2017 AFC Champions League group stage

The 2017 AFC Champions League group stage was played from 20 February to 10 May 2017.[1] A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 16 places in the knockout stage of the 2017 AFC Champions League.[2]

The draw for the group stage was held on 13 December 2016, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Hilton Petaling Jaya in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.[3][4][5] The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four: four groups each in the West Region (Groups A–D) and the East Region (Groups E–H). Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.[6]

The seeding of each team in the draw was determined by their association and their qualifying position within their association. The mechanism of the draw was as follows:[6]

• For the West Region, a draw was held for the three associations with three direct entrants (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iran) to determine the seeds 1 placed in order for Groups A, B and C. The remaining teams were then allocated to the groups according to the rules set by AFC.
• For the East Region, a draw was held for the two associations with three direct entrants (South Korea, Japan) to determine the seeds 1 placed in order for Groups E and F. The remaining teams were then allocated to the groups according to the rules set by AFC.

The following 32 teams entered into the group stage draw, which included the 24 direct entrants and the eight winners of the play-off round of the qualifying play-offs, whose identity were not known at the time of the draw.[3][6]

Region	Groups	Seed 1	Seed 2	Seed 3	Seed 4
West Region	A–D	Al-Ahli	Al-Jazira	Al-Ain	Al-Wahda (Play-off West 1)
		Al-Ahli	Al-Hilal	Al-Taawoun	Al-Fateh (Play-off West 2)
		Esteghlal Khuzestan	Zob Ahan	Persepolis	Esteghlal (Play-off West 3)
		Al-Rayyan[note 1]	Lokomotiv Tashkent[note 1]	Lekhwiya[note 1]	Bunyodkor (Play-off West 4)
East Region	E–H	FC Seoul	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Jeju United[note 2]	Ulsan Hyundai (Play-off East 1)
		Kashima Antlers	Urawa Red Diamonds[note 3]	Kawasaki Frontale[note 3]	Gamba Osaka (Play-off East 2)
		Guangzhou Evergrande	Jiangsu Suning	Brisbane Roar (Play-off East 4)	Shanghai SIPG (Play-off East 3)
		Adelaide United	Muangthong United[note 4]	Western Sydney Wanderers	Eastern[note 4]

In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group 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 10.5):[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;
5. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are 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 are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
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. Team from the higher-ranked association.

The schedule of each matchday was as follows.[1] Matches in the West Region were played on Mondays and Tuesdays, while matches in the East Region were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Matchday	Dates	Matches
Matchday 1	20–22 February 2017	Team 1 vs. Team 4, Team 3 vs. Team 2
Matchday 2	27 February – 1 March 2017	Team 4 vs. Team 3, Team 2 vs. Team 1
Matchday 3	13–15 March 2017	Team 4 vs. Team 2, Team 1 vs. Team 3
Matchday 4	10–12 April 2017	Team 2 vs. Team 4, Team 3 vs. Team 1
Matchday 5	24–26 April 2017	Team 4 vs. Team 1, Team 2 vs. Team 3
Matchday 6	8–10 May 2017	Team 1 vs. Team 2, Team 3 vs. Team 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		AHL	EST	TAA	LOK
1	Al-Ahli	6	3	2	1	10	5	+5	11[a]	Advance to knockout stage		—	2–1	0–0	4–0
2	Esteghlal	6	3	2	1	10	5	+5	11[a]			1–1	—	3–0	2–0
3	Al-Taawoun	6	1	2	3	7	12	−5	5[b]			1–3	1–2	—	1–0
4	Lokomotiv Tashkent	6	1	2	3	7	12	−5	5[b]			2–0	1–1	4–4	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LEK	ESK	FAT	JAZ
1	Lekhwiya	6	4	2	0	15	6	+9	14	Advance to knockout stage		—	2–1	4–1	3–0
2	Esteghlal Khuzestan	6	2	3	1	6	5	+1	9			1–1	—	1–0	1–1
3	Al-Fateh	6	1	3	2	7	9	−2	6			2–2	1–1	—	3–1
4	Al-Jazira	6	0	2	4	3	11	−8	2			1–3	0–1	0–0	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		AIN	AHL	ZOB	BUN
1	Al-Ain	6	3	3	0	14	7	+7	12	Advance to knockout stage		—	2–2	1–1	3–0
2	Al-Ahli	6	3	2	1	10	7	+3	11			2–2	—	2–0	2–0
3	Zob Ahan	6	2	1	3	6	9	−3	7			0–3	1–2	—	2–1
4	Bunyodkor	6	1	0	5	5	12	−7	3			2–3	2–0	0–2	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		HIL	PER	RAY	WAH
1	Al-Hilal	6	3	3	0	10	7	+3	12	Advance to knockout stage		—	0–0	2–1	1–0
2	Persepolis	6	2	3	1	9	8	+1	9			1–1	—	0–0	4–2
3	Al-Rayyan	6	2	1	3	10	13	−3	7			3–4	3–1	—	2–1
4	Al-Wahda	6	1	1	4	12	13	−1	4			2–2	2–3	5–1	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		KSA	MUA	ULS	BRI
1	Kashima Antlers	6	4	0	2	13	5	+8	12	Advance to knockout stage		—	2–1	2–0	3–0
2	Muangthong United	6	3	2	1	7	3	+4	11			2–1	—	1–0	3–0
3	Ulsan Hyundai	6	2	1	3	9	9	0	7			0–4	0–0	—	6–0
4	Brisbane Roar	6	1	1	4	4	16	−12	4			2–1	0–0	2–3	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		URA	SSI	SEO	WSW
1	Urawa Red Diamonds	6	4	0	2	18	7	+11	12[a]	Advance to knockout stage		—	1–0	5–2	6–1
2	Shanghai SIPG	6	4	0	2	15	9	+6	12[a]			3–2	—	4–2	5–1
3	FC Seoul	6	2	0	4	10	15	−5	6[b]			1–0	0–1	—	2–3
4	Western Sydney Wanderers	6	2	0	4	10	22	−12	6[b]			0–4	3–2	2–3	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		KAW	GZE	SSB	EAS
1	Kawasaki Frontale	6	2	4	0	8	3	+5	10[a]	Advance to knockout stage		—	0–0	1–1	4–0
2	Guangzhou Evergrande	6	2	4	0	18	5	+13	10[a]			1–1	—	2–2	7–0
3	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	6	2	3	1	11	6	+5	9			0–1	2–2	—	5–0
4	Eastern	6	0	1	5	1	24	−23	1			1–1	0–6	0–1	—

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		JIA	JEJ	ADE	GAM
1	Jiangsu Suning	6	5	0	1	9	3	+6	15	Advance to knockout stage		—	1–2	2–1	3–0
2	Jeju United	6	3	1	2	12	9	+3	10			0–1	—	1–3	2–0
3	Adelaide United	6	1	2	3	10	13	−3	5			0–1	3–3	—	0–3
4	Gamba Osaka	6	1	1	4	7	13	−6	4			0–1	1–4	3–3	—

• AFC Champions League, the-AFC.com
• AFC Champions League 2017, stats.the-AFC.com