Page 1 of 1

Socceroos seeded for Asian Cup

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:49 pm
by Rocky10
Socceroos seeded for Asian Cup

THE final qualifying draw for the 2011 Asian Cup will be held in Doha on July 3, with Australia and fellow heavyweights Japan seeded and set to avoid each other.

By the end of the draw, 20 teams will have been slotted into five groups of four each with the top two teams qualifying for the finals in Qatar.

A direct bye into the finals has been granted to current Asian champions Iraq, 2007 runners-up Saudi Arabia, third-place team South Korea, and host Qatar.

In addition, the winners of the AFC Challenge Cups in 2008 and 2010 will also make the final 16.

Based on the results of the 2007 Asian Cup and its qualifiers, Japan, Australia, Iran and Uzbekistan are the seeded nations and will not be drawn against each other in the qualifiers.

Other countries in the hat include Bahrain, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Singapore, Syria, Thailand, UAE, Vietnam, and Yemen.