The 2017 AFC Cup qualifying round was played from 19 to 25 August 2016. A total of nine teams competed in the qualifying round to decide three places in the qualifying play-offs of the 2017 AFC Cup.
Teams
The following nine teams from nine associations entered the qualifying round. Teams were not split into zones for the qualifying round.
In the following table, the number of appearances and last appearance count all those since the 2004 season (including both competition proper and qualifying rounds).
AssociationTeamQualifying methodAppLast App BangladeshSheikh Russel2015 Bangladesh Football Premier League runners-up2nd2015 BhutanTertons2015 Bhutan National League champions1stnone CambodiaNagaworld2015 Cambodian League runners-up1stnone Chinese TaipeiTatung2015–16 Intercity Football League runners-up1stnone GuamRovers2015–16 Guam Soccer League champions1stnone KyrgyzstanDordoi2015 Kyrgyzstan League runners-up2nd2015 MacauBenfica de Macau2016 Campeonato da 1ª Divisão do Futebol champions2nd2016 MongoliaErchim2015 Mongolian Premier League champions1stnone NepalThree Star Club2015 Nepal National League champions1stnone
Rovers were the first team from Guam to play in an AFC club competition.
Draw
The draw for the qualifying round was held on 17 June 2016, 11:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The nine teams were drawn into three groups of three.
For the draw, the pre-selected hosts were placed in their own pot, while the remaining teams were seeded according to the performance of their association in the 2016 AFC Cup qualifying round, with associations participating ranked and associations not participating unranked.
Pot 1 (Hosts)Pot 2 (Ranked teams)Pot 3 (Unranked teams) Dordoi Terton Erchim Sheikh Russel (ranked 1st) Benfica de Macau (ranked 2nd) Three Star Club Nagaworld Tatung Rovers
Format
In the qualifying round, each group was played on a single round-robin basis at the pre-selected hosts. The winners of each group advanced to the qualifying play-offs.
Tiebreakers The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order (Regulations Article 10.4): Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group; Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points); Drawing of lots.
Schedule The schedule of each matchday was as follows.
MatchdayDateMatchGroup AGroups B & CMatchday 119 August 201621 August 2016Team 3 vs. Team 1Matchday 221 August 201623 August 2016Team 2 vs. Team 3Matchday 323 August 201625 August 2016Team 1 vs. Team 2 Host Countries Thimphu Ulaanbaatar Bishkek Changlimithang Stadium MFF Football Centre Dordoi Stadium Capacity: 45,000 Capacity: 5,000 Capacity: 3,000
Groups Group A All matches were held in Kyrgyzstan. Times listed were UTC+6.
Group B All matches were held in Mongolia. Times listed were UTC+9.
Group C All matches were held in Bhutan. Times listed were UTC+6.
References
External links , the-AFC.com AFC Cup 2017, stats.the-AFC.com