FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup: Asian contenders battle for Portugal berths

FIFA – DOHA, With winter making way for spring, the attention of many in the football world has turned to Doha, the capital of Qatar, where current weather conditions look ideal for the upcoming AFC Beach Soccer Championship, which doubles as the Asian qualifying tournament for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Portugal 2015.

No fewer than 14 teams are scheduled to take part in the event, which is being staged on Katara Beach for the second successive time. A temporary stadium, which will welcome thousands of fans between 23 and 28 March, has been set up right in the heart of the cultural district.

By the end of the tournament, three teams will have earned the right to represent Asia in the Portuguese seaside town of Espinho in July. FIFA.com runs the rule over the sides likely to capture those coveted World Cup berths.

The favourites
Since the very first set of Asian qualifiers in 2006, only a select band of nations have advanced to the Beach Soccer World Cup. Iran, who have made great progress in recent years and emerged victorious from the 2013 qualifying tournament, are among that group and will be highly fancied to book their place at the World Cup for a sixth time. Last time around at Tahiti 2013, the Iranians raised eyebrows by reaching the quarter-finals, where they lost a closely contested match to eventual world champions Russia.

The stat
4 – The number of teams that have triumphed in the Asian qualifying phase, namely Bahrain, UAE (twice), Japan (twice) and Iran.

The groups
Group A: Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Laos
Group B: Japan, China, Kuwait, Vietnam
Group C: UAE, Iraq, Uzbekistan
Group D: Iran, Lebanon, Thailand