The bracket of the qualifying play-offs for each region was determined based on the
association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the match. 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 24 direct entrants. All losers in each round from associations with only play-off slots entered the
AFC Cup group stage.
Play-off West 1 •
Al-Ain advanced to
Group D.
Play-off West 2 •
Al-Ahli advanced to
Group A.
Play-off West 3 •
Shahr Khodro advanced to
Group B.
Play-off West 4 •
Esteghlal advanced to
Group A.
Play-off East 1 •
FC Seoul advanced to
Group E.
Play-off East 2 •
Shanghai SIPG advanced to
Group H.
Play-off East 3 •
FC Tokyo advanced to
Group F.
Play-off East 4 •
Melbourne Victory advanced to
Group E. ==Preliminary round 1==