# 2023–24 AFC Cup group stage

The 2023–24 AFC Cup group stage was played from 18 September to 11 December 2023. A total of 36 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 11 places in the knockout stage of the 2023–24 AFC Cup.

## Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on 24 August 2023 at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 36 teams were drawn into nine groups of four teams: three groups each in the West Asia Zone (Groups A–C) and the ASEAN Zone (Groups F–H), one group in the Central Asia Zone (Groups E), and one group each in the South Asia Zone (Group D) and the East Asia Zone (Group I). For each zone, teams were seeded into four pots and drawn into the relevant positions within each group, based on their association ranking and their seeding within their association, in consideration of technical balance between groups. Teams from the same association in zones with more than one group (West Asia Zone and ASEAN Zone) could not be drawn into the same group.
| Zone | Groups | Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| West Asia Zone | A–C | Al-Wehdat | Al-Kuwait | Jabal Al-Mukaber | Al-Arabi |
| West Asia Zone | A–C | Al-Zawraa | Al-Riffa | Al-Kahrabaa | Al-Ittihad (Winners of West Asia Play-off) |
| West Asia Zone | A–C | Al-Ahed | Al-Fotuwa | Nejmeh | Al-Nahda (Winners of West Asia Play-off) |
| South Asia Zone | D | Odisha | Bashundhara Kings | Maziya | Mohun Bagan SG (Winners of South Asia Play-off) |
| Central Asia Zone | E | Ravshan Kulob | Altyn Asyr | Abdysh-Ata Kant | Merw Mary (Winners of Central Asia Play-off) |
| ASEAN Zone | F–H | Hai Phong | Macarthur FC | Shan United | Central Coast Mariners |
| ASEAN Zone | F–H | DH Cebu | Hougang United | Stallion Laguna | PSM Makassar (Winners of ASEAN Play-off) |
| ASEAN Zone | F–H | Terengganu | Bali United | Sabah | Phnom Penh Crown (Winners of ASEAN Play-off) |
| East Asia Zone | I | Chao Pak Kei | Taiwan Steel | FC Ulaanbaatar | Taichung Futuro (Winners of East Asia Play-off) |

## Format

In the group stage, each group is played on a home-and-away round-robin format. The following teams will advance to the knockout stage:
* The winners of each group and the best runners-up in the West Asia Zone and the ASEAN Zone advance to the Zonal semi-finals.
* The winners of each group in the South Asia Zone, Central Asia Zone and the East Asia Zone advance to the Inter-zone play-off semi-finals.

### Tiebreakers

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 were applied in the following order (Regulations Article 8.3):
* Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
* Goal difference in all group matches;
* Goals scored in all group matches;
* Penalty shoot-out if only two teams playing each other in the last round of the group are tied;
* Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
* Association ranking;
* Drawing of lots.

## Schedule

The schedule of each matchday was as follows.
| Matchday | Dates | Dates | Dates | Dates | Dates |
| Matchday | West | South | Central | ASEAN | East |
| Matchday 1 | 18–19 September 2023 | 18–19 September 2023 | 20–21 September 2023 | 20–21 September 2023 | 20–21 September 2023 |
| Matchday 2 | 2–3 October 2023 | 2–3 October 2023 | 4–5 October 2023 | 4–5 October 2023 | 4–5 October 2023 |
| Matchday 3 | 23–24 October 2023 | 23–24 October 2023 | 25–26 October 2023 | 25–26 October 2023 | 25–26 October 2023 |
| Matchday 4 | 6–7 November 2023 | 6–7 November 2023 | 8–9 November 2023 | 8–9 November 2023 | 8–9 November 2023 |
| Matchday 5 | 27–28 November 2023 | 27–28 November 2023 | 29–30 November 2023 | 29–30 November 2023 | 29–30 November 2023 |
| Matchday 6 | 11–12 December 2023 | 11–12 December 2023 | 13–14 December 2023 | 13–14 December 2023 | 13–14 December 2023 |

## Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ALN | AHD | FUT | JAB |
| 1 | Al-Nahda | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 9 | Zonal semi-finals | — | 2–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 |
| 2 | Al-Ahed | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 | Zonal semi-finals | 2–1 | — | 2–1 | 23 Oct |
| 3 | Al-Fotuwa | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 3 | | 0–1 | 1–0 | — | 27 Nov |
| 4 | Jabal Al-Mukaber | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew | 12 Dec | 6 Nov | 1–0 | — |
* ↑ On 26 November 2023, Jabal Al-Mukaber announced their withdrawal from the competition.

## Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | KAH | WHD | KSC | ITT |
| 1 | Al-Kahrabaa | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 13 | Zonal semi-finals | — | 3–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 |
| 2 | Al-Wehdat | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 10 | | 3–1 | — | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Al-Kuwait | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 7 | | 0–1 | 2–1 | — | 1–1 |
| 4 | Al-Ittihad | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 2 | | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | — |

## Group C

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | RIF | ZWR | ARA | NEJ |
| 1 | Al-Riffa | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 5 | +10 | 13 | Zonal semi-finals | — | 1–1 | 2–1 | 6–1 |
| 2 | Al-Zawraa | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 11 | | 2–1 | — | 1–2 | 4–1 |
| 3 | Al-Arabi | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 8 | | 0–3 | 1–1 | — | 0–0 |
| 4 | Nejmeh | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 16 | −12 | 1 | | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | — |

## Group D

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ODI | BDK | MBSG | MAZ |
| 1 | Odisha | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 12 | +5 | 12 | Inter-zone play-off semi-finals | — | 1–0 | 0–4 | 6–1 |
| 2 | Bashundhara Kings | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 | | 3–2 | — | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Mohun Bagan SG | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 7 | | 2–5 | 2–2 | — | 2–1 |
| 4 | Maziya | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 14 | −5 | 6 | | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–0 | — |

## Group E

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ABD | ALT | MRW | RAV |
| 1 | Abdysh-Ata Kant | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 6 | +12 | 16 | Inter-zone play-off semi-finals | — | 3–0 | 8–3 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Altyn Asyr | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 10 | | 2–4 | — | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| 3 | Merw Mary | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 13 | −7 | 3 | | 1–1 | 1–2 | — | 1–1 |
| 4 | Ravshan Kulob | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 3 | | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | — |

## Group F

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | MAC | CRO | DHC | SHN |
| 1 | Macarthur FC | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 5 | +18 | 15 | Zonal semi-finals | — | 5–0 | 8–2 | 4–0 |
| 2 | Phnom Penh Crown | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 7 | +8 | 12 | Zonal semi-finals | 3–0 | — | 4–0 | 4–0 |
| 3 | DH Cebu | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 19 | −15 | 4 | | 0–3 | 0–3 | — | 1–0 |
| 4 | Shan United | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 14 | −11 | 4 | | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | — |
* 1 2 Ranked on head-to-head points: DH Cebu 4, Shan United 1.

## Group G

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | CCM | TFC | BUF | STA |
| 1 | Central Coast Mariners | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 7 | +14 | 13 | Zonal semi-finals | — | 1–1 | 6–3 | 9–1 |
| 2 | Terengganu | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 12 | | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | 2–2 |
| 3 | Bali United | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 7 | | 1–2 | 1–1 | — | 5–2 |
| 4 | Stallion Laguna | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 27 | −18 | 1 | | 0–3 | 2–3 | 2–5 | — |

## Group H

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | SAB | HFC | PSM | HOU |
| 1 | Sabah | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 9 | +10 | 12 | Zonal semi-finals | — | 4–1 | 1–3 | 3–1 |
| 2 | Haiphong | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 10 | | 3–2 | — | 3–0 | 4–0 |
| 3 | PSM Makassar | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 12 | −2 | 10 | | 0–5 | 1–1 | — | 3–1 |
| 4 | Hougang United | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 18 | −12 | 3 | | 1–4 | 2–1 | 1–3 | — |
* 1 2 Ranked on head-to-head points: Haiphong 4, PSM Makassar 1.

## Group I

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | FUT | ULA | TAI | CPK |
| 1 | Taichung Futuro | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 12 | Inter-zone play-off semi-finals | — | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Ulaanbaatar | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 12 | | 0–2 | — | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| 3 | Taiwan Steel | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 12 | +3 | 9 | | 5–1 | 3–0 | — | 4–2 |
| 4 | Chao Pak Kei | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 3 | | 0–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 | — |
* 1 2 Ranked on head-to-head goal difference: Taichung Futuro +1, Ulaanbaatar –1

## Ranking of runner-up teams
### West Asia Zone

Since Group A only had three teams, the results against fourth-placed teams in Groups B and C were omitted for this ranking.
| Pos | Grp | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | A | Al-Ahed | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 | Zonal semi-finals |
| 2 | C | Al-Zawraa | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | |
| 3 | B | Al-Wehdat | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 4 | |

### ASEAN Zone

| Pos | Grp | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | F | Phnom Penh Crown | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 7 | +8 | 12 | Zonal semi-finals |
| 2 | G | Terengganu | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 12 | |
| 3 | H | Haiphong | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 10 | |