| Tourney Name: | AFC Cup |
| Year: | 2010 |
| Num Teams: | 26+5 |
| Associations: | 17 |
| Champion Other: |  Al-Ittihad |
| Count: | 1 |
| Second Other: | Al-Qadsia |
| Matches: | 111 |
| Goals: | 338 |
| Attendance: | 782483 |
| Top Scorer: |  Afonso Alves (9 goals) |
| Prevseason: | 2009 |
| Nextseason: | 2011 |
The 2010 AFC Cup was the seventh edition of the AFC Cup, a competition among clubs from member nations of the Asian Football Confederation.
With the Asian Football Confederation currently reviewing the format of the AFC Champions League between 2009 and 2010 season, significant changes were made in the way the competition is run, the teams that will qualify for the AFC Cup is also expected to be from different countries compared to the previous editions.
The preliminary qualification scheme for the AFC 2010 was released in 2008.[1] A total of 33 clubs were due to participate in the 2010 AFC Cup (eventually reduced to 31).
However, the qualifying play-off was not needed and both teams advanced automatically in the group stage after FIFA's suspension of the Iraqi Football Association was not lifted by 6 January 2010.
Both teams from Iraq were disqualified after FIFA's suspension on the Iraq Football Association was not lifted on 6 January 2010.
The following is the list of participants confirmed by the AFC.[2]
1 Al-Kuwait failed to fulfil the criteria set by AFC to compete in the 2010 AFC Champions League, and so directly enter the 2010 AFC Cup.[3]
2 Nasaf Qarshi were due to host Al-Rayyan in the qualifying play-off, with the winner advancing to the group stage (Group E). However, both teams advanced automatically to the group stage after the two teams from Iraq, Arbil (Group C) and Najaf (Group B), were disqualified after FIFA's suspension on the Iraq Football Association was not lifted on 6 January 2010.[4] As a result, the tournament was reduced to 31 teams.
3 Negeri Sembilan FA (second representative of Malaysia) withdrew, and was replaced by Persiwa Wamena.
The 2010 AFC Cup will have the same format as the 2009 AFC Cup.
|
|
See main article: 2010 AFC Cup group stage. The draw for the group stage was held on 7 December 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[8] The ACL play-off losers were placed in their groups on 8 February 2010.[9]
Each club plays double round-robin (home and away) against fellow three group members, a total of 6 matches each. Clubs receive 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss. The clubs are ranked according to points and tie breakers are in following order:
Winners and runners-up of each group will qualify for the next round.
See main article: 2010 AFC Cup knockout stage.
The matches were played on 11 and 12 May 2010.
|}
The draw for the remaining rounds was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 25 May 2010.[10] Because of the country protection rule, if there are two clubs from the same country, they will not face each other in the quarter-finals. Therefore, the two clubs from Syria, Kuwait, and Thailand may not be drawn with each other in the quarter-finals.[11]
The first legs were played on 14 and 15 September, and the second legs were played on 21 and 22 September 2010.
|}
The first legs were played on 5 October, and the second legs were played on 19 October 2010.
|}
See main article: 2010 AFC Cup Final.
The final was played on 6 November 2010. It was a one-leg match originally set to be played at the host stadium of one of the finalists, but was changed to a larger capacity stadium one week before the final.[12]
| AFC Cup 2010 Winners | |
|---|---|
| |
| Al-Ittihad First Title |
| Rank | Player | Club | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Afonso Alves |  Al-Rayyan | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |||||||
| 2 |  Gastón Merlo | Đà Nẵng | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | |||||||
| 3 | Fábio César Montezine | Al-Rayyan | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||||||||
| Huỳnh Kesley Alves | Bình Dương | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |||||||||
| Bader Al-Mutwa | Al Qadsia | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |||||||
| 5 | Khaled Al-Azemi | Al Kuwait | 2 | 4 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Leonardo Ferreira da Silva |  South China | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||
| Keith Gumbs |  Sriwijaya | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||||||||||
 Ali Ashfaq | VB Sports Club | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
 Anoure Obiora | Sriwijaya | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||
 Abdulrahman Mubarak | Al-Riffa | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
