The 2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs were played from 21 January to 26 February 2020,
before the remaining matches were suspended, and eventually cancelled by the AFC on 10 September 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Under the original competition format, a total of 19 teams would compete in the qualifying play-offs to decide seven 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
2020 AFC Cup
The 2020 AFC Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The competition was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic after group stage matches on 11 March ...
.
Teams
The following 19 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:
*2 teams entered in the preliminary round 1.
*7 teams entered in the preliminary round 2.
*10 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 would 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 ...
would be used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 9.3).
Schedule
The original schedule of each round was as follows.
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The East Asia Zone preliminary round 2 first leg between Ulaanbaatar City and Taipower, originally scheduled to be played on 5 February 2020 and hosted by Ulaanbaatar City, was not played as scheduled because the Mongolian government had banned Chinese nationals, including people from Taiwan, from entering Mongolia due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
The COVID-19 pandemic began in Asia in Wuhan, Hubei, China, and has spread widely through the continent. As of , at least one case of COVID-19 had been reported in every country in Asia except Turkmenistan.
The Asian countries with the highe ...
.
The AFC announced on 11 February 2020 that the East Asia Zone preliminary round and play-off round matches would be postponed to 7 and 14 April, and 21 and 28 April.
The AFC announced on 18 March 2020 that all matches would be postponed until further notice.
On 9 July 2020, the AFC announced the new schedule for the remaining matches.
The tie between Taipower and Ulaanbaatar City, now in the play-off round after
Tai Po
Tai Po is an area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It refers to the vicinity of the traditional market towns in the area presently known as Tai Po Old Market or Tai Po Kau Hui () (the original "Tai Po Market") on the north of Lam Tsue ...
's withdrawal,
would be played as a single match on 30 September, later rescheduled to 16 October, and hosted by Taipower as they were from the higher-ranked association.
The AFC announced the cancellation of the remainder of the competition on 10 September 2020, due to logistics in coordinating the five zones.
Bracket
The bracket of the qualifying play-offs for each zone was determined based on the
association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the second leg. The seven winners of the play-off round (one each from West Asia Zone, Central Asia Zone, South Asia Zone, East Asia Zone, and three from ASEAN Zone) would advance to 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 ...
to join the 29 direct entrants.
Play-off West Asia
*
Hilal Al-Quds
Hilal Al-Quds Club ( ar, نادي هلال القدس) is a Palestinian sports, cultural, social, scouting, artistic and youth club. It is a club that has many sports activities, one of which is football . It is considered one of the oldest clubs ...
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
*
Khujand
Khujand ( tg, Хуҷанд, Khujand; Uzbek: Хўжанд, romanized: Хo'jand; fa, خجند, Khojand), sometimes spelled Khodjent and known as Leninabad (russian: Ленинабад, Leninabad; tg, Ленинобод, Leninobod; fa, لن ...
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
*
Maziya 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 1
*
PSM Makassar
Persatuan Sepakbola Makassar ( 'Football Association of Makassar'; abbreviated as PSM) is an Indonesian professional football club based in Makassar, South Sulawesi that competes in Liga 1. PSM was founded in 1915 as , making it the oldest ...
advanced to
Group H Group H may refer to:
* A set of international motor racing regulations used in touring car racing
* One of eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup
** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group H
** 2018 FIFA World Cup Group H
** 2014 FIFA Worl ...
.
Play-off ASEAN 2
*
Yangon United
Yangon United Football Club ( my, ရန်ကုန် ယူနိုက်တက် ဘောလုံးအသင်း ) is a Burmese football club, based at Yangon United Sports Complex, in Yangon, Myanmar. Owned by Tay Za, a prominent Bu ...
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 ASEAN 3
*
Svay Rieng advanced to
Group G Group G may refer to:
* A set of international motor racing regulations used in touring car racing
* One of eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup
** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group G
** 2018 FIFA World Cup Group G
** 2014 FIFA World ...
.
Play-off East Asia
*Winners would have 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 1
Summary
A total of two teams played in the preliminary round 1.
, +South Asia Zone
South Asia Zone
''5–5 on aggregate. Paro won on away goals.''
Preliminary round 2
Summary
A total of 8 teams played in the preliminary round 2: seven teams which entered in this round, and one winner of the preliminary round 1.
, +Central Asia Zone
, +South Asia Zone
;Notes
Central Asia Zone
''Neftchi won on walkover after Ahal were disqualified by the AFC for failing to travel to Kyrgyzstan for the first leg due to concerns of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
The COVID-19 pandemic began in Asia in Wuhan, Hubei, China, and has spread widely through the continent. As of , at least one case of COVID-19 had been reported in every country in Asia except Turkmenistan.
The Asian countries with the highe ...
.
''
South Asia Zone
''Bengaluru won 10–1 on aggregate.''
----
''2–2 on aggregate. Maziya won on away goals.''
Play-off round
Summary
A total of 14 teams played in the play-off round: ten teams which entered in this round, and four winners of the preliminary round 2.
, +West Asia Zone
, +Central Asia Zone
, +South Asia Zone
, +ASEAN Zone
, +East Asia Zone
West Asia Zone
''Hilal Al-Quds won 2–0 on aggregate.''
Central Asia Zone
''Khujand won 3–1 on aggregate.''
South Asia Zone
''4–4 on aggregate. Maziya won 4–3 on penalties.''
ASEAN Zone
''PSM Makassar won 7–2 on aggregate.''
----
''Yangon United won 9–2 on aggregate.''
----
''Svay Rieng won 7–1 on aggregate.''
East Asia Zone
Notes
References
External links
*, the-AFC.com
AFC Cup 2020 stats.the-AFC.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Afc Cup Qualifying Play-offs 2020
*1
January 2020 sports events in Asia
February 2020 sports events in Asia