Asian Cup qualifying draw on Tuesday

PFDC – MELBOURNE, The draw for the 2015 Asian Cup qualifiers will take place in Melbourne on Tuesday (18:00 local time).

While reigning champions Japan, runners-up and hosts Australia and third-placed South Korea are already directly qualified for the continental championship and two berths will be distributed to underdogs via the AFC Challenge Cup, 20 teams will battle for the remaining 11 spots.

The teams will be drawn into five groups of four teams of which the top two and the overall best third-placed team will qualify for the 2015 finals.

The seeding, which was based on the result of the past tournament, could bring some interesting results.

While Team Melli finds itself in pot 1 alongside Uzbekistan, Qatar, Jordan and Iraq, China and Bahrain will be placed in pot 2.

Saudi Arabia and Oman are in pot 3 while Lebanon, who recently shocked Iran with a 1-0 win World Cup qualifying, are in pot 4.

Below comes the full seeding:

Pot 1: Uzbekistan, Qatar, Jordan, Iran, Iraq
Pot 2: China, Bahrain, Syria, UAE, Kuwait
Pot 3: Saudi Arabia, Oman, Thailand, Yemen, Vietnam
Pot 4: Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Lebanon, Hong Kong