Maldives lies in group C

Male’, MALDIVES – Maldives will play against Qatar on 11th June in the first match of 2018 FIFA World Cup second round qualification in Asia in group C.

In the draw ceremony held at JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Maldives lies in group C along with Peoples Republic of China, Hong Kong, Qatar and Bhutan.

The winners of each group and the four best second-placed teams will progress to the third and qualifying round for Asia. Ultimately, four or five Asian nations will qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

At Tuesday’s draw in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was the first of 40 nations picked. The process saw the bottom eight ranked teams drawn first and placed into the eight groups, followed by the pot with the next lowest ranked teams until only the eight seeded teams were left.

There are 40 countries and eight groups for this section of the qualifiers, which run from June to March 2016. The final round of qualifiers is scheduled to begin late next year.

Schedule of matches that Maldives will play

11 Jun 2015 – Maldives vs Qatar

16 Jun 2015 – Hong Kong vs Maldives

8 Sep 2015 – Maldives vs China

8 Oct 2015 – Bhutan vs Maldives

13 Oct 2015 – Qatar vs Maldives

12 Nov 2015 – Maldives vs Hong Kong

24 Mar 2016 – China vs Maldives

29 Mar 2016 – Maldives vs Bhutan