2015 AFC Cup

The AFC Competitions Committee proposed a revamp of the AFC club competitions on 25 January 2014,^[2] which was ratified by the AFC Executive Committee on 16 April 2014.^[3] The member associations are ranked based on their national team's and clubs' performance over the last four years in AFC competitions, with the allocation of slots for the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC club competitions determined by the 2014 rankings:^[4]

• The top 24 member associations (MAs) as per the AFC rankings which do not receive direct slots in the AFC Champions League are eligible to participate in the AFC Cup group stage (including losers of the AFC Champions League qualifying play-off).
• The MAs ranked 25 to 32 are eligible to participate in the AFC Cup group stage, and the associations ranked 33 to 47 are eligible to participate in the AFC Cup qualifying play-off (including those of "emerging countries" which participated in the AFC President's Cup, whose last edition was in 2014).

The AFC Competitions Committee decided on the participation of member associations in the 2015 and 2016 editions of the AFC Cup on 28 November 2014.^[5][6][7]

East Zone

Rank		Member Association	Points[4]	Slots
				ACL Play-off	Group stage	Play-off
Zone	All					Play-off round
7	18	Indonesia	25.004	1	1	0
8	20	Hong Kong	20.077	1	1	0
9	21	Myanmar[G]	18.949	1	1	0
10	22	Malaysia[H]	18.153	1	1	0
11	23	India[H]	16.756	1	1	0
12	24	Singapore[H]	16.097	1	1	0
13	26	Maldives	15.884	0	1	1
14	27	Philippines	12.268	0	1	1
15	31	North Korea[I]	9.000	0	0	0
16	33	Laos[J]	7.554	0	1	0
17	34	Guam	5.946	0	0	0
18	39	East Timor	2.732	0	0	0
19	41	Macau	2.625	0	0	0
20	42	Cambodia	2.464	0	0	0
21	43	Chinese Taipei	2.089	0	0	0
22	44	Mongolia	1.554	0	0	0
23	45	Brunei	0.804	0	0	0
Total				6	9	2

Notes

The following 41 teams from 23 associations entered the competition.^[8]

Teams in italics played in the 2015 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to the AFC Champions League group stage (had they advanced to the AFC Champions League group stage, they would have been replaced by another team from the same association).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 Zone

Team	Qualifying method	App	Last App
Group stage direct entrants (Groups E–H)
Persib Bandung	2014 Indonesia Super League champions	1st	none
Persipura Jayapura	2014 Indonesia Super League runners-up[Note IDN]	3rd	2014
Kitchee	2013–14 Hong Kong First Division League champions	5th	2014
South China	2013–14 Hong Kong season play-off winners	6th	2014
Yadanarbon	2014 Myanmar National League champions	1st	none
Ayeyawady United	2014 MFF Cup winners	3rd	2013
Johor Darul Ta'zim	2014 Malaysia Super League champions	2nd	2009
Pahang	2014 Malaysia FA Cup winners	3rd	2007
Bengaluru FC	2013–14 I-League champions	1st	none
East Bengal	2013–14 I-League runners-up[Note IND]	8th	2013
Warriors	2014 S.League champions	4th	2013
Balestier Khalsa	2014 Singapore Cup winners	1st	none
New Radiant	2014 Dhivehi League champions	7th	2014
Global	2014 UFL Division 1 champions[Note PHI]	1st	none
Lao Toyota FC	2014 Lao League runners-up	1st	none
Qualifying play-off participants
Entering in play-off round
Maziya	2014 Maldives FA Cup winners	3rd	2014
Ceres	2014 UFL FA League Cup winners[Note PHI]	1st	none

Notes

Al-Shorta

Erbil

Al-Qadsia
Al-Kuwait

Jordan

Teams from Jordan:
Al-Wehdat
Al-Jazeera

Al-Nahda

Fanja (p)

Riffa
Al-Hidd (p)

Lebanon

Teams from Lebanon:
Al-Nejmeh
Salam Zgharta (p)

Syria

Teams from Syria:
Al-Wahda
Al-Jaish (p)

Palestine

Teams from Palestine:
Taraji Wadi Al-Nes
Hilal Al-Quds (p)

Istiklol
Khayr Vahdat (p)

Altyn Asyr (p)
Ahal (p)

Dordoi (p)

Al-Saqr (p)

Sheikh Russel (p)

Manang Marshyangdi Club (p)

Persib Bandung

Persipura Jayapura

Kitchee
South China

Yadanarbon

Ayeyawady U

Johor DT

Pahang

Bengaluru FC

East Bengal

Warriors
Balestier K

New Radiant
Maziya (p)

