Pakistan face tough Group in AFC-U22 Asian Cup

the-afc.com

Kuala Lumpur: The draw for the qualifying stage of the inaugural AFC U-22 Asian Cup took place at AFC House on Tuesday with 41 continental countries being drawn in seven groups.

All the qualifying matches will be organized from June 23rd to July 3rd 2012 and the finals will be played in 2013 while the next edition of the biennial competition (2015) will serve as qualifiers for the 2016 Olympics.

Addressing the media during the opening of the draw, AFC Executive Director of Competitions Windsor John said:

“This is the latest tournament we have introduced, so this draw in itself is a historic event. The AFC views this competition as the second biggest national team competition, giving prominence and importance to the development of competitions for both the AFC and member associations.”

“This competition will serve as a qualifier for the Olympics, beginning with Rio in 2016, so we hope there will be greater attention from the fans as well as the member associations to reflect this competition’s stature as the second biggest tournament of AFC for national teams.

“With the introduction of this competition we have now laid the foundation for a very structured development path for the footballers in Asia with the AFC already having competitions for under 16s and under 19s.”

A total of 23 countries will feature in the qualifying rounds for the West Zone while 18 nations will compete in the East Zone featuring seven groups of either six or five teams. The top two teams of the one-round league (14 in total) will qualify for next year’s finals while a berth is also available for one best third-placed team and the AFC U-22 Asian Cup 2013 hosts.

GROUP A
UAE
Iraq
Oman
India
Turkmenistan
Lebanon
GROUP B
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Pakistan
Palestine
Kyrgyzstan
Sri Lanka
GROUP C
Bahrain
IR Iran
Tajikistan
Qatar
Kuwait
Maldives
GROUP D
Uzbekistan
Jordan
Yemen
Bangladesh
Nepal

 

GROUP E
Australia
Japan
Indonesia
Singapore
Macau
Timor-Leste
GROUP F
DPR Korea
China PR
Thailand
Hong Kong
Laos
Cambodia
GROUP G
Korea Republic
Vietnam
Malaysia
Myanmar
Chinese Taipei
Philippines