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Business Standard
7 days ago
- Sport
- Business Standard
AFC U23 Qualifiers: India drawn with Qatar, Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam
The India U-23 men's national team was on Thursday drawn in Group H of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers and will play against hosts Qatar, Bahrain, and Brunei Darussalam. The draw was conducted at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur. Qatar, the highest-seeded team among the four, will host Group H, with the matches slated to be played between September 1 to 9. A total of 44 teams were divided into 11 groups of four each. The group winners and the four best runners-up, alongside hosts Saudi Arabia, will complete the cast of 16 teams for the seventh edition of the AFC U23 Asian Cup, which will take place in January 2026. The seedings for the draw were based on a points system derived from the teams' final rankings across the previous three editions of the tournament. India were placed in Pot 3. India had earlier appointed Naushad Moosa as the head coach of their U-23 national team. Moosa takes charge from June 1, when the Blue Colts assemble in Kolkata for a training camp, before flying off to Tajikistan to play two exposure matches against Tajikistan (June 18) and Kyrgyz Republic (June 21). The India U-23s will utilise all the FIFA international windows to set camp and play exposure friendlies to prepare for the AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said. AFC U-23 Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers draw: Group A: Jordan (Hosts), Turkmenistan, Chinese Taipei, Bhutan Group B: Japan, Kuwait, Myanmar (H), Afghanistan Group C: Vietnam (H), Yemen, Singapore, Bangladesh Group D: Australia, China (H), Timor-Leste, Northern Mariana Islands Group E: Uzbekistan, Palestine, Kyrgyz Republic (H), Sri Lanka Group F: Thailand (H), Malaysia, Lebanon, Mongolia Group G: Iraq, Cambodia (H), Oman, Pakistan Group H: Qatar (H), Bahrain, India, Brunei Darussalam Group I: United Arab Emirates (H), IR Iran, Hong Kong China, Guam Group J: Korea Republic, Indonesia (H), Laos, Macau Group K: Tajikistan, Syria, Philippines, Nepal.
Daily Tribune
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Tribune
AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifying Draw to Take Place on Thursday
The road to the AFC U-23 Asian Cup 2026 will take its next step on Thursday, 29 May, as the official qualifying draw is set to take place at 3:00pm local time in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — the headquarters of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). A total of 44 national teams will discover their fate as they vie for places in the seventh edition of the tournament, which is scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia for the first time in January 2026. 11 Groups, 1 Goal: Qualification The draw will split the 44 participating nations into 11 groups of four teams each. Matches will be played in a single round-robin format, with all matches within a group hosted by one country. The qualifying fixtures are slated to run from 1 to 9 September 2025. Fifteen spots are up for grabs in the final tournament. Hosts Saudi Arabia, the reigning champions from the 2022 edition, qualify automatically. They will be joined by the 11 group winners and the four best second-placed teams across all groups. Debutants and Format This year's qualification round sees two newcomers enter the fray: Bhutan and the Northern Mariana Islands, both set to make their debut in AFC U-23 competition. Teams will be seeded into four pots ahead of the draw, based on a points system derived from their final rankings across the last three U-23 Asian Cup tournaments. The tournament is seen as a key step in youth development across Asia and often serves as a platform for emerging stars to break into their senior national teams and professional ranks.
