![\"AFC](\"https:\/\/www.the-afc.com\/img\/image\/upload\/t_l7\/v1611573364\/qirnfse3g6nqz2sjsvmq.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe 2021 AFC Cup Group Stage will see 39 clubs competing – an increase of three from 2019 – with a newly-introduced Group for the Central Zone.<\/p>\n
With the 2020 edition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lebanon’s Al Ahed FC, the 2019 champions, will kick off the defence of their title in Group A of the West Zone with Bahrain’s Al Hidd, Syria’s Al Wahda and Al Nasr of Oman for company.<\/p>\n
Group B comprises Jordan’s Al Salt, Palestine’s Balata Center, Lebanon’s Al Ansar and Bahrain’s Muharraq while Group C has Syrian champions Tishreen, Al Seeb of Oman, Jordan’s Al Faisaly and a winner from the play-offs.<\/p>\n
Group D, comprising South Zone teams, has ATK Mohun Bagan of India, Bangladesh’s Bashundhara Kings, Maziya S&RC of the Maldives and a play-off winner.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Central Zone has been expanded to two groups with Tajikistan’s Ravshan, FC Dordoi of Kyrgyz Republic and Ahal FC of Turkmenistan in Group E while FC AGMK or FC Nasaf from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan’s Altyn Aysr, FC Khujand of Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic’s FC Alay make up Group F.<\/p>\n
Hanoi FC of Vietnam, Indonesia’s Bali United, Boeung Ket of Cambodia and a play-off winner make up Group G of the ASEAN Zone.<\/p>\n
Group H has Malaysia’s Kedah Darul Aman, Lion City Sailors of Singapore, Vietnam’s Saigon FC and a play-off winner, while Group I comprises Kaya FC-Iloilo of the Philippines, Myanmar’s Shan United or Ayeyawady United, Terengganu FC of Malaysia and Geylang International FC of Singapore.<\/p>\n
Group J, comprising East Zone teams, has Eastern Long Lions of Hong Kong, Tainan City of Chinese Taipei, Mongolia’s Athletic 220 and Hong Kong’s Lee Man.<\/p>\n
The 2021 Cup is scheduled to kick off with the preliminary round on April 6 with the group stage matches to be played in centralised venues beginning May 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 2021 AFC Cup Group Stage will see 39 clubs competing – an increase of three from 2019 – with a newly-introduced Group for the Central Zone. With the 2020 edition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lebanon’s Al Ahed FC, the 2019 champions, will kick off the defence of their title in Group A of the West Zone with Bahrain’s Al Hidd, Syria’s Al Wahda and Al Nasr of Oman for company. Group B comprises Jordan’s Al Salt, Palestine’s Balata Center, Lebanon’s Al Ansar and Bahrain’s Muharraq while Group C has Syrian champions Tishreen, Al Seeb of Oman, Jordan’s Al Faisaly and a winner from the play-offs. Group D, … Continue reading “Group Stage draw sets stage for thrilling 2021 AFC Cup ; ATK Mohun Bagan in Group D”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":1600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2],"tags":[29,707,722,713,716,709,711,715,710,723,736,691,712,726,718,727,725,721,724,734,708,731,720,737,729,719,714,728,717,730,732,735,733],"class_list":["post-1599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afc","category-india","tag-afc-cup","tag-afc-cup-2021","tag-ahal-fc-tkm-group-f-agmk-nasaf-uzb","tag-al-ansar-lbn","tag-al-faisaly-jor","tag-al-hidd-bhr","tag-al-nasr-oma-group-b-al-salt-jor","tag-al-seeb-oma","tag-al-wahda-syr","tag-altyn-aysr-tkm","tag-athletic-220-mng","tag-atk-mohun-bagan","tag-balata-center-ple","tag-bali-united-idn","tag-bashundhara-kings-ban","tag-boeung-ket-cam","tag-fc-alay-kgz-group-g-hanoi-fc-vie","tag-fc-dordoi-kgz","tag-fc-khujand-tjk","tag-geylang-international-sin-group-j-eastern-long-lions-hkg","tag-group-a-al-ahed-fc-lbn","tag-idn-cam-tls-p-o-winner-group-i-kaya-fc-iloilo-phi","tag-ind-ban-nep-sri-mdv-bhu-p-o-winner-group-e-fc-ravshan-tjk","tag-lee-man-hkg","tag-lion-city-sailors-sin","tag-maziya-sports-recreation-mdv","tag-muharraq-bhr-group-c-tishreen-syr","tag-mya-lao-bru-p-o-winner-group-h-kedah-darul-aman-mas","tag-ple-kuw-p-o-winner-group-d-atk-mohun-bagan-ind","tag-saigon-fc-vie","tag-shan-united-ayeyawady-united-mya","tag-tainan-city-tpe","tag-terengganu-fc-mas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1601,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions\/1601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}