Global

Ceres (p)

Lao Toyota FC

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Location of teams of the 2015 AFC Cup.
West Zone
East Zone
(p) Qualifying play-off participants

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).^[17]

The bracket for the qualifying play-off, which consisted of two rounds (preliminary round and play-off round), was determined by the AFC based on the association ranking of each team.^[18] Each tie was played as a single match, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the match. Extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary. The winners of each tie in the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the 27 automatic qualifiers.^[1]

Preliminary round

Team 1	Score	Team 2
West Zone
Ahal	1–0	Dordoi
Altyn Asyr	0–1	Al-Saqr
Khayr Vahdat	1–0	Sheikh Russel
Hilal Al-Quds	w/o[K]	Manang Marshyangdi Club

Notes

Play-off round

Team 1	Score	Team 2
West Zone
Fanja	2–3	Ahal
Al-Hidd	2–1	Al-Saqr
Salam Zgharta	3–0	Khayr Vahdat
Al-Jaish	0–0 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	Hilal Al-Quds
East Zone
Maziya	1–0	Ceres

The draw for the group stage was held on 11 December 2014.^[18] 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.

Tiebreakers

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:^[1]

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.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		WEH	WAH	NAH	SZG
1	Al-Wehdat	6	4	1	1	16	3	+13	13	Advance to knockout stage		—	0–1	4–0	5–1
2	Al-Wahda	6	3	2	1	8	4	+4	11			1–1	—	1–2	3–1
3	Al-Nahda	6	2	1	3	7	11	−4	7			0–3	0–0	—	4–1
4	Salam Zgharta	6	1	0	5	5	18	−13	3			0–3	0–2	2–1	—

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SHO	JAZ	TWN	HID
1	Al-Shorta	6	2	3	1	14	7	+7	9	Advance to knockout stage		—	4–0	6–2	2–2
2	Al-Jazeera	6	2	3	1	6	7	−1	9			1–1	—	2–0	1–0
3	Taraji Wadi Al-Nes	6	1	3	2	6	11	−5	6			1–0	1–1	—	1–1
4	Al-Hidd	6	0	5	1	6	7	−1	5			1–1	1–1	1–1	—

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		IST	QAD	ERB	AHA
1	Istiklol	6	3	2	1	12	8	+4	11	Advance to knockout stage		—	2–0	1–3	5–2
2	Al-Qadsia	6	3	1	2	7	6	+1	10			2–2	—	1–2	2–0
3	Erbil	6	2	1	3	8	8	0	7			0–0	0–1	—	2–3
4	Ahal	6	2	0	4	8	13	−5	6			1–2	0–1	2–1	—

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		JAI	KUW	RIF	NEJ
1	Al-Jaish	6	4	2	0	6	1	+5	14	Advance to knockout stage		—	0–0	1–1	1–0
2	Al-Kuwait	6	3	1	2	9	6	+3	10			0–1	—	2–1	4–1
3	Riffa	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8			0–1	2–1	—	2–1
4	Al-Nejmeh	6	0	1	5	4	12	−8	1			0–2	1–2	1–1	—

Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PSJ	BGL	MAZ	WAR
1	Persipura Jayapura	6	5	1	0	17	4	+13	16	Advance to knockout stage		—	3–1	0–0	6–0
2	Bengaluru FC	6	4	0	2	8	8	0	12			1–3	—	2–1	1–0
3	Maziya	6	2	1	3	7	6	+1	7			1–2	1–2	—	2–0
4	Warriors	6	0	0	6	1	15	−14	0			1–3	0–1	0–2	—

Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		JDT	KIT	EBG	BAL
1	Johor Darul Ta'zim	6	5	0	1	11	3	+8	15	Advance to knockout stage		—	2–0	4–1	3–0
2	Kitchee	6	3	2	1	10	6	+4	11			2–0	—	2–2	3–0
3	East Bengal	6	1	2	3	8	10	−2	5			0–1	1–1	—	3–0
4	Balestier Khalsa	6	1	0	5	3	13	−10	3			0–1	1–2	2–1	—

Group G

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SCA	PAH	GLO	YAD
1	South China	6	6	0	0	19	3	+16	18	Advance to knockout stage		—	3–1	3–0	3–1
2	Pahang	6	2	2	2	11	10	+1	8			0–1	—	0–0	7–4
3	Global	6	1	2	3	5	12	−7	5			1–6	0–0	—	4–1
4	Yadanarbon	6	1	0	5	10	20	−10	3			0–3	2–3	2–0	—

