
Count:	1
Second Other:	Kuala Lumpur City
Matches:	62
Goals:	204
Player:	Eid Al-Farsi^[1]
Prevseason:	2021
Nextseason:	2023–24

The 2022 AFC Cup was the 19th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

This season was the last in an all-year-round (spring-to-autumn) schedule; from 2023 the competition was switched to an autumn-to-spring schedule.^[2]

Bahraini club Al-Muharraq were the title holders, having won their second AFC Cup title in 2021. As they failed to obtain the AFC license, they did not defend their title. Al-Seeb of Oman won its first continental title. They automatically qualified for the 2023–24 AFC Champions League and entered the qualifying play-offs, since Omani teams were unable to qualify through domestic performance.^[3]

Association team allocation

The 47 AFC member associations were ranked based on their clubs' performance over the last four years in AFC competitions (their national team's FIFA World Rankings no longer considered).^[4] The slots were allocated according to the following criteria according to the Entry Manual:^[5]

The associations were split into five zones (Article 5.1):
- West Asia Zone consisted of the 12 associations from the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF).
- South Asia Zone consisted of the 7 associations from the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF).
- Central Asia Zone consisted of the 6 associations from Central Asian Football Association (CAFA).
- ASEAN Zone consisted of the 12 associations from the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF).
- East Asia Zone consisted of the 10 associations from the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF).
- The AFC may reallocate one or more associations to another zone if necessary for sporting reasons.
Excluding the top five associations in each region for AFC Champions League slot allocation, all other associations were eligible to enter the AFC Cup.
The teams from associations ranked 6th, 11th and 12th which were eliminated in the AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs, entered the AFC Cup group stage (Article 3.2). The following rules were applied:
- The associations ranked 6th in both the West Region and the East Region, while allocated one direct slot in the AFC Cup group stage without taking away any direct slot from other associations, were not ranked in each zone for AFC Cup slot allocation (Article 5.3).^[6]
- If they advanced to the AFC Champions League group stage, the AFC Cup group stage slot would be filled by the standby team from their association if such team would be available (Article 5.12).
- The rules above dud not apply to the AFC Champions League title holders and AFC Cup title holders, which were allocated AFC Champions League play-off slots if they did not qualify for the tournament through domestic performance.
In the West Asia Zone and the ASEAN Zone, there are three groups in the group stage, including 9 direct slots, with the 3 remaining slots filled through qualifying play-offs (Article 5.2). The slots in each zone are distributed as follows:
- The associations ranked 1st to 3rd were each allocated two direct slots.
- The associations ranked 4th to 6th were each allocated one direct slot and one play-off slot.
- The associations ranked 7th or below were each allocated one play-off slot.
- If any zone had an association ranked 6th for AFC Champions League slot allocation, they were allocated one direct slot in the AFC Cup group stage. There were 10 direct slots, with the 2 remaining slots filled through qualifying play-offs.
In the South Asia Zone, the Central Asia Zone, and the East Asia Zone, there was a single group in the group stage, including 3 direct slots, with the 1 remaining slot filled through qualifying play-offs (Article 5.2). The slots in each zone were distributed as follows:^[7]
- The associations ranked 1st to 3rd were each allocated one direct slot and one play-off slot.
- The associations ranked 4th or below were each allocated one play-off slot.
- If any zone has an association ranked 6th for AFC Champions League slot allocation, they were allocated one direct slot in the AFC Cup group stage. There were 4 direct slots, and to ensure equal opportunity in each zone, another group was added to this zone in the group stage, with the 4 remaining slots filled through qualifying play-offs (Article 5.4.1).
- If any zone had at least 7 play-off slots, to ensure equal opportunity in each zone, another group was added to this zone in the group stage, with the 5 remaining slots filled through qualifying play-offs (Article 5.4.2).
If any association with direct slots did not fulfill any one of the AFC Cup criteria, they had all their direct slots converted into play-off slots. The direct slots would be redistributed to the highest eligible association by the following criteria (Articles 5.7 and 5.8):
- For each association, the maximum number of total slots would be two (Articles 3.4 and 3.5).
- If any association was allocated one additional direct slot, one play-off slot was annulled and not redistributed.
If any association with only play-off slot(s), including those mentioned above, did not fulfill the minimum AFC Cup criteria, the play-off slot(s) would be annulled and not redistributed (Articles 5.10 and 5.11).
For each association, the maximum number of total slots was one-third of the total number of eligible teams (excluding foreign teams) in the top division (Article 5.6). Based on this rule, any direct slots given up would be redistributed by the same criteria as mentioned above, and play-off slots annulled and not redistributed (Article 9.10).
All participating teams had to be granted an AFC Champions League or AFC Cup license, and (apart from cup winners) finish in the top half of their top division (Articles 7.1 and 9.5). If any association did not have enough teams which satisfied these criteria, any direct slots given up would be redistributed by the same criteria as mentioned above, and play-off slots annulled and not redistributed (Article 9.9).
If any team granted a license refused to participate, their slot, either direct or play-off, is annulled and not redistributed (Article 9.11).

