The 2018 AFC Cup was the 15th edition of the

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

's secondary club

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament organized by the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

(AFC).

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya ( ar, نادي القوة الجوية الرياضي, lit=Air Force Club) is an Iraqi sports club based in Rusafa District, Baghdad that competes in the Iraqi Premier League, the top-flight of Iraqi football. Founded in 193 ...

won the title for the third consecutive year, defeating Altyn Asyr in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Association team allocation

The AFC Competitions Committee recommended a new format for the AFC Cup starting from 2017 which was played in the AFC's five zones:

West Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

, and

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

, with the winner of the West Asia Zone and the winner of an inter-zone play-off between the other four zones playing in the final, hosted on a rotational basis at venues in the East and West. The 46 AFC member associations (excluding the associate member

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonw ...

) were 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 2017 and 2018 editions of the AFC club competitions determined by the 2016 AFC rankings (Entry Manual Article 2.2): *The associations were split into five zones: **West Asia Zone consists of the associations from the

West Asian Football Federation The West Asian Football Federation (WAFF; ar, اتحاد غرب آسيا لكرة القدم, Ittiḥād Gharb Āsiyā li-Kurat al-Qadam), founded in 2001, is an association of the football playing nations in Western Asia. Its founding members ...

(WAFF). **Central Asia Zone consists of the associations from

Central Asian Football Association The Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) is an association of the football playing nations in Central Asia. In June 2014, the association was in principle approved by the Asian Football Confederation and approved at the Extraordinary Congr ...

(CAFA). **South Asia Zone consists of the associations from the

South Asian Football Federation South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), founded in 1997, is an association of the football playing nations in South Asia and is part of the larger Asian Football Confederation. The members of the association are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Mald ...

(SAFF). **ASEAN Zone consists of the associations from the

ASEAN Football Federation The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) is an organisation within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and is an international governing body of association football in Southeast Asia. It consists of the federations of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, ...

(AFF). **East Asia Zone consists of the associations from the

East Asian Football Federation The East Asian Football Federation (EAFF), founded on 28 May 2002, is an international governing body of association football in East Asia. History Competitions Current title holders Presidents Member associations EAFF has 10 member a ...

(EAFF). *All associations which do not receive direct slots in the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

group stage are eligible to enter the AFC Cup. *In each zone, the number of groups in the group stage is determined based on the number of entries, with the number of slots filled through play-offs same as the number of groups: **In the West Asia Zone and the ASEAN Zone, there are three groups in the group stage, including a total of 9 direct slots, with the 3 remaining slots filled through play-offs. **In the Central Asia Zone, the South Asia Zone, and the East Asia Zone, there was one group in the group stage, including a total of 3 direct slots, with the 1 remaining slot filled through play-offs. *The top associations participating in the AFC Cup in each zone as per the AFC rankings got at least one direct slot in the group stage (including losers of the AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs), while the remaining associations get only play-off slots: **For the West Asia Zone and the ASEAN zone: ***The associations ranked 1st to 3rd each got two direct slots. ***The associations ranked 4th to 6th each got one direct slot and one play-off slot. ***The associations ranked 7th or below each got one play-off slot. **For the Central Asia Zone, the South Asia Zone, and the East Asia zone: ***The associations ranked 1st to 3rd each got one direct slot and one play-off slot. ***The associations ranked 4th or below each got one play-off slot. *The maximum number of slots for each association was one-third of the total number of eligible teams in the top division. *If any association gives up its direct slots, they were redistributed to the highest eligible association, with each association limited to a maximum of two direct slots. *If any association gives up its play-off slots, they were annulled and not redistributed to any other association. *If the number of teams in the play-offs in any zone was fewer than twice the number of group stage slots filled through play-offs, the play-off teams of the highest eligible associations were given byes to the group stage. For the 2018 AFC Cup, the associations were allocated slots according to their association ranking published on 30 November 2016, which took into account their performance in the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup, as well as their national team's

FIFA World Rankings The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...

between 2013 and 2016. ;Notes

Teams

The following 44 teams from 26 associations entered the competition.

;Notes

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows (W: West Asia Zone; C: Central Asia Zone; S: South Asia Zone; A: ASEAN Zone; E: East Asia Zone).

Qualifying play-offs

Preliminary round

Play-off round

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Group I

Ranking of second-placed teams

West Asia Zone

ASEAN Zone

Knockout stage

Bracket

Zonal semi-finals

Zonal finals

Inter-zone play-off semi-finals

Inter-zone play-off final

Final

Awards

Top scorers

References

External links

*, the-AFC.com
AFC Cup 2018
stats.the-AFC.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Afc Cup 2018 2018 in Asian football

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