2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs

The 2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs were played from 21 January to 26 February 2020,[1] before the remaining matches were suspended, and eventually cancelled by the AFC on 10 September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] Under the original competition format, a total of 19 teams would compete in the qualifying play-offs to decide seven of the 36 places in the group stage of the 2020 AFC Cup.[3]

Teams

The following 19 teams, split into five zones (West Asia Zone, Central Asia Zone, South Asia Zone, ASEAN Zone, East Asia Zone), entered the qualifying play-offs, consisting of three rounds:

  • 2 teams entered in the preliminary round 1.
  • 7 teams entered in the preliminary round 2.
  • 10 teams entered in the play-off round.
Zone Teams entering in play-off round Teams entering in preliminary round 2 Teams entering in preliminary round 1
West Asia Zone
Central Asia Zone
South Asia Zone
ASEAN Zone
East Asia Zone

Format

In the qualifying play-offs, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals would not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out would be used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 9.3).[3]

Schedule

The original schedule of each round was as follows.[1][6]

Round West Asia Central Asia South Asia ASEAN East Asia
First leg Second leg First leg Second leg First leg Second leg First leg Second leg First leg Second leg
Preliminary round 1 Not played Not played 22 January 2020 29 January 2020 Not played Not played
Preliminary round 2 5 February 2020 12 February 2020 5 February 2020 12 February 2020 5 February 2020 (cancelled) 12 February 2020 (cancelled)
Play-off round 21 January 2020 28 January 2020 19 February 2020 26 February 2020 19 February 2020 26 February 2020 22 January 2020 29 January 2020 19 February 2020 (cancelled) 26 February 2020 (cancelled)

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

The East Asia Zone preliminary round 2 first leg between Ulaanbaatar City and Taipower, originally scheduled to be played on 5 February 2020 and hosted by Ulaanbaatar City, was not played as scheduled because the Mongolian government had banned Chinese nationals, including people from Taiwan, from entering Mongolia due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.[7][8]

The AFC announced on 11 February 2020 that the East Asia Zone preliminary round and play-off round matches would be postponed to 7 and 14 April, and 21 and 28 April.[9]

The AFC announced on 18 March 2020 that all matches would be postponed until further notice.[10][11]

On 9 July 2020, the AFC announced the new schedule for the remaining matches.[12][13] The tie between Taipower and Ulaanbaatar City, now in the play-off round after Tai Po's withdrawal,[5] would be played as a single match on 30 September, later rescheduled to 16 October, and hosted by Taipower as they were from the higher-ranked association.[14]

The AFC announced the cancellation of the remainder of the competition on 10 September 2020, due to logistics in coordinating the five zones.[2]

Bracket

The bracket of the qualifying play-offs for each zone was determined based on the association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the second leg.[15] The seven winners of the play-off round (one each from West Asia Zone, Central Asia Zone, South Asia Zone, East Asia Zone, and three from ASEAN Zone) would advance to the group stage to join the 29 direct entrants.

Play-off West Asia
  Play-off round
           
Hilal Al-Quds 2 0 2
Sur 0 0 0

Play-off Central Asia
  Preliminary round 2 Play-off round
                         
Neftchi — — w/o  
Ahal — — —  
    Neftchi 1 0 1
  Khujand (a.e.t.) 0 3 3
— — — —
Khujand — — Bye  

Play-off South Asia
  Preliminary round 1 Preliminary round 2 Play-off round
                                   
— — — —  
Abahani Limited Dhaka — — Bye  
  Abahani Limited Dhaka 2 0 2  
  Maziya (a) 2 0 2  
— — — —
Maziya — — Bye  
  Maziya (p) 2 2 4 (4)
  Bengaluru 1 3 4 (3)
Defenders 3 2 5  
Paro (a) 3 2 5  
  Paro 0 1 1
  Bengaluru 1 9 10  
— — — —
Bengaluru — — Bye  

Play-off ASEAN 1
  Play-off round
           
Lalenok United 1 1 2
PSM Makassar 4 3 7

Play-off ASEAN 2
  Play-off round
           
Indera 1 1 2
Yangon United 6 3 9

Play-off ASEAN 3
  Play-off round
           
Svay Rieng 4 3 7
Master 7 1 0 1

Play-off East Asia
  • Winners would have advanced to Group I.
Play-off round
Taipower —
Ulaanbaatar City —

Preliminary round 1

Summary

A total of two teams played in the preliminary round 1.

