Al-Shabab, this season’s Saudi champions, are favorites to advance to the final eight playing against the far less experienced Al-Quwa at home, with the only competition will be from Qatari club Al-Sadd, who share the same point tally.

On the other hand, Al-Hilal will have to play against Al-Minaa in Kuwait and will have to wait for the outcome of the Al-Ain and Mashal game to determine whether they qualify to the quarter-finals or not.

In Group A, Uzbekistani club Pakhtakor will face Kuwaiti outfit Qadsia at home for the qualifying ticket to the quarter-finals, the same as in Group C, where only Syrian club Al-Karama and Iranian club Saba Battery are fighting to advance.

Asian champions Ittihad Jeddah automatically qualified to the quarter-finals after winning last season’s title. Korean club Ulsan and Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua also guaranteed a place in the final eight after topping Groups F and G.