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Friday, February 4, 2011

2015 AFC Asian Cup seeding

Considering AFC's dislike of the FIFA Ranking, the 2011 AFC Asian Cup performance will most likely be used to seed the teams both in the qualifiers and the final tournament.

Here's the 2011 AFC Asian Cup performance ranking:

 1 Japan
2 Australia
3 Korea Republic
4 Uzbekistan
5 Iran
6 Iraq
7 Qatar
8 Jordan
9 China PR
10 Bahrain
11 Syria
12 Korea DPR
13 United Arab Emirates
14 Kuwait
15 Saudi Arabia
16 India
17 Oman
18 Yemen
19 Thailand
20 Singapore
21 Vietnam
22 Indonesia
23 Lebanon
24 Hong Kong
25 Malaysia
26 Maldives


I have Iran and Iraq above Qatar because both teams lost in extra time, while the hosts lost in regular time. I don't know how AFC will handle this - it makes no difference in the qualifiers. The final seeding will also be unaffected (unless Uzbekistan fail to qualify).

Assuming AFC will use again the system with 5 groups of 4 teams with the top 2 and the best 3rd place team also qualifying, these are the pots (with Korea DPR and India participating).

First round

Pot 1: Vietnam, Indonesia, Lebanon
Pot 2: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Maldives

Group stage

Pot 1: Uzbekistan, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan
Pot 2: China PR, Bahrain, Syria, Korea DPR, United Arab Emirates
Pot 3: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, India, Oman, Yemen
Pot 4: Thailand, Singapore + play-off winners

There could be a group with Iran, China PR, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

On to the final tournament.

As mentioned before, the final seeding will also be based on the 2011 AFC Asian Cup performance. Assuming India and Korea DPR again qualify through the AFC Challenge Cup and the top teams based on seeding qualify, these would be the pots for the final draw:

Pot 1: Australia (hosts), Japan, Korea Republic, Uzbekistan
Pot 2: Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan
Pot 3: China PR, Bahrain, Syria, Korea DPR
Pot 4: United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, India

I'll post updates as soon as teams clinch qualification.

About me:

Christian, husband, father x 3, programmer, Romanian. Started the blog in March 2007. Quit in April 2018. You can find me on LinkedIn.

31 comments:

  1. where's the philippines in the rank.... I think Philippines is one of the best competing teams in AFC nowadays...

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  2. @ Anonymous

    Philippines are not in the rankings. If they want to be at the Asian Cup they'll have to win a Challenge Cup. They've recently qualified for the 2012 Challenge Cup.

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  3. @Philippines

    They didn't participate in the 2011 Asian Cup main qualifiers or final tournament and thus are not in the rankings.

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  4. why is Afghanistan not in this ranking and is it going to be eligible to participate in the 2015 qualifiers?

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  5. Afghanistan can only qualify through AFC Challenge Cup, same as Philippines

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  6. Why do we have DPR korea in afc challenge cup?i hope it's a tournament for weak teams in asia,by putting teams like India & Dpr korea they are making the qualifier complicated

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  7. Maybe because Korea DPR don't want to compete in the main qualifiers and AFC want to have them in the final tournament.

    India... I think AFC want to make football popular in India as soon as possible even by breaking their own rules.

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  8. The top 3 teams (Japan, South Korea, Australia) won automatic qualification for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup for finishing in the top 3.

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  9. hey india afc is not breaking rules fr the sake of india u look at the rankings and u see tht thailad which r of the same lvl of india r getting the direct bye into third round of worldcup qualifiers and y cant india get this oppurtunity i think india r playing much better than their rankings they can beat syria korea dpr etc...

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  10. India are not getting this opportunity because of their performance in the last WCQs. The AFC seeding is based on previous performance. Thailand made it to the group stage. India lost in the first round to Lebanon.

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  11. i am indian,and would love to see india in the w.c but to do that they do have to perfrm well in the qualifiers.they have talent ,they have stamina but creativity is lacking in the team.more young talent should be brought in the team for the future.let's hope for the best !!