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
South Asia Zone
Defenders 5–5 (a) Paro 3–3 2–2

South Asia Zone
Defenders 3–3 Paro
  • Kumara  4', 63'
  • Asante  36'
 Report
Attendance: 2,100
Referee: Bijan Heidari (Iran)
Paro 2–2 Defenders
 Report
  • Ramaiyajesu  16'
  • Abumere  53'
Attendance: 7,128
Referee: Timur Faizullin (Kyrgyzstan)

5–5 on aggregate. Paro won on away goals.

Preliminary round 2

Summary

A total of 8 teams played in the preliminary round 2: seven teams which entered in this round, and one winner of the preliminary round 1.

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Central Asia Zone
Neftchi w/o[†] Ahal — —
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
South Asia Zone
Paro 1–10 Bengaluru 0–1 1–9
Abahani Limited Dhaka 2–2 (a) Maziya 2–2 0–0
Notes
  1. † Neftchi won on walkover after Ahal were disqualified by the AFC for failing to appear for the first leg.[16][9]

Central Asia Zone
Neftchi Cancelled Ahal
Report
Kurmanbek Stadium, Jalal-Abad
Referee: Zaid Thamer (Iraq)
Ahal Cancelled Neftchi
Report
Referee: Qasim Al-Hatmi (Oman)

Neftchi won on walkover after Ahal were disqualified by the AFC for failing to travel to Kyrgyzstan for the first leg due to concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.[17][18][19][16][9]

South Asia Zone
Paro 0–1 Bengaluru
Report
Attendance: 8,140
Referee: Ahmad Al-Ali (Kuwait)
Bengaluru 9–1 Paro
 Report
Attendance: 1,311
Referee: Khalid Al-Turais (Saudi Arabia)

Bengaluru won 10–1 on aggregate.

Abahani Limited Dhaka 2–2 Maziya
 Report
Attendance: 855
Referee: Clifford Daypuyat (Philippines)
Maziya 0–0 Abahani Limited Dhaka
Report
Attendance: 747
Referee: Ahmad A'Qashah (Singapore)

2–2 on aggregate. Maziya won on away goals.

Play-off round

Summary

A total of 14 teams played in the play-off round: ten teams which entered in this round, and four winners of the preliminary round 2.

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
West Asia Zone
Hilal Al-Quds 2–0 Sur 2–0 0–0
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Central Asia Zone
Neftchi 1–3 Khujand 1–0 0–3 (a.e.t.)
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
South Asia Zone
Maziya 4–4 (4–3 p) Bengaluru 2–1 2–3 (a.e.t.)
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
ASEAN Zone
Lalenok United 2–7 PSM Makassar 1–4 1–3
Indera 2–9 Yangon United 1–6 1–3
Svay Rieng 7–1 Master 7 4–1 3–0
Team 1  Score  Team 2
East Asia Zone
Taipower 16 Oct Ulaanbaatar City

West Asia Zone
Hilal Al-Quds 2–0 Sur
 Report
Attendance: 500
Referee: Jansen Foo (Singapore)
Sur 0–0 Hilal Al-Quds
Report
Attendance: 110
Referee: Shaun Evans (Australia)

Hilal Al-Quds won 2–0 on aggregate.

Central Asia Zone
Neftchi 1–0 Khujand
  • Ihnatenko  51'
 Report
Kurmanbek Stadium, Jalal-Abad
Attendance: 1,100
Referee: Chae Sang-hyeop (South Korea)
Khujand 3–0 (a.e.t.) Neftchi
  • Bozorov  34', 107', 117'
 Report
Attendance: 5,200
Referee: Ahmed Al-Ali (Jordan)

Khujand won 3–1 on aggregate.

South Asia Zone
Maziya 2–1 Bengaluru
 Report
Attendance: 678
Referee: Adel Al-Naqbi (United Arab Emirates)
Bengaluru 3–2 (a.e.t.) Maziya
 Report
Penalties
 3–4
Attendance: 1,321
Referee: Mongkolchai Pechsri (Thailand)

4–4 on aggregate. Maziya won 4–3 on penalties.

ASEAN Zone
Lalenok United 1–4 PSM Makassar
  • Adade  3'
 Report
Attendance: 335
Referee: Chen Hsin-chuan (Chinese Taipei)
PSM Makassar 3–1 Lalenok United
 Report
  • Da Costa  60'
Attendance: 686
Referee: Hasan Akrami (Iran)

PSM Makassar won 7–2 on aggregate.

