Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2019, 14:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. [4] 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 could not be drawn into the same group.
The mechanism of the draw was as follows: [5]
- 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 three associations with two direct entrants (Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore) 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; another draw was held for the three associations with one direct entrant (Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos) to determine the order of associations occupying the following group positions (direct entrant of each association allocated to first position, play-off winners which the play-off team of each association may advance from allocated to second position): F3 and G4, G3 and H4, H3 and F4.
- 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, Maldives, Bangladesh; East Asia Zone: Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Macau), and the play-off winners were allocated to group positions 4.
The following 36 teams entered into the group stage draw, which included the 29 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.
| Zone | Groups | Teams | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Asia Zone | A–C |  Al-Jaish | Al-Wathba |  Al-Riffa | Manama |
 Al-Faisaly | Al-Jazeera |  Al-Ahed | Al-Ansar | ||
 Al-Kuwait | Al-Qadsia |  Dhofar |  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 |  Chennai City |  TC Sports |  Bashundhara Kings | Maziya (Winners of Play-off South Asia) |
| ASEAN Zone | F–H |  Hồ Chí Minh City | Than Quảng Ninh |  Bali United | PSM Makassar (Winners of Play-off ASEAN 1) |
 Ceres–Negros | Kaya–Iloilo |  Shan United | Yangon United (Winners of Play-off ASEAN 2) | ||
 Tampines Rovers | Hougang United |  Lao Toyota |  Svay Rieng (Winners of Play-off ASEAN 3) | ||
| East Asia Zone | I |  Tai Po [note 1] |  Tatung |  MUST CPK | TBD (Winners of Play-off East Asia) |
- Standby teams [note 2]
-
Al-Wehdat (for Al-Faisaly) -
Al-Salmiya (for Al-Kuwait) -
Al-Muharraq (for Al-Riffa) -
Regar-TadAZ (for Istiklol) -
FC Goa (for Chennai City) -
Geylang International (for Tampines Rovers) -
Persebaya Surabaya (for Bali United)[note 3] -
Ayeyawady United (for Shan United)
