The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2019, 16:30 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):[2] The original schedule of each match day, as planned before the COVID-19 pandemic, was as follows.
[8] The AFC held an emergency meeting on 4 February 2020 to determine plans for the tournament, including but not limited to rescheduling of matches in the East Region.
[17] On 16 July 2020, the AFC announced that Qatar would host all West Region matches after restart.
[18] On 27 July 2020, the AFC announced that Malaysia would host the East Region matches of Groups G and H after restart.