Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 22 November 2018, 14:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. [3] The 36 teams were drawn into nine groups of four: three groups each in the West Asia Zone (Groups A–C) and the ASEAN Zone (Groups F–H), and one group each in the Central Asia Zone (Group D), the South Asia Zone (Group E), and the East Asia Zone (Group I). Teams from the same association in the West Asia Zone and ASEAN Zone cannot be drawn into the same group.
The mechanism of the draw was as follows:
- For the West Asia Zone, a draw was held for the five associations with two direct entrants (Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon) to determine the order of associations occupying the following group positions (higher-seeded team of each association allocated to first position, lower-seeded team of each association allocated to second position): A1 and B2, B1 and C2, C1 and A2, A3 and B4, B3 and C4. The direct entrant from Oman and the play-off winners were allocated to positions C3 and A4 respectively.
- For the ASEAN Zone, a draw was held for the five associations with two direct entrants (Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar) to determine the order of associations occupying the following group positions (higher-seeded team of each association allocated to first position, lower-seeded team of each association allocated to second position): F1 and G2, G1 and H2, H1 and F2, F3 and G4, G3 and H4. The direct entrants from Laos and Cambodia were allocated to positions H3 and F4 respectively.
- For the Central Asia Zone, the South Asia Zone, and the East Asia Zone, no draw was held. The direct entrants were allocated to group positions 1, 2 and 3 according to their association ranking (Central Asia Zone: Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan; South Asia Zone: India, Bangladesh, Nepal; East Asia Zone: Hong Kong, North Korea, Chinese Taipei), and the play-off winners were allocated to group positions 4.
The following 36 teams entered into the group stage draw, which included the 32 direct entrants and the four winners of the play-off round of the qualifying play-offs, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw.
| Zone | Groups | Teams | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Asia Zone | A–C |  Al-Jaish | Al-Ittihad |  Al-Najma | Malkiya |
 Al-Wehdat | Al-Jazeera |  Al-Ahed | Nejmeh | ||
 Al-Kuwait | Al-Qadsia |  Al-Suwaiq |  Hilal Al-Quds (Winners of Play-off West Asia) | ||
| Central Asia Zone | D |  Istiklol |  Altyn Asyr |  Dordoi | Khujand (Winners of Play-off Central Asia) |
| South Asia Zone | E |  Minerva Punjab |  Abahani Limited Dhaka [note 1] |  Manang Marshyangdi Club [note 1] | Chennaiyin (Winners of Play-off South Asia) |
| ASEAN Zone | F–H |  Hà Nội | Becamex Bình Dương |  Persija Jakarta [note 1] | PSM Makassar [note 1] |
 Ceres–Negros | Kaya–Iloilo |  Yangon United | Shan United | ||
 Home United | Tampines Rovers |  Lao Toyota |  Nagaworld | ||
| East Asia Zone | I |  Kitchee |  April 25 |  Hang Yuen | Tai Po (Winners of Play-off East Asia) |
- Standby teams [note 2]
-
Al-Faisaly (for Al-Wehdat) -
Kazma (for Al-Kuwait) -
Regar-TadAZ (for Istiklol) -
Davao Aguilas (for Ceres–Negros)[note 3] -
Bhayangkara (for Persija Jakarta)[note 1] -
Zwekapin United (for Yangon United) -
Pegasus (for Kitchee)