Association ranking

For the 2022 AFC Cup, the associations were allocated slots according to their AFC Club Competitions Ranking which was published on 29 November 2019,^[8] ^[9] which takes into account their performance in the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup during the period between 2016 and 2019.

bgcolor=#f7f8ff colspan=2	Participation for 2022 AFC Cup
bgcolor=#90ee77 width=20		Participating
bgcolor=#ffcccc width=20		Not participating
align=center width=20	~~(N)~~	Number of teams/associations originally entered, before withdrawal of teams from the competition after the draw

Rank	Member Association	Points	Slots
+West Asia Zone (3 groups)
Group stage	Play-off
Group stage
1	12			33.852	0	0	0	0
2	21		24.746	2	0	0	0
3	22		22.505	2	0	0	0
4	24		17.749	2	0	0	0
5	29		8.531	2	0	0	0
6	30		7.297	2	0	0	0
7	34		4.711	2	0	0	0
8	42		0.000	0	0	0	0
Total	Participating associations: 6	12	0	0	0
0
12

Rank	Member Association	Points	Slots
+Central Asia Zone (2 groups)
Group stage	Play-off
Group stage
1	10			45.562	1	0	0	0
2	17		28.361	2	0	0	0
3	20		26.532	2	0	0	0
4	33		5.466	2	0	0	0
5	41		0.206	0	0	0	0
Total	Participating associations: 4	7	0	0	0
0
7

Rank	Member Association	Points	Slots
+South Asia Zone (1 group)
Group stage	Play-off
Group stage
1	15			23.888	1	0	1	0
2	25		16.690	1	1 ~~(0)~~	0 ~~(1)~~	0
3	26		14.798	1	0	0	1
4	36		1.148	0	0	0	1
5	37		0.774	0	0	0	1
6	38		0.688	0	0	0	1
7	42		0.000	0	0	0	0
Total	Participating associations: 6	3	1	1	4
6
9

Rank	Member Association	Points	Slots
+ASEAN Zone (3 groups)
Group stage	Play-off
Group stage
1	13			32.130	1	0	0	0
2	16		28.571	1	0	0	0
3	18		26.960	2	0	0	0
4	19		26.607	2	0	0	0
5	27		12.756	0 ~~(2)~~	0	0	0
6	28		12.550	2	0	0	0
7	31		6.770	2 ~~(1)~~	0 ~~(1)~~	0	0
8	35		2.241	1 ~~(0)~~	0 ~~(1)~~	0	0
9	42		0.000	0	0	0	0
10	42		0.000	0	0	0	0
Total	Participating associations: 7 ~~(8)~~	11	0 ~~(2)~~	0	0
0 ~~(2)~~
11 ~~(13)~~

Rank	Member Association	Points	Slots
+East Asia Zone (1 group)
Group stage	Play-off
Group stage
1	14			30.100	0	0	0	0
2	23		19.945	1	1	0	0
3	32		5.489	0~~(1)~~	0	0	0
4	39		0.457	1	0	0	0
5	40		0.274	0	1	0	0
6	42		0.000	0	0	0	0
7	42		0.000	0	0	0	0
Total	Participating associations: 4	2~~(3)~~	2	0	0
2
4~~(5)~~

Notes

Teams

+Group stage direct entrants (Groups A–C)
width=25%	Team	width=60%	Qualifying method	width=15%
Al-Ansar	2020–21 Lebanese Premier League champions and 2020–21 Lebanese FA Cup winners	8th
Nejmeh	2020–21 Lebanese Premier League runners-up	10th
Tishreen	2020–21 Syrian Premier League champions	2nd
Jableh	2020–21 Syrian Cup winners	1st
Al-Riffa	2020–21 Bahraini Premier League champions and 2020–21 Bahraini King's Cup winners	6th
East Riffa	2020–21 Bahraini Premier League runners-up	1st
Al-Seeb	2019–20 Oman Professional League champions	1st
Dhofar	2020–21 Sultan Qaboos Cup winners	6th
Shabab Al-Khalil	2020–21 West Bank Premier League champions	2nd
Hilal Al-Quds	2020–21 West Bank Premier League third place	5th
Al-Arabi	2020–21 Kuwaiti Premier League champions	2nd
Al-Kuwait	2020–21 Kuwait Emir Cup winners	11th

+Group stage direct entrants (Group D)
width=25%	Team	width=60%	Qualifying method	width=15%
Gokulam Kerala	2020–21 I-League champions	1st
Bashundhara Kings	2021 Bangladesh Premier League champions and 2020–21 Bangladesh Federation Cup winners	3rd
Maziya	2020–21 Dhivehi Premier League champions	8th

Qualifying play-off participants: Entering in play-off round
width=25%	Team	width=60%	Qualifying method	width=15%	App
	2021 Bangladesh Premier League third place	5th

Qualifying play-off participants: Entering in preliminary round 2
width=25%	Team	width=60%	Qualifying method	width=15%
ATK Mohun Bagan	2020–21 Indian Super League regular season runners-up	6th ^[10]

