2025–26 AFC Champions League Two group stage

The 2025–26 AFC Champions League Two group stage was played from 16 September to 24 December 2025. The top two teams from each group qualified for the knockout stage.^[1]

The draw for the group stage took place on 15 August in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 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).^[1] For each region, teams were seeded into four pots and drawn into the relevant positions within each group, based on their association ranking and their seeding within their association. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.

The following 32 teams entered the group-stage draw, which included the 27 direct entrants, two losers from the AFC Champions League Elite qualifying play-offs and the three winners of the preliminary stage.

Region	Groups	Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
West Region	A–D	SepahanACLE	Esteghlal	Al-Muharraq	Al-Wehdat
		Al-Nassr	Andijon	Mohun Bagan SG	Al Khaldiya
		Al Wasl	Al-Zawraa	Istiklol	GoaPS
		Al Ahli	Al-Hussein	Arkadag	AhalPS
East Region	E–H	Bangkok UnitedACLE	BG Pathum United	Tai Po	Công An Hà Nội
		Gamba Osaka	Macarthur	Lion City Sailors	Eastern
		Pohang Steelers	Selangor	Kaya–Iloilo	Tampines Rovers
		Beijing Guoan	Nam Định	Ratchaburi	PersibPS

Legend

• ACLE: AFC Champions League Elite qualifying play-off losers
• PS: Preliminary stage winners

In the group stage, each group was played in a double round-robin format on home and away 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 8.3):^[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. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams playing each other in the last round of the group are tied;
8. 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);
9. Drawing of lots.

The schedule of the group stage was as follows.^[3]

Round	Dates (West region)	Dates (East region)
Matchday 1	16–17 September 2025	17–18 September 2025
Matchday 2	30 September – 1 October 2025	1–2 October 2025
Matchday 3	21–22 October 2025	22–23 October 2025
Matchday 4	4–5 November 2025	5–6 November 2025
Matchday 5	29 October 2025 25–26 November 2025	26–27 November 2025
Matchday 6	23–24 December 2025	10–11 December 2025

The detailed schedule was announced after the draw ceremony.^[4]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		WAS	EST	MUH	ALW
1	Al Wasl	6	4	2	0	15	6	+9	14	Advance to round of 16		—	7–1	2–2	2–1
2	Esteghlal	6	2	2	2	8	10	−2	8			1–1	—	0–1	2–0
3	Al-Muharraq	6	2	1	3	8	8	0	7			0–1	0–3	—	4–0
4	Al-Wehdat	6	1	1	4	5	12	−7	4			1–2	1–1	2–1	—

---

---

---

---

---

---

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		AHL	ARK	KHA	AND
1	Al Ahli	6	2	4	0	7	4	+3	10	Advance to round of 16		—	2–2	0–0	2–0
2	Arkadag	6	1	4	1	5	6	−1	7			1–1	—	1–0	0–0
3	Al Khaldiya	6	1	3	2	3	3	0	6			1–2	2–0	—	0–0
4	Andijon	6	0	5	1	1	3	−2	5			0–0	1–1	0–0	—

---

---

---

---

---

---

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ALH	SEP	AHA	MBG
1	Al-Hussein	4	3	0	1	8	4	+4	9	Advance to round of 16		—	1–0	3–1	21 Oct
2	Sepahan	4	2	1	1	5	3	+2	7			2–0	—	2–2	30 Sep
3	Ahal	4	0	1	3	4	10	−6	1			1–4	0–1	—	25 Nov
4	Mohun Bagan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew[a]		4 Nov	23 Dec	0–1	—

---

---

---

---

---

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		NSR	ZWR	IST	GOA
1	Al-Nassr	6	6	0	0	22	2	+20	18	Advance to round of 16		—	5–1	5–0	4–0
2	Al-Zawraa	6	3	0	3	8	11	−3	9			0–2	—	2–1	2–1
3	Istiklol	6	3	0	3	7	13	−6	9			0–4	2–1	—	2–0
4	Goa	6	0	0	6	3	14	−11	0			1–2	0–2	1–2	—

---

---

---

---

---

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MAC	HNP	TPF	BJG
1	Macarthur FC	6	4	1	1	11	6	+5	13	Advance to round of 16		—	2–1	2–1	3–0
2	Công An Hà Nội	6	2	2	2	9	7	+2	8			1–1	—	3–0	2–1
3	Tai Po	6	2	1	3	7	12	−5	7			2–1	1–0	—	3–3
4	Beijing Guoan	6	1	2	3	10	12	−2	5			1–2	2–2	3–0	—

---

---

---

---

---

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GOS	RPM	TND	EAS
1	Gamba Osaka	6	6	0	0	16	2	+14	18	Advance to round of 16		—	2–0	3–1	3–1
2	Ratchaburi	6	3	0	3	15	8	+7	9			0–2	—	2–0	5–1
3	Nam Định	6	3	0	3	14	7	+7	9			0–1	3–1	—	9–0
4	Eastern	6	0	0	6	2	30	−28	0			0–5	0–7	0–1	—

---

---

---

---

---

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		PSB	BKU	LCS	SEL
1	Persib	6	4	1	1	11	6	+5	13	Advance to round of 16		—	1–0	1–1	2–0
2	Bangkok United	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	10[a]			0–2	—	1–0	1–1
3	Lion City Sailors	6	3	1	2	10	8	+2	10[a]			3–2	1–2	—	4–2
4	Selangor	6	0	1	5	7	15	−8	1			2–3	2–4	0–1	—

---

---

---

---

---

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BGT	PHS	BGP	KAY
1	Tampines Rovers	6	5	1	0	14	5	+9	16	Advance to round of 16		—	1–0	2–1	5–3
2	Pohang Steelers	6	4	1	1	7	2	+5	13			1–1	—	2–0	2–0
3	BG Pathum United	6	2	0	4	5	8	−3	6			0–2	0–1	—	2–1
4	Kaya–Iloilo	6	0	0	6	4	15	−11	0			0–3	0–1	0–2	—

---

---

---

---

---

• 2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite league stage
• 2025–26 AFC Challenge League group stage

• Official website