[1] Defending champions Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya defeated Istiklol in the final to win their second AFC Cup title.
The draw for the qualifying round was held on 17 June 2016, 11:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
[18] In the qualifying round, each group was played on a single round-robin basis at the pre-selected hosts.
In the qualifying play-offs, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis.
The five winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the 29 direct entrants.
[20] The bracket of the qualifying play-offs for each zone was determined by the AFC based on the association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the second leg.
The away goals rule (for two-legged ties), extra time (away goals would not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 11.3).
[20] The bracket was decided after the draw for the knockout stage, which was held on 6 June 2017, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the JW Marriott Hotel Kuala Lumpur in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
[8][23][24][25] In the Zonal semi-finals, the four qualified teams from the West Asia Zone (Groups A–C) played in two ties, and the four qualified teams from the ASEAN Zone (Groups F–H) played in two ties, with the matchups and order of legs determined by the group stage draw and identity of the best runner-up.