[2] The draw for the group stage was held on 17 January 2022 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
For each region, 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 the technical balance between groups.
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 for each match day was as follows.
[5] On 3 March 2022, AFC confirmed hosts for the West group stage.