Asian Cup 2011 Qualification

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The 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification will see various countries take part to determine another 12 spots to the final tournament in Qatar base on the new qualification system set by Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Five teams will not take part. Qatar qualified as host, and top three finishers in the 2007 tournament, they are: Iraq, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. India won the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup and has also secured qualification.

Also, the winner of the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup will go through automatically and additionally, if the winner of AFC Challenge Cup 2010 is identical to the 2008 tournament, the runner-up will receive an automatic berth for 2011 AFC Asian Cup.

The remaining places will be filled by qualifying rounds. Today they kicked off when Vietnam hosted Lebanon and Syria hosted China. I wasn't aware of this until I was flicking my satellite reciever to Oman Tv to watch the semifinals of The Gulf Cup when there was Vietnam's game on a Vietnamese channel. I only saw the closing stages but Vietnam ran out 3-1 winners. The surprise was probably the other game in the group as Syria beat China 3-2.