| Tourney Name: | AFC Cup |
| Year: | 2014 |
| Num Teams: | 34 |
| Associations: | 19 |
| Champion Other: | Al-Qadsia |
| Count: | 1 |
| Second Other: |  Erbil |
| Matches: | 119 |
| Goals: | 369 |
| Top Scorer: |  Juan Belencoso (11 goals) |
| Player: | Saif Al Hashan |
| Prevseason: | 2013 |
| Nextseason: | 2015 |
The 2014 AFC Cup was the 11th edition of the AFC Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia.[1] Al-Kuwait were the two-time defending champions, but were eliminated by Persipura Jayapura in the quarter-finals.
In the final, Al-Qadsia of Kuwait defeated Erbil of Iraq 4–2 on penalties after a 0–0 draw in regulation time, to win their first AFC Cup title after losing in the previous year's final.[2]
The AFC laid out the procedure for deciding the participating associations and the allocation of slots, with the final decision to be made by the AFC on 26 November 2013.[3] The following changes to the list of participating associations may be made from the 2013 AFC Cup if the AFC approves the following applications made by any association:
The following changes in the participating associations were made compared to the previous year:
Each participating association was given either two entries to the group stage or one entry to the qualifying play-off, based on the AFC Technical Ranking and the number of associations in each zone.[5]
| bgcolor=#f7f8ff colspan=2 | Evaluation for 2014 AFC Cup | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=#90EE77 width=20 | Ranked top 23, allocated two direct slots | ||
| bgcolor=#ccffff width=20 | Ranked 24–34, allocated two direct slots | ||
| bgcolor=#ffffcc width=20 | Ranked 24–34, allocated one play-off slot |
| +West Asia Zone | ||||
| Rank | Member Association | Slots | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=15% | Group stage | width=15% | Play-off | |
| 10 |  Jordan | 2 | 0 | |
| 11 | Kuwait | 2 | 0 | |
| 13 | Iraq | 2 | 0 | |
| 14 |  Syria | 2 | 0 | |
| 15 | Oman | 2 | 0 | |
| 16 |  Bahrain | 2 | 0 | |
| 18 | Lebanon | 2 | 0 | |
| 26 |  Tajikistan | 0 | 1 | |
| 31 | Palestine | 0 | 1 | |
| 32 |  Kyrgyzstan | 0 | 1 | |
| 33 |  Yemen | 0 | 1 | |
| Total | 14 | 4 | ||
| +East Asia Zone | ||||
| Rank | Member Association | Slots | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=15% | Group stage | width=15% | Play-off | |
| 17 | Vietnam | 2 | 0 | |
| 19 |  Hong Kong | 2 | 0 | |
| 20 |  Indonesia | 2 | 0 | |
| 21 | Singapore | 2 | 0 | |
| 22 | Malaysia | 2 | 0 | |
| 23 |  India | 2 | 0 | |
| 25 |  Maldives | 2 | 0 | |
| 27 | Myanmar | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 16 | 0 | ||
The following teams entered the competition. Teams in italics played in the 2014 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off, but failed to advance to the AFC Champions League group stage (had they advanced to the AFC Champions League group stage, they would have been replaced by another team from the same association).
| +East Asia Zone | ||||
| Team | Qualifying method | App | Last App | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group stage direct entrants (Groups E–H) | ||||
| South China | 2012–13 Hong Kong First Division League champions | 5th | 2011 | |
| Kitchee | 2012–13 Hong Kong season play-off winners | 4th | 2013 | |
| Pune | 2012–13 I-League runners-up | 1st | none | |
| Churchill Brothers | 2012–13 I-League champions | 3rd | 2013 | |
| Persipura Jayapura | 2013 Indonesia Super League champions | 2nd | 2011 | |
| Arema Cronus | 2013 Indonesia Super League runners-up | 2nd | 2012 | |
| Selangor | 2013 Malaysia Super League runners-up | 4th | 2013 | |
| Kelantan | 2013 Malaysia FA Cup winners | 3rd | 2013 | |
| New Radiant | 2013 Dhivehi League champions 2013 Maldives FA Cup winners | 6th | 2013 | |
| Maziya | 2013 Dhivehi League runners-up | 2nd | 2013 | |
| Yangon United | 2013 Myanmar National League champions | 3rd | 2013 | |
| Nay Pyi Taw | 2013 Myanmar National League runners-up | 1st | none | |
| Tampines Rovers | 2013 S.League champions | 7th | 2013 | |
| Home United | 2013 Singapore Cup winners | 7th | 2012 | |
| Hà Nội T&T | 2013 V.League 1 champions | 2nd | 2011 | |
| Vissai Ninh Bình | 2013 Vietnamese Cup winners | 1st | none | |
The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws held at AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).[5] [6]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying play-off | Round 1 | No draw | 2 February 2014 | |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 10 December 2013 | 25–26 February 2014 | |
| Matchday 2 | 11–12 March 2014 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 18–19 March 2014 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 1–2 April 2014 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 8–9 April 2014 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 22–23 April 2014 | |||
| Knock-out stage | Round of 16 | 13–14 May 2014 | ||
| Quarter-finals | 28 May 2014 | 19 August 2014 | 26 August 2014 | |
| Semi-finals | 16 September 2014 | 30 September 2014 | ||
| Final | 18 October 2014 | |||
See main article: 2014 AFC Cup qualifying play-off.
The bracket for the qualifying play-off was determined by the AFC.[5] Each tie was played as a single match. Extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary. The winners of each tie advanced to the group stage to join the 30 automatic qualifiers.[1]
|}
See main article: 2014 AFC Cup group stage.
The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2013.[7] The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. 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.
See main article: 2014 AFC Cup knockout stage.
In the knock-out stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament. In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, while in the round of 16 and final, each tie was played as a single match. The away goals rule (for two-legged ties), extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.[1]
In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group in the same zone, with the group winners hosting the match.[1]
|-!colspan=3|West Asia Zone|-!colspan=3|East Asia Zone
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 28 May 2014.[8] Teams from different zones could be drawn into the same tie, and the "country protection" rule was applied, so teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same tie.
See main article: 2014 AFC Cup Final.
The draw to decide the host team of the final was held after the quarter-final draw.[8]
| Award | Player | Team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most Valuable Player[9] | Saif Al Hashan | Al-Qadsia | |
| Top Goalscorer | Juan Belencoso | Kitchee< | -- |
| Fair Play Award | — | ?--> |
| Rank | Player | Team | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juan Belencoso | Kitchee | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | |||||
| 2 | Omar Al Soma | Al-Qadsia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | |||||||
 César | Yangon United | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |||||||
| Paulo Rangel | Selangor | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Kyaw Ko Ko | Yangon United | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||
| Nguyễn Văn Quyết | Hà Nội T&T | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |||||||||
| Boaz Solossa | Persipura Jayapura | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||
| 8 | Saif Al Hashan | Al-Qadsia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||||||
| Bader Al-Mutawa | Al-Qadsia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||
| Đinh Văn Ta | Vissai Ninh Bình | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | ||||||||||
 Boakay Eddie Foday | Persipura Jayapura | 5 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| Borja Rubiato | Erbil | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |