Alkass Digital
Battle lines will be drawn for the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 when the official Final Draw ceremony takes place this Thursday at 12pm local time at the Al Bustan Ballroom of the Wyndham Doha West Bay in Doha.
he top 16 U23 teams in Asia will vie for supremacy at the sixth edition of the competition, set to be played between April 15 to May 3, 2024 in Qatar.
Adding to the excitement, the top three finishers of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 will qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, while the fourth-placed team will participate in a Play-off against an opponent from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for a chance to compete at the Olympics.
Hosts Qatar, who qualified automatically, will be joined by 15 teams that successfully navigated the Qualifiers in September – 11 group winners and four best second-placed teams overall – in the Final Draw.
Eight teams – Australia, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Korea Republic, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan – have been present at every edition to date, while Indonesia are set to make their tournament debut.
As the Host Association, Qatar will be placed in the Pots as the top seed and the other teams ranked by their performances at the AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022, where Saudi Arabia emerged victorious.
The 16 sides will be divided into four equal groups to contest a one-round league format and the top two finishers in each group qualify to the Quarter-finals.
Seedings for the Final Draw
Pot 1 (Ranked 1st to 4th): Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Japan
Pot 2 (5th to 8th): Australia, Iraq, Vietnam, South Korea
Pot 3 (9th to 12th): Thailand, Jordan, UAE, Kuwait
Pot 4 (13th to 16th): Malaysia, Tajikistan, Indonesia, China