AFC Cup

The AFC Cup is an annual Asian competition between domestic clubs of the AFC. Qualification is to clubs from AFC's 'developing nations' category as laid out in their 'Vision Asia' plan. The 'developing nations' are the 14 'next-best' countries which lie outside the top-14 countries in the AFC region which send their club sides to the more prestigious AFC Champions League. Each country sends 2 teams representing the domestic league winners and the cup winners. The participating teams are split into 7 groups of 3 or 4, with each team playing the others in the group in a round robin format. The winners of each group enter into the quarters along with the defending champions. The quarters, semis and and finals are played as a knockout competition.