2016 AFC Cup group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2015, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Petaling Jaya Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[3] The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.^[4][5]

The seeding of each team in the draw was determined by their association and their qualifying position within their association. The mechanism of the draw was as follows:^[6]

• For the West Zone, a draw was held for the three associations with two direct entrants (Iraq, Jordan, Oman) to determine the seeds 1 placed in order for Groups A, B and C. The remaining teams were then allocated to the groups according to the rules set by AFC.
• For the East Zone, a draw was held for the seven associations with two direct entrants (Hong Kong, Myanmar, Malaysia, India, Singapore, Maldives, Philippines) to determine the four associations occupying seeds 1 and 2, with seeds 1 placed in order for Groups E, F, G and H, and the three associations occupying seeds 3 and 4, with seeds 3 placed in order for Groups E, F and G. The remaining teams were then allocated to the groups according to the rules set by AFC.

The following 32 teams (16 from West Zone, 16 from East Zone) entered into the group-stage draw, which included the 28 direct entrants and the four winners of the qualifying play-off, whose identity were not known at the time of the draw.^[3]

Zone	Seed 1	Seed 2	Seed 3	Seed 4
West Zone (Groups A–D)	Naft Al-Wasat	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Al-Jaish	Al-Hidd (Winner Play-off 1)
	Al-Wehdat[†]	Al-Faisaly	Shabab Al-Dhahiriya	Tripoli (Winner Play-off 2)
	Al-Orouba	Fanja	Istiklol	Al-Wahda (Winner Play-off 3)
	Al-Muharraq	Al-Ahed	Altyn Asyr	Ahli Al-Khaleel (Winner Play-off 4)
East Zone (Groups E–H)	Kitchee[†]	South China	Yangon United[†]	Ayeyawady United
	Johor Darul Ta'zim[†]	Selangor	New Radiant	Maziya
	Mohun Bagan[†]	Bengaluru FC	Ceres	Kaya
	Tampines Rovers[†]	Balestier Khalsa	Lao Toyota FC	Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi (Winner qualifying round Group B)[‡]

Notes

In the group stage, 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.^[2]

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order (Regulations Article 11.5):^[2]

1. Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
3. Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
4. Greater number of away goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
5. If, after applying criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 10 apply;
6. Goal difference in all the group matches;
7. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
8. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
9. Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card);
10. Team who belongs to the member association with the higher AFC ranking.

The schedule of each matchday was as follows.^[1][2]

• AFC Cup, the-AFC.com