[1] Al-Ahed from Lebanon won the title for the first time, defeating April 25 from North Korea in the final.

[12] 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.

If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations Article 10.5):[1] In the knockout stage, the 11 teams played a single-elimination tournament.

The bracket was decided after the draw for the Zonal finals and the Inter-zone play-off semi-finals, which was held on 2 July 2019, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

[15] The match was originally to be hosted by April 25 at the Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea on 2 November 2019.

However, on 22 October 2019, due to North Korea's decision to ban television transmission of football games, the AFC announced that the final would be held in Shanghai, China in order for the match to be transmitted.

[18] Note: Goals scored in the qualifying play-offs are not counted when determining top scorer (Regulations Article 64.4).