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  12. when will AFC draw first round ? (VietNamese)

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  13. It was sometime in December 2007 for the 2011 edition, so we still have to wait.

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  14. Why is nepal not there but india is there though india s greatest players are of nepali origin(by gorkhali)

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  15. @ Anonymous

    He's used the same 16 teams that qualified for the last Asian Cup.

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  16. Where is Nepal then??
    SAAR C champion 2011. :D
    in upcoming days!!!!!

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  17. India will develope its game and become one of the stronger sides in Afc Asian cup 2015 .

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  18. Nepal plays in AFC Challenge Cup. If they win the 2012 Cup in Kathmandu, they will qualify to Australia 2015.

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  19. As Lorric said, I used the same teams that qualified for the 2011 event.

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  20. sir where is AFC CHALLENGE
    CUP 2012 thread??i want 2 know if india win all their matches in AFC CUP then how many total points we will hv??

    2ndly wen will ASIA CUP 2015 qualifier start?

    3rd wat can b possible opponents of india in group stage??

    4th does india need to play 2 legged ties 2 entr group stage??

    5th just consider-->india finish in top 2 in their grup or best 3rd place team in all groups.does this mean india has qualified 4 2015 ASIA CUP or ny further we need 2 play in KO matches??

    KSHITIJ :~\

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  21. @Kshitij

    First of all, please mind your language. There's no need to use such words, even if you don't like Nepal.

    India need to win the 2012 or 2014 AFC Challenge Cup to qualify for the 2015 Asian Cup.

    I don't know when the 2015 AC qualifiers will start.

    About India's points after the 2012 ACC... let's wait for March 9th.

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  22. sry sir but nepali's here used a vry offensive line that is wy i replied 2 him.i wil nt do it nxt time.-->kshitij

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  23. sir is it true that india can't take part in ASIA 2015
    qualifiers coz we took part in ACC 2012??-->kshitij

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  24. In the 2011 Asian Cup qualifiers, India, North Korea, Myanmar and Turkmenistan were all entered for the main qualifiers AND the AFC Challenge Cup, but all later withdrew from the main Asian Cup qualifiers. I don't know if there is any rule that means teams cannot take part in both competitions, but if so, then this rule was not in effect for the 2011 competition.

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  25. Nepal is a very good football team....the problem is that they just dont have currently strikers that are in form.if u guys watched afc challenge cup 2012,nepal has the best ball position, sad though they cant finish.but also then,luck also plays part in football...after all what all matters in a football are goals.hope they get better and win support of largest football supporters throughout the country in coming years.

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  26. I don't think the lack of strikers was their only problem. They conceded 6 goals in 3 matches, so their defence could clearly do with some work as well. I don't think it was all bad luck that caused Nepal to finish with a goal difference of -6 in just 3 games.

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  27. Sir, nice post.
    I just want to ask, the basis of seeding teams to the main qualifiers, Was the ranking based on asian cup 2011 and not about the classification (ex: developed, developing, emerging)?
    Also, would there be any chance that an emerging nation, lets say Philippines, would get a chance to join the qualifiers (aside from winning afcchallenge cup 2014)? Like a play-off for the spot of N.Korea? Did anything like that happened before? Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. The seeding for the qualifiers will be based on the 2011 Asian Cup performance.

      2015 AFC Asian Cup seeding

      I'm still waiting for an answer from the AFC regarding India as you can read in that post. AFC have told me the top 23 compete in the main qualifiers, while the bottom 23 will compete in the Challenge Cup.

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  28. i felt very bad of our indian football bcoz they hav talent but not competitive enough. they hav 2 increase their stamina like of european football and be able to become competitive.
    if indian players not only play good but also scores enough goal surely they wil reach the pinnacle

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  29. if philippines wins AFC challenge cup 2014 in maldives, do they have automatic slot for ASIAN cup 2015 in australia?

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