Videos Live Scores Podcasts Opinion Interviews Business of Sport Inside Story Football Cricket Tennis Formula One Golf NBA UFC UAE Racquet Sports Fitness

2019 Asian Cup seedings released for draw, to be held in the UAE

Sport360 staff

18:04 12/04/2018

The seedings for the draw for the 2019 Asian Cup have been confirmed after the latest FIFA rankings were released on Thursday.

The draw for the 24-team continental competition is slated to take place on May 4 at 19:30 in Dubai at the Armani Hotel in Burj Khalifa. The 24 teams have been divided into four pots containing six sides each with UAE drawn in Pot 1 as the top seeds as is custom for the hosts.

They will be joined by Iran, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

The 12 teams who progressed to the final round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers were all given a direct bye to the 2019 Asian Cup and have been placed in Pot 1 and 2 of the draw.

Meanwhile, the remaining 12 teams which booked their tickets to UAE through the Asian Cup qualifiers have been placed in Pot 3 and 4. This includes Kyrgyzstan who have made the biggest jump in the latest FIFA rankings by climbing 40 spots from their 115th position in March.

The 24 teams will be divided into six group of four teams each during the draw on May 4. The top two teams from each group along with the best of the third-placed sides will advance to the Round of 16 which will signal the beginning of the knock-outs.

More from asia

French-Algerian Anissa Meksen gets chance to be first to claim new ONE Championship gold

Adrian Lee’s ONE Championship debut confirmed as he looks to further family legacy

NBA 3X ABU DHABI an unparalleled success with legends LaMarcus Aldridge and James Worthy in attendance

ONE Friday Fights 59: French-Algerian looks to maintain KO momentum in headliner

New ONE Championship king Alexis Nicolas ready to fight ‘the world’

French-Algerian Alexis Nicolas reflects on becoming ONE Championship world champ

Most Popular