AFC Futsal Championship 2016: Top five teams to qualify for FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016

AFC – TASHKENT, With less than a week to go until the start of the eagerly anticipated AFC Futsal Championship Uzbekistan 2016, join the-afc.com as we take a look at all you need to know ahead of the tournament.

QUALIFIED TEAMS

Group A: Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia
Group B: Iran, Iraq, China, Jordan
Group C: Thailand, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei, Tajikistan
Group D: Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Qatar

TOURNAMENT FORMAT

The 16 participating teams have been divided into four groups of four teams and each group will play a one-round league where each team in the group will play one match against every other team.

The top two teams in each group (eight teams in total) will qualify for the knockout stage and the four winners of the quarter-finals will qualify for the semi-finals.

The winners of the semi-finals will advance to the final and the two losing teams will play in the 3rd/4th placing match. The four losers of the quarter-finals will then feature in play-off matches to determine the 5th placed team.

WHAT’S ON OFFER

Apart from the AFC Futsal Championship Uzbekistan 2016 title, the top five teams will qualify for the FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016.

KEY FIXTURES:

10 Feb 2016: Opening match – Iraq v China
17 Feb 2016: Quarter-finals
18 Feb 2016: Play-offs for four losing quarter-finalists
19 Feb 2016: 5th place play-off, semi-finals
21 Feb 2016: 3rd/4th place match, final