Qualifying play-off participants: Entering in preliminary round 1
width=25%	Team	width=60%	Qualifying method	width=15%
Valencia	2020–21 Dhivehi Premier League runners-up	5th
Machhindra	2021 Martyr's Memorial A-Division League Matchday 7 leaders	1st
Blue Star	2021 Sri Lanka Super League champions	1st
Paro	2021 Bhutan Premier League champions	2nd

+Group stage direct entrants (Groups E–F)
width=25%	Team	width=60%	Qualifying method	width=15%
Sogdiana Jizzakh	2021 Uzbekistan Super League runners-up	1st
Khujand	2021 Tajikistan Cup winners	6th
CSKA Pamir Dushanbe	2021 Tajikistan Higher League third place	1st
Altyn Asyr	2021 Ýokary Liga champions	8th
Köpetdag Aşgabat	2021 Ýokary Liga fourth place	1st
Dordoi Bishkek	2021 Kyrgyz Premier League champions	7th
Neftchi Kochkor-Ata	2021 Kyrgyzstan Cup winners	2nd

+Group stage direct entrants (Groups G–I)
width=25%	Team	width=60%	Qualifying method	width=15%
Kaya F.C.–Iloilo	2021 Copa Paulino Alcantara winners	4th
Viettel	2021 V.League 1 second place	1st
Kuala Lumpur City	2021 Malaysia Cup winners	1st
Kedah Darul Aman	2021 Malaysia Super League runners-up	4th
Hougang United	2021 Singapore Premier League third place	2nd
Tampines Rovers	2021 Singapore Premier League fourth place	13th
Bali United	2019 Liga 1 champions	4th
PSM Makassar	2018–19 Piala Indonesia winners	3rd
Phnom Penh Crown	2021 C-League champions	2nd
Visakha FC	2021 Hun Sen Cup winners	2nd
Young Elephants	2020 Lao Premier League third place	1st

Withdrawn teams
width=25%	Team	width=60%	Qualifying method	width=15%	App.
Shan United	2020 Myanmar National League champions	4th
Hantharwady United	2020 Myanmar National League runners-up	1st

+Group stage direct entrants (Group J)
width=25%	Team	width=60%	Qualifying method	width=15%
Eastern	2020–21 Hong Kong Premier League runners-up	3rd
Tainan City	2021 Taiwan Premier League champions	2nd

Qualifying play-off participants
width=25%	Team	width=60%	Qualifying method	width=15%
Lee Man	2020–21 Hong Kong Premier League third place	2nd
Athletic 220	2021 Mongolian Premier League champions	2nd

Withdrawn teams
width=25%	Team	width=60%	Qualifying method	width=15%	App.
MUST CPK	2021 Liga de Elite champions and 2021 Taça de Macau winners	2nd

Notes

Schedule

The tournament ran from April to October 2022, so as not to clash with the World Cup.^[11]

The final schedule of the competition was as follows:

Stage	Round	Draw dates	Match dates
Preliminary stage	Preliminary round 1	17 January 2022	5 April 2022 (S)
Preliminary stage	Preliminary round 2		12 April 2022 (S)
Play-off stage	Play-off round		19 April 2022 (S, E)
Group stage	Matchday 1		18 May 2022 (W, S), 24 June 2022 (C, A, E)
	Matchday 2		21 May 2022 (W, S), 27 June 2022 (C, A, E)
	Matchday 3		24 May 2022 (W, S), 30 June 2022 (C, A, E)
Knockout stage	Zonal semi-finals		9–10 August 2022 (A), 5–6 September 2022 (W)
	Zonal finals	14 July 2022	17 August 2022 (C) 24 August 2022 (A), 4 October 2022 (W)
	Inter-zone play-off semi-finals		6–7 September 2022
	Inter-zone play-off final		5 October 2022
	Final		22 October 2022 at Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Notes

W: West Asia Zone
S: South Asia Zone
C: Central Asia Zone
A: ASEAN Zone
E: East Asia Zone

Qualifying play-offs

Play-off round

Group stage

See main article: 2022 AFC Cup group stage.

Ranking of runner-up teams

ASEAN Zone

Knockout stage

See main article: 2022 AFC Cup knockout stage.

Final

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Team									Total
1	Jasur Hasanov	Sogdiana Jizzakh		1	2		2				5
	Paulo Josué	Kuala Lumpur City			2		2	1
	Pedro Paulo	Viettel	3		2
4	Pedro Bortoluzo	Hougang United	1	1	2		4
	Liston Colaco	ATK Mohun Bagan	1	3
	Mahmoud Al-Mardi	Kedah Darul Aman		1	3
	Shokhruz Norkhonov	Sogdiana Jizzakh		2				1	1
	Fayadh Zulkifli	Kedah Darul Aman		2	1	1
9	Kamil Al-Aswad	Al-Riffa		2	1				3
	Víctor Bertomeu	Eastern	2		1
	Bounphachan Bounkong	Young Elephants	1	1	1
	Muhsen Al-Ghassani	Al-Seeb		1		1				1
	Ablaye Mbengue	Al-Arabi	1	1	1