AFC Cup
The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying slots in the top-tier AFC Champions League, based on the AFC Club Competitions Ranking.
Al-Kuwait and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya are the most successful club in the competition's history, having won three titles each. Clubs from Kuwait have won four titles, making them the most successful nation in the competition. Ever since the inauguration of the competition in 2004, the finalists of each edition have been dominated by clubs from West Asia until 2015 when the Malaysian team Johor Darul Ta'zim from East Asia became one of the finalists and became champions. Al-Ahed are the current champions after defeating April 25 Sports Club in the 2019 final.
History
The AFC Cup began in 2004 as a second tier competition to relate back to the AFC Champions League as 14 countries that had developing status competed in the first competition with 18 teams being nominated. Group A, B, C had West and Central Asian teams while the other two groups had east and South East Asia. The winners and three runners-up would then head to the knock-out stage where it was a random draw in who was going to play. Al-Jaish took the first AFC Cup after they defeated fellow Syrian opponents Al-Wahda on away goals.In 2005, 18 teams competed from nine nations with the nations still being allowed to choose from one or two teams entering. After Syrian teams left the AFC Cup to try at the Champions League for four years, Al-Faisaly defeated Nejmeh in the final. With it, Jordanian teams would win the next two AFC Cup seasons with Bahrain joining the league while Bangladesh was relegated to the AFC President's Cup until the tournament's abolition in 2014.
Al-Muharraq would break the trend in 2008 as they competed in the last two-legged final before it headed back into a one-leg system which still runs to this day.
Format
Some changes were applied in terms of teams and format for the 2017 AFC Cup. A total of 36 teams participate in the group stage. The final will be played as a one-off match.Allocation
Teams from 27 AFC countries have reached the group stage of the AFC Cup. The allocation of those teams by member country is listed below; asterisks represent occasions where at least one team was eliminated in qualification for the group stage. 34 AFC countries have had teams participate in qualification, those who have not reached the group stage but have only played in qualification are not bolded.Prize money
The prize money for the 2020 AFC Cup:| Phase | Purse | Travel subsidy |
| Preliminary stage | N/A | $40,000 |
| Play-offs | N/A | $40,000 |
| Group stage | N/A | $40,000 |
| Knockout stage | Zonal champions: $100,000 | $40,000 |
| Final | Champions: $1.5 million Runners-up: $750,000 | $40,000 |
Results and statistics
Finals
Performance by clubs
Performance by nations
Top scorers
Winning coaches
All-time top goalscorers
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 |  Bienvenido Marañón |  Ceres–Negros | |
| 2 |  Mahmoud Shelbaieh | Al-Wehdat | |
| 3 |  Aleksandar Đurić | Geylang United, Singapore Armed Forces, Tampines Rovers | |
| 3 |  Amjad Radhi | Erbil SC, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | |
| 5 |  Bader Al-Mutawa | Qadsia SC | |
| 5 |  Rico |  Al-Muharraq, Al-Riffa, Al-Hidd | |
| 7 |  Ali Ashfaq | Club Valencia, New Radiant, VB Sports Club |
Marketing
Sponsorship
Like the AFC Champions League, the AFC Cup is sponsored by a group of multinational corporations, in contrast to the single main sponsor typically found in national top-flight leagues.The tournament's current main sponsors are: