2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage

The 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage was played from September to December 2023.

A total of 40 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 16 places in the knockout stage of the 2023–24 AFC Champions League.

Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on 24 August 2023 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[1] The 40 teams were drawn into ten groups of four: five groups each in the West Region (Groups A–E) and the East Region (Groups F–J). For each region, teams were seeded into four pots and drawn into the relevant positions within each group, based on their association ranking and their seeding within their association, in consideration of the technical balance between groups. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.

Region	Groups	Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
West Region	A–E	Al-Hilal	Nassaji	Al-Faisaly SC	Al-Ain
		Persepolis	Al-Duhail	Istiklol	Navbahor
		Al-Sadd	Nasaf Qarshi	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Sharjah
		Pakhtakor	Al-Fayha	Ahal Änew	Al-Nassr
		Al-Ittihad	Sepahan	Mumbai City	AGMK
East Region	F–J	Ulsan Hyundai	Ventforet Kofu	Hanoi FC	Kitchee
		Yokohama F. Marinos	Shandong Taishan	Kaya F.C.–Iloilo	Incheon United
		Wuhan Three Towns	Bangkok United	Johor Darul Ta'zim	Urawa Red Diamonds
		Buriram United	Pohang Steelers	Melbourne City	Zhejiang
		Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Kawasaki Frontale	Lion City Sailors	BG Pathum United

Format

In the group stage, each group was played in a double round-robin format on home and away basis. The winners of each group and three best runners-up from each region advanced to the round of 16 of the knockout stage.

Tiebreakers

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations Article 8.3):^[2]

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams playing each other in the last round of the group are tied;
8. 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);
9. Association ranking.

Schedule

The schedule of the group stage was as follows.^[3]

Round	Dates
Matchday 1	18–20 September 2023
Matchday 2	2–4 October 2023
Matchday 3	23–25 October 2023
Matchday 4	6–8 November 2023
Matchday 5	27–29 November 2023
Matchday 6	4–6, 12–13 December 2023

Groups

The detailed schedule was announced on 24 August 2023 after the draw ceremony.^[4] It was updated on 6 September.^[5]

Group A

Pos	Team v <abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr> e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		AIN	FEI	PAK	AHA
1	Al-Ain	6	5	0	1	17	9	+8	15	Advance to round of 16		—	4–1	1–3	4–2
2	Al-Fayha	6	3	0	3	12	10	+2	9			2–3	—	2–0	3–1
3	Pakhtakor	6	2	1	3	8	11	−3	7			0–3	1–4	—	3–0
4	Ahal	6	1	1	4	6	13	−7	4			1–2	1–0	1–1	—

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Group B

Pos	Team v <abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr> e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		NAS	SAD	SHJ	FAI
1	Nasaf	6	3	2	1	10	6	+4	11	Advance to round of 16		—	3–1	1–1	3–1
2	Al Sadd	6	2	2	2	11	7	+4	8[a]			2–2	—	0–0	6–0
3	Sharjah	6	2	2	2	4	5	−1	8[a]			1–0	0–2	—	1–0
4	Al-Faisaly	6	2	0	4	5	12	−7	6			0–1	2–0	2–1	—

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Group C

Pos	Team v <abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr> e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ITH	SEP	QWJ	AGK
1	Al-Ittihad	6	5	0	1	11	4	+7	15	Advance to round of 16		—	2–1	1–0	3–0
2	Sepahan	6	3	1	2	16	8	+8	10[a]			0–3[b]	—	1–0	9–0
3	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	6	3	1	2	9	7	+2	10[a]			2–0	2–2	—	3–2
4	AGMK	6	0	0	6	5	22	−17	0			1–2	1–3	1–2	—

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Group D

Pos	Team v <abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr> e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		HIL	NAV	NAS	MUM
1	Al-Hilal	6	5	1	0	16	2	+14	16	Advance to round of 16		—	1–1	2–1	6–0
2	Navbahor	6	4	1	1	11	6	+5	13			0–2	—	2–1	3–0
3	Nassaji Mazandaran	6	2	0	4	7	10	−3	6			0–3	1–3	—	2–0
4	Mumbai City	6	0	0	6	1	17	−16	0			0–2	1–2	0–2	—

