U-23 Asian Cup Draw Will Be Held By AFC On May 25, Indonesia Is Included In A Special Pot

The U-23 Indonesian national team. (Photo: Twitter/@PSSI)

JAKARTA - The Asian Football Federation (AFC) scheduled the U-23 Asian Cup drawing on May 25, 2023. In that agenda, Indonesia is included in a special pot.

Of the total 43 Asian state teams that are members of the AFC, all will compete for tickets to the final round. All members have been divided into 10 groups each containing four countries and the rest are filled with three teams.

Each group will be played in 11 countries that have been appointed as hosts by the AFC. Apart from Indonesia, there are several other countries such as South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, China, Jordan, Kuwait, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

"The match will be held centrally in a round-robin one leg format, with 11 group winners and the four best second-ranked teams among all groups qualifying for the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup," the AFC's official statement was quoted as saying on Tuesday, May 23.

Later 11 group winners and the four best runners-up will get tickets to the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup finals. The U-23 Asian Cup is scheduled to take place in Qatar from 15 April to 3 May 2024.

"All matches involving Qatar will be considered friendly matches and are not taken into account when calculating the group's final rankings. Thus, Qatar will be considered a no-ranked team for the purpose of seeding," the AFC said.

The following is the Distribution of the State Pot for the U-23 Asian Cup Draw:

Pot 1: Japan, Australia, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia

Pot 2: Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Syria, India, Singapore

Pot 3: Kyrgyzstan, Palestine, Yamam, Timor-Leste, Chinese Taipei, Lebanon, Laos, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, China, Maldives, Oman

Pot 4: Mongolia, Philippines, Afghanistan, Brunei Darussalam, North Korea, Guam, Macau, Pakistan, Qatar

Hosts Pot: Bahrain, China, Indonesia, Jordan, South Korea, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.