Kuala Lumpur, Dec 4, IRNA - A total of 42 countries, including
automatic qualifiers--hosts China and defending champions Japan-- have confirmed their participation in the 2004 Asian Cup football
tournament.
The draw for the tournament is scheduled in Beijing on Saturday, according to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) statement on
Wednesday.
Iran is placed among the top seeded teams by the AFC. Apart from Iran, the top seeded teams in Category A are South
Korea, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan,followed by the Category B teams--Kuwait, Thailand, Bahrain,
Indonesia, Lebanon, Oman and Syria.
The Malaysian team has been placed in Group C in the same ranks as
Turkemenistan, Vietnam, Tajikistan, Yemen, Jordan and Palestine.
There are 19 teams in Category D but only seven will qualify from this group for the qualifying rounds.
The teams are Singapore, India, Laos, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Brunei, Pakistan,
Macau, Guam, Taiwan, Mongolia, Bhutan, North Korea and East Timor. |