2013 AFC Cup

Allocation of entries per association

The AFC laid out the procedure for deciding the participating associations and the allocation of slots, with the final decision to be made by the AFC in November 2012. The following changes to the list of participating associations may be made from the 2012 AFC Cup if the AFC approved the following applications made by any association:

The following changes in the participating associations were made compared to the previous year:

Each participating association was given two entries:

Teams

The following teams entered the competition.

Al-Muharraq (Bahrain) withdrew after the draw was held. As a result, Regar-TadAZ (Tajikistan), which were initially to enter the qualifying play-off, instead directly entered the group stage, and only two teams participated in the qualifying play-off.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws held at AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).

For 2013, the round of 16 continued to be played as a single match instead of over two legs on a home-and-away basis as originally planned.

Qualifying play-off

The draw for the qualifying play-off was held on 6 December 2012. Each tie was played as a single match, with extra time and penalty shoot-out used to decide the winner if necessary. The winner advanced to the group stage to join the 31 automatic qualifiers.

Due to the withdrawal of Al-Muharraq after the draw was held, Regar-TadAZ, which were initially drawn to play the winner between Al-Wahda and Al-Ahli Taizz for a place in the group stage, were directly entered into Group A, while the winner between Al-Wahda and Al-Ahli Taizz would be entered into Group B to replace Al-Muharraq.

Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 6 December 2012. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. Each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the round of 16.

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

1. Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned
2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned
3. Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned (away goals do not apply)
4. Goal difference in all the group matches
5. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches
6. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play
7. Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card)
8. Drawing of lots

Group A

Group F

Group H

Knock-out stage

In the knock-out stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament. In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, while in the round of 16 and final, each tie was played as a single match. The away goals rule (for two-legged ties), extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.

Round of 16

In the round of 16, the winners of one group played the runners-up of another group in the same zone, with the group winners hosting the match.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final (to decide the host team) was held on 20 June 2013. In this draw, teams from different zones could play each other, and the "country protection" rule was applied: if there are two teams from the same association, they may not play each other in the quarter-finals.

Top scorers

Note: Goals scored in qualifying play-off not counted.

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