India has been placed in Group E along with the United Arab Emirates, Oman and the Kyrgyz Republic for the 2022 Uzbekistan Asian Under-23 Cup qualifiers to be held October 23-31.
In the qualifying draw, held here on Friday, 42 teams were divided into 11 groups with 15 spots available for the AFC Asian Under-23 Cup, with Uzbekistan having already confirmed its place as a host, the Asian Football Confederation announced.
This is the first time that the tournament will take place in the central area of the continent, AFC said.
The draw divided the teams into two regions – the West region comprising 23 competing teams from West, South and Center and the East region, which consists of 19 teams from the East. and ASEAN.
The 11 group winners and the top four second-ranked teams will advance to the final.
While India is part of Group E, Jordan will host Group F which also includes Palestine and Turkmenistan.
The other hens in the western region are group A, which includes Syria, host of Qatar, Yemen and Sri Lanka, and group B which includes the Islamic Republic of Iran, host of Tajikistan, Lebanon and Nepal. Iraq, the 2013 champion, is headlining Group C, which will be hosted by Bahrain with Afghanistan and the Maldives also in the running.
Saudi Arabia, runners-up in 2013 and 2020, will play in Group D with Bangladesh, host Kuwait and Uzbekistan, who will participate on a friendly basis and their results will not be included in the standings. The AFC provided no reason for this.
In the Eastern Region, Australia, who finished third in the 2020 AFC Under-23 Asian Cup, were drawn in Group G with host China. Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam.
The Republic of Korea, winner of the 2020 edition, will face the opposition of ASEAN in the host countries of Singapore, Timor-Leste and the Philippines in Group H while Vietnam, vice-champion of 2018, will be with Myanmar, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei in Group I.
Mongolia will host ASEAN teams Thailand, Malaysia and Laos in Group J while Korea DPR, 2016 Champions Japan and Cambodia are in Group K, with the host to be named in time required.
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