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KUALA LUMPUR − The Harimau Malaya squad have now been given home ground advantage and the best opportunity to qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup in China after Malaysia was selected as one of the six hosts for the final round qualifiers in June.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in a statement today also listed India, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Uzbekistan as hosts for the qualifiers to determine the remaining 11 teams that will advance to the finals, which will be played in ten cities across China.
China and the top 12 teams from the second round of the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup qualifiers have already booked their spots, including defending champion Qatar, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Now in the final round qualifiers, 24 nations are set to battle it out on June 8, 11 and 14 for the remaining 11 spots with only the winners and five best runners-up from the six groups advancing to the finals.
The draw will be held virtually on February 24 at the AFC House in Bukit Jalil, where the teams will be divided into five seeding pots based on February 10 FIFA rankings.
Pot 1 will comprise Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Bahrain, Jordan and Palestine, while Thailand, Tajikistan, Philippines, Turkmenistan and Hong Kong will be in Pot 2.
Malaysia together with Afghanistan, Yemen, Myanmar, Maldives and Indonesia will be in Pot 3 while Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Pot 4.
“The six host nations will be taken from their seeding pot and placed in a separate host pot in order to prevent them from being drawn into the same group, although their final group positions will reflect their original draw seeding,” AFC said in a statement.
Malaysia last qualified for the Asian Cup on merit in the 1980 Kuwait edition while in 2007, the Harimau Malaya squad featured as joint hosts with Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. – Bernama, February 17, 2022
