2022 AFC Champions League group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 17 January 2022 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 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.

The following 40 teams entered into the group stage draw, which included the 33 direct entrants and the seven winners of the play-off round of the qualifying play-offs, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw.

Region	Groups	Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
West Region	A–E	Al-Sadd	Al-Faisaly	Pakhtakor	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya[note 1]
		Al-Hilal	Sepahan	Al-Wehdat	Al-Taawoun (Winners of Play-off West 1)
		Foolad	Shabab Al-Ahli	Mumbai City	Nasaf Qarshi (Winners of Play-off West 2)
		Al-Jazira	Al-Rayyan	Istiklol	Sharjah (Winners of Play-off West 3)
		Al-Duhail	Al-Shabab	Ahal	Al-Gharafa[note 2]
East Region	F–J	Shandong Taishan	Urawa Red Diamonds	United City	Melbourne City[note 1]
		Kawasaki Frontale	Jeonnam Dragons	Kitchee[note 3]	Sydney FC (Winners of Play-off East 1)
		Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Chiangrai United	Hoàng Anh Gia Lai	Vissel Kobe (Winners of Play-off East 2)
		BG Pathum United	Guangzhou	Johor Darul Ta'zim	Ulsan Hyundai (Winners of Play-off East 3)
		Shanghai Port[note 4]	Yokohama F. Marinos	Lion City Sailors	Daegu FC (Winners of Play-off East 4)

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

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. Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; (not applicable since the matches were played in a centralised venue)
5. 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;
6. Goal difference in all group matches;
7. Goals scored in all group matches;
8. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams playing each other in the last round of the group are tied;
9. 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);
10. Association ranking.

The schedule for each match day was as follows.^[4]

On 16 February 2022, AFC confirmed hosts for the East group stage.^[5] On 3 March 2022, AFC confirmed hosts for the West group stage.^[6]

• Groups A and B: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Group C: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• Group D: Buraidah, Saudi Arabia
• Group E: Dammam, Saudi Arabia
• Groups F and J: Buriram, Thailand
• Group G: Bangkok, Thailand
• Group H: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
• Group I: Johor Bahru, Malaysia