AFC announced qualification drawn for AFC U-16 and U-19 championship 2010

The draw for the AFC U-19 Championship and the AFC U-16 Championship qualification tournament has been made public Friday at the AFC House, Kuala Lampur. According to a media release issued by AFC Friday, Nepal is placed in Group ‘A’ along with Tajikistan, Jordan, Yemen, Palestine, and Kyrgyzstan in the in U-19 qualification match. Group ‘A’ matches will be hosted at Dashrath Stadium and APF Halchowk Kathmandu.

A total of 42 teams are slotted into seven groups of six teams each. Four groups belong to the West Asia zone and three to the East. The winner and runners-up of each group will advance to the tournament proper, which will be held next year at an as yet undecided venue. One best third-placed team from the West Zone and one best third-placed team from the East also qualify for the Finals. UAE is the defending champions and Uzbekistan is the runners-up of the previous edition.

Likewise, AFC President Cup and AFC Challenge Cup are also slated to be held at Kathmandu. In U-16 qualification tournament Nepal is placed in group ‘B’ along with defending champions Iran, Bahrain, Lebanon, Tajikistan and South Korea in the U-16 qualification tournament. Earlier, Nepal advanced into the final round of the U-16 tournament in 2004 and 2006.

In total, 45 participating teams are drawn into eight groups for the qualification tournament which is scheduled to start in October this year. The winner and runner-up of each of the seven six-team groups as well as the best third-place side overall will advance to the 2010 AFC U16 Championship finals along with the country that emerges victorious from the trio contesting Group H, namely Australia, Laos and Malaysia. The qualification campaign is scheduled to run from October 3 to 18, with the group venues to be confirmed at a later date.