[2] The draw for the group stage was held at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 27 January 2021.
For each zone, 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, in consideration of technical balance between groups.
[4] The following 40 teams entered into the group stage draw, which included the 32 direct entrants and the eight winners of the play-off round of the qualifying play-offs, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw.
The winners of each group and three best runners-up from each region advanced to the round of 16 of the knockout stage.
If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations Article 8.3):[2] The schedule of each matchday was as follows.