The draw for the final tournament will take place on April 23rd, 2010 in Doha, Qatar.
Qualified teams:
AFC Asian Cup 2007: Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Korea Republic
AFC Challenge Cup 2008: India
AFC Challenge Cup 2010: Korea DPR
Group A: Japan, Bahrain
Group B: Australia, Kuwait
Group C: United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan
Group D: Syria, China PR
Group E: Iran, Jordan
In 2004, teams were seeded using results from Lebanon 2000. In 2007, teams were seeded using the FIFA ranking.
Seeding based on the results of 2007 AFC Asian Cup:
Pot 1: Qatar (hosts), Iraq (champions), Saudi Arabia, Korea Republic
Pot 2: Japan, Australia, Iran, Uzbekistan
Pot 3: China, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait
Pot 4: Syria, Jordan, Korea DPR, India
Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Korea DPR and India (not present at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup) ranked by their March 2010 FIFA ranking.
Seeding based on the FIFA ranking:
Pot 1: Qatar (hosts), Iraq (champions), Australia, Japan
Pot 2: Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bahrain
Pot 3: China PR, Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Syria
Pot 4: Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Korea DPR, India
Iraq are suspended by FIFA since November 20th, 2009 due to government interference.
If the suspension is not lifted by April 23rd, 2010, AFC have a couple of options:
1. Postpone the draw
2. Replace Iraq with one of Oman (best 3rd placed team in the qualifiers), Turkmenistan (AFC Challenge Cup 2010 finalists) or Tajikistan (AFC Challenge Cup 2008 finalists and winners in 2006)
3. Have two draws - one with Iraq and one with the replacement team.
Some media reported the AFC will select the host Qatar and 2007 top-3 teams Iraq, Saudi, Korea Rep as top seeds and the remaining qualifiers will be ranked by the FIFA March ranking.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. That wouldn't be very surprising. AFC have a habit of constantly chancing things around.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.the-afc.com/en/member-association-news/west-asia-news/27781-iraq-fa-suspension-lifted-by-fifa
ReplyDeleteIraq FA suspension lifted by FIFA
http://www.the-afc.com/en/afc-asian-cup-news/28326-afc-asian-cup-qatar-2011-finals-draw-mechanics
ReplyDeleteSeeding is based on the results of 2007 edition but it's Jordan instead of Kuwait in pot 3
It seems they've ranked the last 5 teams on 2007 Asian Cup qualifiers:
ReplyDeleteJordan 10
Syria 8
Kuwait 4
India 0
Korea DPR - didn't participate.
A bit unfair for Kuwait since they were in a group of only 3 teams after Lebanon withdrew.