Indera 1–6 Yangon United
  • Carvalho  78'
 Report
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Ali Shaban (Kuwait)
Yangon United 3–1 Indera
 Report
Attendance: 524
Referee: Ho Wai Sing (Hong Kong)

Yangon United won 9–2 on aggregate.

Svay Rieng 4–1 Master 7
  • Hoy  15', 69'
  • Mbarga  40', 62'
 Report
  • Coulibaly  25'
Attendance: 1,998
Referee: Kim Woo-sung (South Korea)
Master 7 0–3 Svay Rieng
Report
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Ammar Mahfoodh (Bahrain)

Svay Rieng won 7–1 on aggregate.

East Asia Zone
Taipower Cancelled Ulaanbaatar City
Report

Notes
  1. Under the original competition format, Kitchee (Hong Kong) would enter the play-off round, and Taipower (Chinese Taipei) and Ulaanbaatar City (Mongolia) would enter the preliminary round 2. However, Tai Po (Hong Kong) withdrew from the group stage after the draw (originally drawn in Group I).[4] As a result, Kitchee entered the group stage instead of the play-off round to replace Tai Po, and Taipower and Ulaanbaatar City entered the play-off round instead of the preliminary round 2, which was cancelled.[5]
  2. Defenders played their home match at Colombo Racecourse, Colombo, instead of their regular home stadium Homagama Ground, Homagama.
  3. Paro played their home matches at Changlimithang Stadium, Thimphu, instead of their regular home stadium Woochu Sports Arena, Paro.
  4. Khujand played their home match at Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe, instead of their regular home stadium 20 Years of Independence Stadium, Khujand.
  5. Lalenok United played their home match in Indonesia.
  6. PSM Makassar played their home match at Pakansari Stadium, Cibinong, instead of their regular home stadium Andi Mattalata Stadium, Makassar, since it did not meet AFC regulations.[20]
  7. Svay Rieng played their home match at Phnom Penh Olympic Stadium, Phnom Penh, instead of their regular home stadium Svay Rieng Stadium, Svay Rieng.

References
  1. "AFC Competitions Calendar 2020". AFC. 6 December 2019.
  2. "AFC Executive Committee announces updates to 2020 competitions calendar". AFC. 10 September 2020.
  3. "2020 AFC Cup Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC.
  4. "Reigning champions withdraw from Premier League". offside.hk. 30 May 2020.
  5. "AFC Statement on AFC Cup 2020 East Zone". Asian Football Association. 9 June 2020.
  6. "AFC Cup 2020 Official Match Schedule". AFC.
  7. "Ulaanbaatar City FC v Taipower FC". Facebook (in Mongolian). Ulaanbaatar City FC. 3 February 2020.
  8. "亞足聯盃／台電足球隊仍遭蒙古拒入境 5日作客烏蘭巴托取消" (in Chinese). ETToday. 3 February 2020.
  9. "Update on AFC Cup Preliminary Stage matches". AFC. 11 February 2020.
  10. "AFC Statement on AFC Cup 2020 matches". AFC. 18 March 2020.
  11. "AFC extends postponement of all matches and competitions". AFC. 14 April 2020.
  12. "AFC reiterates commitment to complete 2020 competitions with new calendar". AFC. 9 July 2020.
  13. "AFC Cup revised schedule". AFC. 9 July 2020.
  14. "亞足聯盃／附加賽台電10月主場迎蒙古 小組賽可能台灣或香港舉行". ETToday. 9 August 2020.
  15. "AFC Cup 2020 At A Glance". AFC.
  16. "АФК Кубогу-2020: "Нефтчи" плей-офф баскычына автоматтык түрдө өттү" [AFC Cup 2020: "Neftchi" automatically enters the playoff stage] (in Kyrgyz). Football Federation of Kyrgyz Republic. 7 February 2020. Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  17. Vershinin, Alexander (3 February 2020). "Asian soccer tournament in Turkmenistan delayed due to virus". The Washington Post.
  18. "Кубок АФК-2020: матч "Нефтчи" - "Ахал" не состоялся из-за коронавируса" (in Russian). sport.kg. 5 February 2020.
  19. "Update on AFC Cup 2020 Matches". Asian Football Confederation. 6 February 2020.
  20. "AFC Cup 2019 Grup H, PSM Makassar Ngungsi ke Stadion Pakansari". Topskor.id. 10 December 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.