Group H

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PSB	AYE	NRA	LAO
1	Persib Bandung	6	3	3	0	10	5	+5	12	Advance to knockout stage		—	3–3	4–1	1–0
2	Ayeyawady United	6	2	4	0	13	9	+4	10			1–1	—	0–0	4–3
3	New Radiant	6	1	2	3	4	10	−6	5			0–1	0–3	—	2–1
4	Lao Toyota FC	6	0	3	3	7	10	−3	3			0–0	2–2	1–1	—

In the knockout 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 would not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.^[1]

Bracket

	Round of 16				Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Al-Shorta	0
	Al-Kuwait	2
					Al-Kuwait	6	1	7
					Kitchee	0	1	1
	Persib Bandung	0
	Kitchee	2
											Al-Kuwait	4	—	—
											Istiklol (w/o)	0	—	—
	Istiklol (pen.)	1(4)
	Al-Wahda	1(2)
					Istiklol	4	1	5
					Pahang	0	3	3
	Persipura Jayapura	0
	Pahang (awd.)	3
																	Istiklol	0
																	Johor Darul Ta'zim	1
	Al-Wehdat	0
	Al-Qadsia	1
					Al-Qadsia	3	0	3
					Al-Jaish	0	2	2
	Al-Jaish	1
	Al-Jazeera	0
											Al-Qadsia	3	—	—
											Johor Darul Ta'zim (w/o)	1	—	—
	Johor Darul Ta'zim	5
	Ayeyawady United	0
					Johor Darul Ta'zim	1	3	4
					South China	1	1	2
	South China	2
	Bengaluru FC	0

Round of 16

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.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
West Zone
Al-Wehdat	0–1	Al-Qadsia
Istiklol	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Al-Wahda
Al-Shorta	0–2	Al-Kuwait
Al-Jaish	1–0	Al-Jazeera
East Zone
Persipura Jayapura	0–3 (awd.)[L]	Pahang
South China	2–0	Bengaluru FC
Johor Darul Ta'zim	5–0	Ayeyawady United
Persib Bandung	0–2	Kitchee

Notes

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 18 June 2015. Teams from different zones could be drawn into the same tie, and there was no seeding or country protection, so teams from the same association could be drawn into the same tie.^[22]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Qadsia	3–2	Al-Jaish	3–0	0–2
Johor Darul Ta'zim	4–2	South China	1–1	3–1
Al-Kuwait	7–1	Kitchee	6–0	1–1
Istiklol	5–3	Pahang	4–0	1–3

Semi-finals

In the semi-finals, the matchups were determined by the quarter-final draw.^[22]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Qadsia	w/o[M]	Johor Darul Ta'zim	3–1	Cancelled
Al-Kuwait	w/o[M]	Istiklol	4–0	Cancelled

Notes

Final

In the final, the host team was determined by a draw, held after the quarter-final draw.^[22]

31 October 2015

17:00 UTC+5

Istiklol	0–1	Johor Darul Ta'zim
	Report	Velázquez 23'

Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe

Attendance: 18,000

Referee: Minoru Tōjō (Japan)

Rank	Player	Team	MD1	MD2	MD3	MD4	MD5	MD6	2R	QF1	QF2	SF1	SF2	F	Total
1	Daniel McBreen	South China	2	1			1	2	2						8
	Riste Naumov	Ayeyawady United	2		2		2	2							8
3	Dickson Nwakaeme	Pahang	1			2	3								6
4	Juan Belencoso	Kitchee		1	1		2		1						5
	Mahama Awal	South China	2	1						1	1				5
	Boaz Solossa	Persipura Jayapura	1		1		2	1							5
	Rogerinho	Al-Kuwait					2		1	2					5
	Bader Al-Mutawa	Al-Qadsia			2		1			1		1			5
	Luciano Figueroa	Johor Darul Ta'zim				1		1	2	1					5
10	Ranti Martins	East Bengal	1	1		1		1							4
	Marwan Hussein	Al-Shorta			2			2							4
	Mahmoud Za'tara	Al-Wehdat	2	1				1							4
	Vinícius	Al-Kuwait								1		3			4
	Safee Sali	Johor Darul Ta'zim	1					1			2				4
	Mohd Safiq Rahim	Johor Darul Ta'zim	1			1		1	1						4
	Edison Fonseca	Ayeyawady United		1	1		2								4
	Manuchekhr Dzhalilov	Istiklol			1	1		2							4
	Khurshed Makhmudov	Istiklol		1				1		1	1				4

Note: Goals scored in qualifying play-off not counted when determining top scorer (see regulations, Article 77.4).^[1][26]

Source: the-AFC.com^[27][28][29]

• 2015 AFC Champions League

• AFC Cup, the-AFC.com