The 2024–25 AFC Challenge League group stage will be played from October 26th to November 2nd 2024.[1]
The draw for the group stage took place on August 22 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 18 teams were drawn into five groups: three comprising four teams from the West each (Groups A–C) and two involving three teams from the East each (Groups D–E).[2] Teams were seeded into pots: four pots for West region and three pots for East region, and drawn into the relevant positions within each group, based on their association ranking. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.
The following 18 teams entered the group stage draw, which included the 14 direct entrants, two losers from the AFC Champions League Two qualifying play-offs (labeled ACL2) and the two winners of the preliminary stage (labeled PS).
Region | Groups | Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A–C | East BengalACL2 | Arkadag | Bashundhara Kings | Hilal Al-Quds | |
Al-Ahli ClubACL2 | Nejmeh | Al-Seeb | Abdysh-Ata KantPS | ||
Al-Arabi | Al-Fotuwa | Maziya | ParoPS | ||
D–E | Madura United | Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng | Young Elephants | — | |
Shan United | Taiwan Steel | SP Falcons | — |
In the group stage, each group will be played in a single round-robin format on a centralised venue. Eight teams will progress to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage : the three group winners and best-ranked runners-up from the West, and the group winners and runner-ups of each group from the East.
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations Article 8.3):[3]
The schedule of the group stage is as follows.[4]
Round | Dates | |
---|---|---|
Matchday 1 | 26 October 2024 (West), 27 October 2024 (East) | |
Matchday 2 | 29 October 2024 (West), 30 October 2024 (East) | |
Matchday 3 | 1 November 2024 (West), 2 November 2024 (East) |
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