East Bengal clubbed with HK, Malaysia, Singapore in AFC Cup

East Bengal have been clubbed alongside teams from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore in Group F for the AFC Cup football tournament.
In the draw that took place in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, East Bengal were clubbed alongside Kitchee of Hong Kong, Johor Darul Ta'zim (Malaysia) and Singapore's Balestier Khalsa, East Bengal stated in a release today.
Kitchee would be replaced by Sun Pegasus, while the Malaysian team would be replaced by Selangor should they qualify for the ACL Group Stage.
The red-and-golds, who became only the second Indian club after Dempo SC to reach the AFC Cup semifinals, got a bye in the play offs and are directly seeded in Group F of AFC Cup 2015 after Federation Cup champions Churchill Brothers were disqualified following their failure to complete the AFC licensing criteria.

With the President's Cup - a third tier tournament for continental teams - scrapped, teams from other parts of the sub-continent like Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan will also vie for honours in the 41-clubs AFC Cup.
I-League winners Bengaluru FC, however, will be playing in the prestigious AFC Champions League play-off.