2022 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

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

5 April 2022 (2022-04-05)

17:00 UTC+5:45

Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu

Attendance: 2,369

Referee: Yousif Saeed Hassan (Iraq)

---

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

5 April 2022 (2022-04-05)

22:00 UTC+5

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

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

12 April 2022 (2022-04-12)

19:30 UTC+5:30

Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata

Attendance: 25,948

Referee: Razlan Joffri Ali (Malaysia)

---

Abahani Limited Dhaka	Cancelled[note 1]	Valencia
	Report

12 April 2022 (2022-04-12)

18:00 UTC+6

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

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

19 April 2022 (2022-04-19)

19:00 UTC+5:30

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

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

19 April 2022 (2022-04-19)

15:00 UTC+8

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

Attendance: 482

Referee: Pranjal Banerjee (India)

Notes

1. 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]
2. 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]
3. 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]