# 2018 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs

The 2018 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs were played from 22 January to 20 February 2018. A total of 13 teams competed in the qualifying play-offs to decide five of the 36 places in the group stage of the 2018 AFC Cup.

## Teams

The following 13 teams, split into five zones (West Asia Zone, Central Asia Zone, South Asia Zone, ASEAN Zone, East Asia Zone), entered the qualifying play-offs, consisting of two rounds:
* 6 teams entered in the preliminary round.
* 7 teams entered in the play-off round.
| Zone | Teams entering in play-off round | Teams entering in preliminary round |
| West Asia Zone | Al-Suwaiq Hilal Al-Quds | |
| Central Asia Zone | Khujand | Ahal Dordoi |
| South Asia Zone | | Bengaluru TC Sports Saif Transport United |
| ASEAN Zone | Lao Toyota Boeung Ket Angkor | |
| East Asia Zone | Hwaebul Erchim | |

## Format

In the qualifying play-offs, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 9.3). The five winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the 31 direct entrants.

## Schedule

The schedule of each round was as follows (W: West Asia Zone; C: Central Asia Zone; S: South Asia Zone; A: ASEAN Zone; E: East Asia Zone).
| Round | W | W | A | A | C, S, E | C, S, E |
| Round | First leg | Second leg | First leg | Second leg | First leg | Second leg |
| Preliminary round | Not played | Not played | Not played | Not played | 23 January 2018 | 30 January 2018 |
| Play-off round | 22 January 2018 | 29 January 2018 | 29 January 2018 | 2 February 2018 | 13 February 2018 | 20 February 2018 |

## Bracket

The bracket of the qualifying play-offs for each zone was determined by the AFC based on the association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the second leg.

### Play-off West Asia

* Al-Suwaiq advanced to Group A.
| Play-off round | Play-off round | Play-off round | Play-off round |
| Hilal Al-Quds | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Al-Suwaiq | 1 | 1 | 2 |

### Play-off Central Asia

* Ahal advanced to Group D.
| Preliminary round | Preliminary round | Preliminary round | Preliminary round | Play-off round | Play-off round | Play-off round | Play-off round |
| Dordoi | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | |
| Ahal | 3 | 2 | 5 | | | | |
| Ahal | 3 | 2 | 5 | Ahal | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| | | | | Khujand | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Play-off South Asia

* Bengaluru advanced to Group E.
| Preliminary round | Preliminary round | Preliminary round | Preliminary round | Play-off round | Play-off round | Play-off round | Play-off round |
| Saif | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | |
| TC Sports | 1 | 3 | 4 | | | | |
| TC Sports | 1 | 3 | 4 | TC Sports | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| | | | | Bengaluru | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Transport United | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bengaluru | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Bengaluru | 0 | 3 | 3 | | | | |

### Play-off ASEAN

* Boeung Ket Angkor advanced to Group F.
| Play-off round | Play-off round | Play-off round | Play-off round |
| Boeung Ket Angkor | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Lao Toyota | 3 | 0 | 3 |

### Play-off East Asia

* Hwaebul advanced to Group I.
| Play-off round | Play-off round | Play-off round | Play-off round |
| Erchim | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hwaebul | 4 | 3 | 7 |

## Preliminary round
### Summary

A total of six teams played in the preliminary round.
Central Asia Zone :
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
South Asia Zone :
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |

### Central Asia Zone

Ahal won 5–3 on aggregate.

### South Asia Zone

Bengaluru won 3–0 on aggregate.
TC Sports won 4–1 on aggregate.

## Play-off round
### Summary

A total of 10 teams played in the play-off round: seven teams which entered in this round, and three winners of the preliminary round.
West Asia Zone :
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
Central Asia Zone :
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
South Asia Zone :
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
ASEAN Zone :
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
East Asia Zone :
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |

### West Asia Zone

Al-Suwaiq won 2–1 on aggregate.

### Central Asia Zone

Ahal won 3–0 on aggregate.

### South Asia Zone

Bengaluru won 8–2 on aggregate.

### ASEAN Zone

Boeung Ket Angkor won 4–3 on aggregate.

### East Asia Zone

Hwaebul won 7–0 on aggregate.