China has benefited from the vigorous development of the Super League in recent years and the club's good performance in intercontinental competitions, so there are "2+2" places. The league champion and the cup champion can get two places to advance directly to the group stage, while the two or three players in the league (or maybe the top four, because the cup champions are different) get the remaining two play-off places. So in recent years, we only need to play the play-offs (that is, the third round of qualifying), and we don't need to play the qualifiers (the first two rounds of qualifying). Moreover, the principle of strong team protection directly determines the victory or defeat at home.
AFC official website saw that China Club ranked third in Asia and second in East Asia (second only to South Korea), so from the AFC Champions League of 20 19, it won 3+ 1.