Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2015, 15:00 MYT ( UTC+8 ), at the Petaling Jaya Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia . [3] The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. [4] [5]
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 Zone, a draw was held for the three associations with two direct entrants (Iraq, Jordan, Oman) 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 Zone, a draw was held for the seven associations with two direct entrants (Hong Kong, Myanmar, Malaysia, India, Singapore, Maldives, Philippines) to determine the four associations occupying seeds 1 and 2, with seeds 1 placed in order for Groups E, F, G and H, and the three associations occupying seeds 3 and 4, with seeds 3 placed in order for Groups E, F and G. The remaining teams were then allocated to the groups according to the rules set by AFC.
The following 32 teams (16 from West Zone, 16 from East Zone) entered into the group-stage draw, which included the 28 direct entrants and the four winners of the qualifying play-off, whose identity were not known at the time of the draw. [3]
| Zone | Seed 1 | Seed 2 | Seed 3 | Seed 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Zone (Groups A–D) |  Naft Al-Wasat | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya |  Al-Jaish |  Al-Hidd (Winner Play-off 1) |
 Al-Wehdat [†] | Al-Faisaly |  Shabab Al-Dhahiriya |  Tripoli (Winner Play-off 2) | |
 Al-Orouba | Fanja |  Istiklol | Al-Wahda (Winner Play-off 3) | |
| Al-Muharraq | Al-Ahed |  Altyn Asyr | Ahli Al-Khaleel (Winner Play-off 4) | |
| East Zone (Groups E–H) |  Kitchee [†] | South China |  Yangon United [†] | Ayeyawady United |
 Johor Darul Ta'zim [†] | Selangor |  New Radiant | Maziya | |
 Mohun Bagan [†] | Bengaluru |  Ceres | Kaya | |
 Tampines Rovers [†] | Balestier Khalsa |  Lao Toyota |  Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi (Winner qualifying round Group B) [‡] |
- Notes
- † Teams played in the 2016 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off, but failed to advance to the AFC Champions League group stage (had they advanced to the AFC Champions League group stage, they would have been replaced in the AFC Cup group stage by another team from the same association).
- ‡ Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi advanced directly to the group stage due to lack of teams in the East Zone.
