2022 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs

AFC Cup qualifying play-offs

The 2022 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs were played from 5 to 19 April 2022.^[1] A total of ten teams competed in the qualifying play-offs to decide three of the 39 places in the group stage of the 2022 AFC Cup.^[2]

Teams

The following 10 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 three rounds:

4 teams entered in the preliminary round 1.
2 teams entered in the preliminary round 2.
4 teams entered in the play-off.

Zone	Teams entering in play-off round	Teams entering in preliminary round 2	Teams entering in preliminary round 1
West Asia Zone	None
South Asia Zone	Abahani Limited Dhaka	ATK Mohun Bagan ~~Abahani Limited Dhaka~~^{[note 1]}	Valencia Machhindra Blue Star Paro
Central Asia Zone	None
ASEAN Zone	~~Visakha FC~~^{[note 2]} ~~Young Elephants~~^{[note 2]}
East Asia Zone	Lee Man Athletic 220

Format

In the qualifying play-offs, each tie was played as a single match. Extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.^[2]

Schedule

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

Round	Match date
Preliminary round 1	5 April 2022
Preliminary round 2	12 April 2022
Play-off round	19 April 2022

Bracket

The bracket of the qualifying play-offs for each zone was determined based on each team's association ranking, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the match. The three winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the 36 direct entrants.

South Asia play-off

ATK Mohun Bagan advanced to Group D.

Preliminary round 1		Preliminary round 2		Play-off round






		ATK Mohun Bagan	5

		Blue Star	0
Machhindra	1

Blue Star	2
				ATK Mohun Bagan	3

				Abahani Limited Dhaka	1



		Abahani Limited Dhaka	w/o

		Valencia
Valencia (a.e.t.)	2

Paro	1

ASEAN play-off

Visakha FC advanced to Group G and Young Elephants advanced to Group I.^{[note 2]}

	Play-off round



	Visakha FC	—

	Young Elephants	—

East Asia play-off

Lee Man advanced to Group J.

	Play-off round



	Lee Man	2

	Athletic 220	1

Preliminary round 1

Summary

A total of four teams played in the preliminary round 1.

South Asia Zone
Team 1	Score	Team 2
Machhindra	1–2	Blue Star
Valencia	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Paro

South Asia Zone

5 April 2022 (2022-04-05)

17:00 UTC+5:45

Machhindra	1–2	Blue Star
S. Shrestha 90+4'	Report	Ihsan 24' Sandesh 28'

Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu

Attendance: 2,369

Referee: Yousif Saeed Hassan (Iraq)

5 April 2022 (2022-04-05)

22:00 UTC+5

Valencia	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Paro
Yaameen 18' Martín 101'	Report	Ellon 27'

National Football Stadium, Malé

Attendance: 0

Referee: Ahmad A'Qashah (Singapore)

Preliminary round 2

Summary

A total of four teams played in the preliminary round 2: two teams which entered in this round, and two winners of the preliminary round 1.

South Asia Zone
Team 1	Score	Team 2
ATK Mohun Bagan	5–0	Blue Star
Abahani Limited Dhaka	Cancelled^{[note 1]}	Valencia

South Asia Zone

12 April 2022 (2022-04-12)

19:30 UTC+5:30

ATK Mohun Bagan	5–0	Blue Star
Kauko 24', 39' (pen.) M. Singh 29', 89' Williams 77'	Report

Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata

Attendance: 25,948

Referee: Razlan Joffri Ali (Malaysia)

12 April 2022 (2022-04-12)

18:00 UTC+6

Abahani Limited Dhaka	Cancelled^{[note 1]}	Valencia
	Report

Sylhet District Stadium, Sylhet

Referee: Akhrol Riskullayev (Uzbekistan)

Play-off round

Summary

A total of six teams played in the play-off round: four teams which entered in this round, and two winners of the preliminary round 2.

South Asia Zone
Team 1	Score	Team 2
ATK Mohun Bagan	3–1	Abahani Limited Dhaka

ASEAN Zone
Team 1	Score	Team 2
Visakha FC	Cancelled^{[note 2]}	Young Elephants

East Zone
Team 1	Score	Team 2
Lee Man	2–1	Athletic 220

South Asia Zone

19 April 2022 (2022-04-19)

19:00 UTC+5:30

ATK Mohun Bagan	3–1	Abahani Limited Dhaka
Williams 6', 30', 85'	Report	Colindres 61'

Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata

Attendance: 31,925

Referee: Seyed Vahid Kazemi (Iran)

ASEAN Zone

Visakha FC	Cancelled^{[note 2]}	Young Elephants
	Report

Visakha Stadium, Phnom Penh

East Asia Zone

19 April 2022 (2022-04-19)

15:00 UTC+8

Lee Man	2–1	Athletic 220
Dutra 13' Tsui Wang Kit 61'	Report	Murayama 7'

MFF Football Centre, Ulaanbaatar^{[note 3]}

Attendance: 482

Referee: Pranjal Banerjee (India)

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c On 11 April 2022, the AFC announced that Valencia withdrew from the preliminary stage of the qualification, citing financial constraints. Abahani Limited Dhaka advanced to the play-off round.^[3]^[4]
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e On 19 January 2022, the AFC announced that the two teams from Myanmar, Shan United and Hanthawaddy United, withdrew from the group stage after the draw.^[5] As a result, on 1 March 2022, the AFC decided to cancel the ASEAN zone play-off round match between Visakha FC and Young Elephants, and promote both the participating teams to the group stage to fill the vacant group stage spots.^[6]
^ After the 2021–22 Hong Kong Premier League season was cancelled on 25 February 2022, due to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant spread in Hong Kong,^[7] the Hong Kong clubs announced that they would train overseas for their respective Asian campaigns. Hence, Lee Man asked their playoff round match against Athletic 220 to be moved to a different venue, which was later decided to be Athletic 220's home venue MFF Football Centre in Ulaanbaatar.^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b "AFC Competitions Calendar 2022" (PDF). the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-13. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
^ ^a ^b "AFC Cup 2022 Competition Regulations" (PDF). the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation.
^ "Latest update on the AFC Cup 2022". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 11 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
^ "Uncertainty over Club Valencia's arrival". The Daily Star. 11 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
^ "AFC confirms the withdrawal of Myanmar clubs". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 19 January 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
^ "AFC's decision on withdrawal of Myanmar clubs". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 1 March 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
^ "Arrangement of 2021-2022 BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League and cup matches". Hong Kong Football Association. 25 February 2022.
^ Chan, Kin-wa (1 March 2022). "Hong Kong side Lee Man follow Kitchee's lead, head overseas to train for AFC Cup campaign". South China Morning Post.