Otherwise, their association is allocated one additional play-off slot, and they do not replace any team from their association (Articles 3.8, 3.9 and 3.10).
If the AFC Champions League title holders or AFC Cup title holders are from associations ranked 1st to 6th, their association is allocated the same number of play-off slots, and they replace the lowest-seeded team from their association. However, there are no AFC Cup title holders for this season as the 2020 AFC Cup was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The AFC Champions League title holders and AFC Cup title holders are each allocated one play-off slot should they not qualify for the tournament through domestic performance (Article 3.6). The associations ranked 11th to 12th are each allocated one play-off slot. 
The associations ranked 7th to 10th are each allocated one direct slot. The associations ranked 6th are each allocated one direct slot and one play-off slot. The associations ranked 5th are each allocated one direct slot and two play-off slots. The associations ranked 3rd and 4th are each allocated two direct slots and two play-off slots. The associations ranked 1st and 2nd are each allocated three direct slots and one play-off slot. The slots in each region are distributed as follows: In each region, there are five groups in the group stage, including 16 direct slots, with the 4 remaining slots filled through qualifying play-offs (Article 3.2). The top 12 associations in each region are eligible to enter the AFC Champions League. The AFC may reallocate one or more associations to another region if necessary for sporting reasons. East Region consists of the 21 associations from the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF). West Region consists of the 25 associations from the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF), the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), and the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA). The associations are split into two regions (Article 3.1):. 
The slots are allocated by the following criteria according to the Entry Manual: The 46 AFC member associations (excluding the Northern Mariana Islands, which became a full member in December 2020 and are not eligible for this season) are ranked based on their clubs' performance over the last four years in AFC competitions (their national team's FIFA World Rankings no longer considered).
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