On April 6, Beijing time, FIFA announced the new national team ranking on its official website, and the Asian Cup group stage draw on May 11 will also be divided into binches based on this ranking, and the national football team ranked 11th in Asia is determined to enter the second bracket. With a 36-point difference between them and Asian No. 9, the national football team will unsurprisingly enter the group draw as a second-tier team in the World Qualifiers that start in November.
The Asian Cup group draw was originally the third and fourth gears of the ball queue that the AFC planned to qualify through the Asian Preliminary Round according to the first and second gears of the ball queue of the last round of 12. But then this binning principle was overturned and all were trangulated according to the FIFA ranking in April.
The top 5 in Asia, Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia and Saudi Arabia, are seeded with host Qatar. Iraq, UAE, Oman, Uzbekistan, China and Jordan, ranked 7th to 12th in Asia, entered the second bracket.
Vietnam, which reached the last Asian round of 12 of the World Qualifiers, fell to the third bracket, while the third team also included Bahrain, Syria, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon and other opponents that are difficult for the national football team to deal with. Among the four gears, Thailand and Hong Kong are likely to cause problems for the national football team.
Seeded teams: Qatar (host), Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia;
Second gear: Iraq, UAE, Oman, Uzbekistan, China, Jordan;
Third tranche: Bahrain, Syria, Palestine, Viet Nam, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon;
Fourth gear: India, Tajikistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia
And the current ranking of the 11th national football team in Asia, and the 9th place Oman between the FIFA points gap of 36 points, the World Preliminary Round of 36 Asian Group Draw that began in November, the national football team before the release of the slot, the FIFA ranking is likely to be unable to rank among the top 9 in Asia, and it is basically determined to enter as a second-tier team.