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 A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

of the

2018 AFC Cup The 2018 AFC Cup was the 15th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya won the title for the third consecutive year, defeating Altyn Asyr in the fin ...

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.

Format

In the qualifying play-offs, each tie was played on a home-and-away

two-legged In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum o ...

basis. The

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

(away goals do not apply in extra time) and

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 9.3). The five winners of the play-off round advanced to the

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).

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 Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles w ...

Play-off Central Asia

Ahal Ahal may refer to: * Ahal Province, in Turkmenistan * Ahel, a city in Fars Province, Iran * FC Ahal Ahal Änew Football Club ( tk, Ahal Änew Futbol Kluby), or simply Ahal FC, is a Turkmen professional association football club based in the ...

advanced to

Group D Group D may refer to: * FIA Group D - International Formula racing cars: ** Formula Two ** Formula Three ** Formula 3000 * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group D ** 2018 FIFA World ...

Play-off South Asia

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

advanced to

Group E Group E may refer to: * E-Group: E-Groups are unique architectural complexes found among a number of ancient Maya settlements * Group E (vase painting) Group E (or E Group) was a group of Attic vase painters of the black-figure style. They were a ...

Play-off ASEAN

Boeung Ket Angkor Boeung Ket Football Club ( km, ក្លឹបបាល់ទាត់បឹងកេត, ) is a Cambodian professional football club based in Phnom Penh. It currently plays in the Cambodian Premier League, the top tier of football in the countr ...

advanced to

Group F Group F may refer to: * A set of international motor racing regulations used in touring car racing * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group F ** 2018 FIFA World Cup Group F ** 2014 FIF ...

Play-off East Asia

* Hwaebul advanced to

Group I Group 1 may refer to: * Alkali metal, a chemical element classification for Alkali metal * Group 1 (racing), a historic (until 1981) classification for Touring car racing, applied to standard touring cars. Comparable to modern FIA Group N * Group On ...

Preliminary round

Summary

A total of six teams played in the preliminary round.

, +Central Asia Zone , +South Asia Zone

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 , +Central Asia Zone , +South Asia Zone , +ASEAN Zone , +East Asia Zone

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.''

Notes

References

External links

*, the-AFC.com
AFC Cup 2018
stats.the-AFC.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Afc Cup Qualifying Play-offs 2018 *1 January 2018 sports events in Asia February 2018 sports events in Asia