2023–24 AFC Cup
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | Qualifying: 1–23 August 2023 Competition proper: 18 September 2023 – 5 May 2024 |
| Teams | Competition proper: between 36 and 48 (depending on number of groups) Total (maximum): 65 (from 37 associations) |
← 2022 2024–25 → | |
The 2023–24 AFC Cup will be the 19th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
This is the first AFC Cup season to have a two-year (autumn-to-spring) schedule, instead of an all-year-round (spring-to-autumn) schedule.[1]
The winners of the tournament will automatically qualify for the 2024–25 AFC Champions League, entering the qualifying play-offs, if they have not qualified through their domestic performance.[2]
Association team allocation
The 47 AFC member associations are ranked based on their club's performance over the last four years in AFC competitions (their national team's FIFA World Rankings are no longer considered).[3] The slots are allocated by the following criteria according to the Entry Manual:[4]
- The associations are split into five zones (Article 5.1):
- West Asia Zone consists of the 12 associations from the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF).
- South Asia Zone consists of the 7 associations from the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF).
- Central Asia Zone consists of the 6 associations from Central Asian Football Association (CAFA).
- ASEAN Zone consists of the 12 associations from the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF).
- East Asia Zone consists 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
Reallocation of Regions
- Excluding the top five associations in each region for AFC Champions League slot allocation, all other associations are eligible to enter the AFC Cup.
- The teams from associations ranked 6th, 11th and 12th which are eliminated in the AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs enter the AFC Cup group stage (Article 3.2). The following rules are 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, are not ranked in each zone for AFC Cup slot allocation (Article 5.3).[5]
- If they advance to the AFC Champions League group stage, the AFC Cup group stage slot is filled by the standby team from their association if such team are available (Article 5.12).
- The rules above do not apply to the AFC Champions League title holders and AFC Cup title holders which are allocated AFC Champions League play-off slots should they 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 are each allocated two direct slots.
- The associations ranked 4th to 6th are each allocated one direct slot and one play-off slot.
- The associations ranked 7th or below are each allocated one play-off slot.
- If any zone has an association ranked 6th for AFC Champions League slot allocation, which is allocated one direct slot in the AFC Cup group stage, there are 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 is one 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 are distributed as follows:[6]
- The associations ranked 1st to 3rd are each allocated one direct slot and one play-off slot.
- The associations ranked 4th or below are each allocated one play-off slot.
- If any zone has an association ranked 6th for AFC Champions League slot allocation, which is allocated one direct slot in the AFC Cup group stage, there are 4 direct slots, and to ensure equal opportunity in each zone, another group is 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 has at least 7 play-off slots, to ensure equal opportunity in each zone, another group is 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 do not fulfill any one of the AFC Cup criteria, they have all their direct slots converted into play-off slots. The direct slots given up are 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 is two (Articles 3.4 and 3.5).
- If any association is allocated one additional direct slot, one play-off slot is annulled and not redistributed.
- If any association with only play-off slot(s), including those mentioned above, do not fulfill the minimum AFC Cup criteria, the play-off slot(s) are annulled and not redistributed (Articles 5.10 and 5.11).
- For each association, the maximum number of total slots is one-third of the total number of eligible teams (excluding foreign teams) in the top division (Article 5.6). If this rule is applied, any direct slots given up are redistributed by the same criteria as mentioned above, and play-off slots are annulled and not redistributed (Article 9.10).
- All participating teams must 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 does not have enough teams which satisfy this criteria, any direct slots given up are redistributed by the same criteria as mentioned above, and play-off slots are annulled and not redistributed (Article 9.9).
- If any team granted a license refuses to participate, their slot, either direct or play-off, is annulled and not redistributed (Article 9.11).
Association ranking
For the 2023–24 AFC Cup, the associations are allocated slots according to their club competitions ranking which was published on 24 November 2021,[7][8][9] which takes into account their performance in the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
| Participation for 2023–24 AFC Cup | |
|---|---|
| Participating | |
| Not participating | |
NOTE: The following slot allocation is provisional. The final number of slots allocated to each association will be based on the AFC Cup criteria in the Entry Manual and confirmed by the AFC. For the South Asia Zone, the Central Asia Zone, and the East Asia Zone, the number of groups in the groups stage (one or two) will depend on the final number of slots allocated to each association (two groups if there are four direct slots or at least seven play-off slots). |
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- Notes
- ^ Jordan (JOR): Jordan are ranked 6th in the West Region for AFC Champions League allocation, and thus are allocated one direct slot in the AFC Cup group stage without taking away any direct slot from other associations.
- ^ Vietnam (VIE): Vietnam are ranked 6th in the East Region for AFC Champions League allocation, and thus are allocated one direct slot in the AFC Cup group stage without taking away any direct slot from other associations.