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Group E

Pos	Team v <abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr> e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		NSR	PRS	DUH	IST
1	Al Nassr	6	4	2	0	13	7	+6	14	Advance to round of 16		—	0–0	4–3	3–1
2	Persepolis	6	2	2	2	5	5	0	8			0–2	—	1–2	2–0
3	Al-Duhail	6	2	1	3	9	9	0	7			2–3	0–1	—	2–0
4	Istiklol	6	0	3	3	3	9	−6	3			1–1	1–1	0–0	—

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Group F

Pos	Team v <abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr> e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		UTD	JBH	LCS	KIT
1	Bangkok United	6	4	1	1	11	8	+3	13	Advance to round of 16		—	3–2	1–0	1–1
2	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	6	4	0	2	12	9	+3	12			3–2	—	3–0	2–1
3	Lion City Sailors	6	2	0	4	5	9	−4	6			1–2	2–0	—	0–2
4	Kitchee	6	1	1	4	7	9	−2	4			1–2	1–2	1–2	—

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Group G

Pos	Team v <abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr> e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		FMA	SHT	ICN	KAY
1	Yokohama F. Marinos	6	4	0	2	12	7	+5	12[a]	Advance to round of 16		—	3–0	2–4	3–0
2	Shandong Taishan	6	4	0	2	14	7	+7	12[a]			0–1	—	3–1	6–1
3	Incheon United	6	4	0	2	14	9	+5	12[a]			2–1	0–2	—	4–0
4	Kaya–Iloilo	6	0	0	6	4	21	−17	0			1–2	1–3	1–3	—

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Group H

Pos	Team v <abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr> e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		VEN	MCY	ZHP	BUR
1	Ventforet Kofu	6	3	2	1	11	8	+3	11	Advance to round of 16		—	3–3	4–1	1–0
2	Melbourne City	6	2	3	1	8	6	+2	9			0–0	—	1–1	0–1
3	Zhejiang	6	2	1	3	9	13	−4	7			2–0	1–2	—	3–2
4	Buriram United	6	2	0	4	9	10	−1	6			2–3	0–2	4–1	—

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Group I

Pos	Team v <abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr> e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		KWF	UHD	JDT	BGP
1	Kawasaki Frontale	6	5	1	0	17	6	+11	16	Advance to round of 16		—	1–0	5–0	4–2
2	Ulsan Hyundai	6	3	1	2	12	8	+4	10			2–2	—	3–1	3–1
3	Johor Darul Ta'zim	6	3	0	3	11	13	−2	9			0–1	2–1	—	4–1
4	BG Pathum United	6	0	0	6	9	22	−13	0			2–4	1–3	2–4	—

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Group J

Pos	Team v <abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr> e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		POH	RED	HAN	WTT
1	Pohang Steelers	6	5	1	0	14	5	+9	16	Advance to round of 16		—	2–1	2–0	3–1
2	Urawa Red Diamonds	6	2	1	3	12	9	+3	7			0–2	—	6–0	2–1
3	Hanoi FC	6	2	0	4	7	16	−9	6			2–4	2–1	—	2–1
4	Wuhan Three Towns	6	1	2	3	8	11	−3	5			1–1	2–2	2–1	—

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Ranking of second-placed teams

West Region

Pos	Grp	Team v <abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr> e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	D	Navbahor	6	4	1	1	11	6	+5	13	Round of 16
2	C	Sepahan	6	3	1	2	16	8	+8	10
3	A	Al-Fayha	6	3	0	3	12	10	+2	9
4	B	Al Sadd	6	2	2	2	11	7	+4	8
5	E	Persepolis	6	2	2	2	5	5	0	8

East Region

Pos	Grp	Team v <abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr> e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	G	Shandong Taishan	6	4	0	2	14	7	+7	12	Round of 16
2	F	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	6	4	0	2	12	9	+3	12
3	I	Ulsan Hyundai	6	3	1	2	12	8	+4	10
4	H	Melbourne City	6	2	3	1	8	6	+2	9
5	J	Urawa Red Diamonds	6	2	1	3	12	9	+3	7

See also

• 2023–24 AFC Cup

Notes

References

External links

• Official website