2019 AFC Cup knockout stage

The 2019 AFC Cup knockout stage was played from 17 June to 4 November 2019.^[1] A total of 11 teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2019 AFC Cup.^[2]

The following teams advanced from the group stage:

• The winners of each of the three groups and the best runners-up in the West Asia Zone (Groups A–C) and the ASEAN Zone (Groups F–H) advanced to the Zonal semi-finals.
• The winners of each group in the Central Asia Zone (Group D), the South Asia Zone (Group E), and the East Asia Zone (Group I) advanced to the Inter-zone play-off semi-finals.

Key to colours
Teams which enter the Inter-zone play-off semi-finals
Teams which enter the Zonal semi-finals

Zone	Group	Winners	Best runners-up
West Asia Zone	A	Al-Wehdat	Al-Jaish (Group A)
	B	Al-Jazeera
	C	Al-Ahed
Central Asia Zone	D	Altyn Asyr	—
South Asia Zone	E	Abahani Limited Dhaka	—
ASEAN Zone	F	Hà Nội	Becamex Bình Dương (Group G)
	G	Ceres–Negros
	H	PSM Makassar
East Asia Zone	I	April 25	—

In the knockout stage, the 11 teams played a single-elimination tournament. Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, except the final which was played as a single match. The away goals rule (for two-legged ties), extra time (away goals do not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winners if necessary (Regulations Article 11.3).

The schedule of each round is as follows (W: West Asia Zone; A: ASEAN Zone).^[1] Matches in the West Asia Zone were played on Mondays and Tuesdays, while matches in the ASEAN Zone and the Inter-zone play-offs were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Round	First leg	Second leg
Zonal semi-finals	17–19 June 2019 (W, A)	24–26 June 2019 (W, A)
Zonal finals	31 July 2019 (A), 24 September 2019 (W)	7 August 2019 (A), 1 October 2019 (W)
Inter-zone play-off semi-finals	20–21 August 2019	27–28 August 2019
Inter-zone play-off final	25 September 2019	2 October 2019
Final	4 November 2019

The bracket of the knockout stage was determined as follows:

Round	Matchups
Zonal semi-finals	(Matchups and order of legs determined by identity of best runners-up: first team listed host first leg, second team listed host second leg) West Asia Zone If best runners-up from Group A WSF1: Group A winners vs. Group C winners WSF2: Group A runners-up vs. Group B winners If best runners-up from Group B WSF1: Group B winners vs. Group A winners WSF2: Group B runners-up vs. Group C winners If best runners-up from Group C WSF1: Group C winners vs. Group B winners WSF2: Group C runners-up vs. Group A winners ASEAN Zone If best runners-up from Group F ASF1: Group F winners vs. Group H winners ASF2: Group F runners-up vs. Group G winners If best runners-up from Group G ASF1: Group G winners vs. Group F winners ASF2: Group G runners-up vs. Group H winners If best runners-up from Group H ASF1: Group H winners vs. Group G winners ASF2: Group H runners-up vs. Group F winners
Zonal finals	(Order of legs decided by draw) West Asia Zone WF: Winners of WSF1 vs. Winners of WSF2 ASEAN Zone AF: Winners of ASF1 vs. Winners of ASF2
Inter-zone play-off semi-finals	(Matchups and order of legs decided by draw, involving winners of Group D, Group E, Group I, and AF) IZSF1 IZSF2
Inter-zone play-off final	(Winners of IZSF1 host first leg, Winners of IZSF2 host second leg) IZF: Winners of IZSF1 vs. Winners of IZSF2
Final	(Winners of IZF host match, as alternated from previous season's final) Winners of IZF vs. Winners of WF

The bracket was decided after the draw for the Zonal finals and the Inter-zone play-off semi-finals, which was held on 2 July 2019, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[3][4]

In the Zonal semi-finals, the four qualified teams from the West Asia Zone (Groups A–C) played in two ties, and the four qualified teams from the ASEAN Zone (Groups F–H) played in two ties, with the matchups and order of legs determined by the group stage draw and the identity of the best runners-up.

West Asia Zone

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Wehdat	0–1	Al-Ahed	0–1	0–0
Al-Jaish	3–4	Al-Jazeera	3–0	0–4

ASEAN Zone

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Ceres–Negros	2–3	Hà Nội	1–1	1–2
Becamex Bình Dương	2–2 (a)	PSM Makassar	1–0	1–2

Al-Ahed won 1–0 on aggregate.

---

Al-Jazeera won 4–3 on aggregate.

Hà Nội won 3–2 on aggregate.

---

2–2 on aggregate. Becamex Bình Dương won on away goals.

The draw for the Zonal finals was held on 2 July 2019.^[4] In the Zonal finals, the two winners of West Asia Zonal semi-finals play each other, and the two winners of ASEAN Zonal semi-finals play each other, with the order of legs decided by draw. The winners of the West Asia Zonal final advanced to the final, while the winners of the ASEAN Zonal final advanced to the Inter-zone play-off semi-finals.

West Asia Zone

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Al-Jazeera	0–1	Al-Ahed	0–0	0–1

ASEAN Zone

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Becamex Bình Dương	0–2	Hà Nội	0–1	0–1

Al-Ahed won 1–0 on aggregate.

Hà Nội won 2–0 on aggregate.

The draw for the Inter-zone play-off semi-finals was held on 2 July 2019.^[4] In the Inter-zone play-off semi-finals, the four zonal winners other than the West Asia Zone play in two ties, i.e., the winners of the Central Asia Zone (Group D), the winners of the South Asia Zone (Group E), the winners of the East Asia Zone (Group I), and the winners of the ASEAN Zonal final (whose identity was not known at the time of the draw), with the matchups and order of legs decided by draw, without any seeding.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Hà Nội	5–4	Altyn Asyr	3–2	2–2
Abahani Limited Dhaka	4–5	April 25	4–3	0–2

Hà Nội won 5–4 on aggregate.

---

April 25 won 5–4 on aggregate.

In the Inter-zone play-off final, the two winners of the Inter-zone play-off semi-finals play each other, with the order of legs determined by the Inter-zone play-off semi-final draw. The winners of the Inter-zone play-off final advance to the final.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Hà Nội	2–2 (a)	April 25	2–2	0–0

2–2 on aggregate. April 25 won on away goals.

In the final, the winners of the West Asia Zonal final and the winners of the Inter-zone play-off final played each other, with the host team (winners of the Inter-zone play-off final) alternated from the previous season's final.^[6]

The match was originally to be hosted by April 25 at the Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea on 2 November 2019. However, on 22 October 2019, due to North Korea's decision to ban television transmission of football games, the AFC announced that the final would be held in Shanghai, China in order for the match to be transmitted.^[7][8] On 25 October 2019, the match was rescheduled from 2 November to 4 November and the host city was shifted from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[9]

• AFC Cup, the-AFC.com
• AFC Cup 2019, stats.the-AFC.com