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AFC - Australia, Iran, Japan
and Korea Republic will come out of the pots as the top four seeded teams
for the AFC Asian Cup 2007 Final Draw to be held today at the Kuala Lumpur
Convention Centre.
The AFC Asian Cup 2007 Organising Committee today approved this
classification, which is based on the FIFA World Ranking for October 2006,
and also the pot allocations and draw procedure.
The new classification system ensures that the same number of strong teams
are placed with each of the four co-hosts and is thus a break from the past
when teams were seeded solely on the basis of their performance in the
previous AFC Asian Cup competition.
Another rationale behind basing the seedings on the FIFA World Ranking is to
avoid clubbing three or more FIFA World Cup 2006 teams (Japan, Korea
Republic, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Australia) in the same group.
The top four Asian teams in October – Australia, Iran, two-time defending
champions Japan and Korea Republic – will be placed in Pot 4 while Qatar,
Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Oman will go into Pot 3. Pot 2 will be made up
of last edition’s runners-up China, Iraq, UAE and Bahrain.
The four co-hosts Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam will be placed
in Pot 1 and assigned to each of the four groups.
THE POTS
Pot 1: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam (all co-hosts)
Pot 2: China, Iraq, UAE, Bahrain
Pot 3: Qatar, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman
Pot 4: Australia, Iran, Japan, Korea Republic
The 16 teams will be split into four first round groups of four teams each.
The top-two teams from each group will progress to the quarterfinals.
FIFA RANKING OF THE TEAMS IN OCTOBER 2006
1) Australia – 37
2) Iran – 43
3) Japan – 46
4) Korea Republic – 48
5) Qatar – 53
6) Uzbekistan – 59
7) Saudi Arabia – 62
8) Oman – 63
9) China – 87
10) Iraq – 89
11) UAE – 91
12) Bahrain – 108
The Draw Procedure will be announced in detail shortly.
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