Teams
Location of teams of the 2023–24 AFC Cup.
NOTE: The following list of participating teams is provisional. The final list of participating teams will be confirmed by the AFC, based on the final slot allocation for each association and the list of teams passing the club licensing requirements. |
Teams in italics will play in the AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs, and will play in the AFC Cup group stage if they fail to advance to the AFC Champions League group stage. Should they advance to the AFC Champions League group stage, they will not play in the AFC Cup, and will be replaced by the standby team from their association if such team is available.
Note: Only teams assured of a place (including standby teams) are displayed.
- Notes
- ^ AFC Champions League (ACL): Team will play in the AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs; they will play in the AFC Cup should they fail to advance to the AFC Champions League group stage. If they do advance, they will be replaced by the standby team from the same association if such team is eligible.
- ^ To be confirmed (TBC): Due to the change of the competition date to autumn–spring format, some nations will have two domestic season completed before the competition starts. They are expected to announce their own slot allocation method for the competition, but haven't confirmed it yet.
- ^ Myanmar (MYA): Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar, the 2022 General Aung San Shield was not held. Instead, the runners-up of the 2022 Myanmar National League will participate in the AFC Cup play-off round.
- ^ Vietnam (VIE): Since Hanoi, the 2022 V.League 1 champions, are also the 2022 Vietnamese Cup winners, Haiphong, the 2022 V.League 1 runners-up, will play in the AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs, if they advance to the group stages, Binh Dinh, the 2022 V.League 1 third place, will replaced them to play in the group stage.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows.[10]
| Stage | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary stage | Preliminary round | No draw | 1–2 August 2023 | 8–9 August 2023 |
| Play-off stage | Play-off round | 15–16 August 2023 | 22–23 August 2023 | |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | TBD | 18–19 September 2023 (W, S), 20–21 September 2023 (C, A, E) | |
| Matchday 2 | 2–3 October 2023 (W, S), 4–5 October 2023 (C, A, E) | |||
| Matchday 3 | 23–24 October 2023 (W, S), 25–26 October 2023 (C, A, E) | |||
| Matchday 4 | 6–7 November 2023 (W, S), 8–9 November 2023 (C, A, E) | |||
| Matchday 5 | 27–28 November 2023 (W, S), 29–30 November 2023 (C, A, E) | |||
| Matchday 6 | 11–12 December 2023 (W, S), 13–14 December 2023 (C, A, E) | |||
| Knockout stage | Zonal semi-finals | 12–13 February 2024 (W), 5–6 February 2024 (A) (One leg) | 19–20 February 2024 (W) | |
| Zonal finals | TBD | 16 April 2024 (W), 13 February 2024 (S), 14 February 2024 (C, E), 22 February 2024 (A) (One leg) | 23 April 2024 (W), 20 February 2024 (S), 21 February 2024 (C, E) | |
| Inter-zone play-off semi-finals | 6–7 March 2024 | 13–14 March 2024 | ||
| Inter-zone play-off final | 17 April 2024 | 24 April 2024 | ||
| Final | 5 May 2024 | |||
- Notes
- A = ASEAN
- C = Central Asia
- E = East Asia
- S = South Asia
- W = West Asia
See also
References
- ^ "AFC Executive Committee unveils dynamic enhancements to the AFC Club Competitions". the-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 25 February 2022. Archived from the original on 9 March 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ "More Member Associations to benefit from inclusive AFC Champions League". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 23 November 2019. Archived from the original on 27 November 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
{{cite web}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; 27 November 2019 suggested (help) - ^ "AFC Club Competitions Ranking Mechanics". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Archived from the original on 2019-04-21. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
- ^ "Entry Manual for AFC Club Competitions (2021 Edition)". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Archived from the original on 2020-11-01. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
- ^ "2021-2022 йилги ОЧЛ ва ОФК кубоги мусобақалари учун йўлланмалар тақсимоти эълон қилинди". Uzbekistan Professional Football League. 29 July 2020. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
- ^ "ОФИЦИАЛЬНО: ЧЕМПИОН ТАДЖИКИСТАНА-2020 ВЫСТУПИТ В ГРУППОВОМ ЭТАПЕ ЛИГИ ЧЕМПИОНОВ АФК-2021!". Tajikistan Football Federation. 9 December 2019. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
- ^ "Slot allocation for AFC Champions League and AFC Cup 2023 confirmed". AFC. Archived from the original on 2021-12-30. Retrieved 2022-03-22.
- ^ a b c d e f "AFC Club Competitions Ranking". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 24 November 2021. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
- ^ "AFC Club Competitions Ranking 2021". FootyRankings. 24 November 2019. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- ^ "Schedule for new club competitions' seasons confirmed". AFC. 1 August 2022. Archived from the original on 1 August 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.