AFC Asian Cup 2011: AFC announces seedings, qualification process

Maldives National Team

Male', MALDIVES - AFC has announced the seedings and qualification process for national teams for the AFC Asian Cup 2011.

The seedings for the qualification format are based on the results from the AFC Asian Cup 2007™ and its qualifiers.   The draw for Round One will be conducted at AFC House here on Monday, December 17, 2007, at 1500hrs Kuala Lumpur time (GMT +8). The draw results will be announced in real time on www.the-afc.com.  

The seedings are:

 1. Iraq; 2. Saudi Arabia; 3. Korea Rep.; 4. Japan; 5. Australia; 6. IR Iran; 7. Uzbekistan; 8. Vietnam; 9. China PR; 10. Thailand; 11. Indonesia; 12. UAE; 13. Bahrain; 14. Oman; 15. Malaysia; 16. Jordan; 17. Syria; 18. Hong Kong; 19. Yemen; 20. Kuwait; 21. Singapore; 22. India; 23. Lebanon; 24. DPR Korea; 25. Myanmar; 26. Maldives; 27. Turkmenistan

Qualification shall take place over two (2) rounds. 

In Round One, the eight teams ranked 20-27 will be paired by a draw which will be conducted at AFC House on December 17, 2007. 

In Round Two, four teams from Round One shall join the sixteen (16) teams ranked 4-19. These twenty (20) teams shall be divided into five groups of four. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the tournament proper in 2011.

The ten (10) qualifiers from Round 2 shall join the top three (3) seeds who are the top three (3) finishers of AFC Asian Cup 2007™ – Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Korea Republic - who get automatic byes, in addition to hosts Qatar and the winners of the AFC Challenge Cup competitions in 2008 and 2010, bringing the total number of participating teams to sixteen (16).

The match schedule and detailed format shall be published prior to the draw on December 17, 2007.

Source: The AFC