The 2021 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs were played from 7 April to 23 June 2021. A total of 15 teams competed in the qualifying play-offs to decide seven of the 40 places in the group stage of the 2021 AFC Champions League.
Teams The following 15 teams, split into two regions (West Region and East Region), entered the qualifying play-offs, consisting of two rounds: 2 teams entered in the preliminary round. 13 teams entered in the play-off round.
RegionTeams entering in play-off roundTeams entering in preliminary roundWest Region Al-Gharafa Al-Wehda Foolad Al-Wahda Al-Ain Al-Zawraa Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya AGMKEast Region Shanghai Port (Beijing Guoan) Cerezo Osaka Pohang Steelers Daegu FC Chiangrai United Ratchaburi Mitr Phol Melbourne City Kaya–Iloilo Melbourne City Brisbane Roar Kaya–Iloilo Shan United
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.
Schedule The schedule of each round was as follows. On 11 March 2021, the AFC announced that the preliminary round and play-off round matches in the East Region, which were originally scheduled to be played on 7 April and 14 April 2021, had been postponed to June/July 2021, and were played in centralised venues of their respective group stage matches.
RoundWest RegionEast RegionPreliminary roundNot playedPlay-off round7 and 10 April 202123 June 2021
Bracket
The bracket of the qualifying play-offs for each region was determined based on each team's association ranking and their seeding within their association, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the match in the West Region. Teams from the same association could not be placed into the same tie. The eight winners of the play-off round (four each from both West Region and East Region) advanced to the group stage to join the 32 direct entrants.
Play-off West 1 AGMK advanced to Group A.
Play-off West 2 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya advanced to Group B.
Play-off West 3 Foolad advanced to Group D.
Play-off West 4 Al-Wahda advanced to Group E.
Play-off East 1 Kaya–Iloilo advanced to Group F.
Play-off East 2 Cerezo Osaka advanced to Group J after Shan United and Melbourne City both withdrew from the competition.
Play-off East 3 Pohang Steelers and Ratchaburi Mitr Phol advanced to Group G after Jiangsu withdrew from the competition and folded.
Play-off East 4 Daegu FC advanced to Group I, and Chiangrai United advanced to Group H.
Preliminary round Summary A total of two teams will play in the preliminary round.
|+East Region
East Region
Play-off round Summary A total of 14 teams played in the preliminary round 2: 13 teams which entered in this round, and one winner of the preliminary round.
|+West Region
|+East Region
West Region
East Region
Notes
References
External links
AFC Champions League 2021, stats.the-AFC.com