Oman in pot three ahead of U23 Asian Cup draw
MUSCAT, May 23
Oman Olympic team positioned in level three beside Singapore, India, Lebanon, Laos, Timor-Leste, Chinese Taipei, Philippines and China teams ahead of the official draw of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 qualifiers which will take place on Thursday at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.
As many as 44 teams including Oman team will eye to secure slot to the Asian finals in Saudi Arabia next year in January. The qualifiers will take place between September 1 and 9, 2025. Fifteen teams will move to the finals from the qualifying stage and vie for the Asian title in Saudi Arabia which is hosting this event for the first time in the history. The hosts Saudi Arabia confirmed their berth to the finals as they are hosting the event while 15 more teams will join them in the final. From the 11 groups, the toppers of each group will secure their slot to the finals while the overall four best-ranked runners-up will join to the final too.
The qualifying matches will be played in next September in a centralised league format. The Asian teams distributed into different pots while Oman positioned in pot three. The distribution of the teams into different levels was based on a points system derived from their final rankings across the previous three editions of the Finals.
coach Badar al Maimani
The first pot included: Uzbekistan (1), Japan (2), Iraq (3), Korea Republic (5), Australia (7). In Pot two, Kuwait (14) topped this pot beside Islamic Republic of Iran (15), Turkmenistan (16), Malaysia (17), Bahrain (19), Palestine (20), Syria (21) and Yemen (22). Pot 3 featured Oman (25), Singapore (26), India (28), Lebanon (29), Laos (30), Timor-Leste (31), Chinese Taipei (32), Philippines (33) and China (34). Pot four comprised: Afghanistan (35), Bangladesh (36), Mongolia (37), Guam (39), Pakistan (41), Macau (42), Nepal (43), Brunei Darussalam (44), Sri Lanka (45), Bhutan (46) and Northern Mariana Islands (47). The last hosts Pot featured from: Vietnam (6; Seed: 1), Qatar (8;1), Thailand (9;1), Jordan (10;1), Tajikistan (11;1), United Arab Emirates (12;1), Indonesia (13;2), China PR (18;2), Cambodia (23;2), Myanmar (24;3), Kyrgyz Republic (27;3).
On the other side, Oman Olympic U-23 team are underway in their domestic camp in Muscat. The team played friendly match against Royal Court Affairs team on Wednesday night and ended for the latter by 2-1. The following warm up fixture for the Olympic team will be against Royal Navy Oman team on May 30 before heading off to Moscow on June 1 for the external camp.
Oman team, coached by Badar al Maimani, will meet Russia Olympic team in Moscow twice as part of the external preparatory camp which will take place in June. Oman team will eye to claim maximum technical output from the abroad camp in Moscow which will feature two friendly matches against Russia Olympic team and one more match against local Russian team. This camp in Russia will act as a key preparation stage for the team's preparations for the AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers which will begin in coming September.
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