On May 11, Beijing time, the results of the Qatar Asian Cup group draw were announced, and the national football team that entered the group draw as a second-tier team was finally in the same group as Qatar, Tajikistan and Lebanon. The tournament will take place from 12 January to 10 February 2024, with Qatar the reigning champion. The opener, Qatar against Lebanon.
Group A: Qatar (hosts), China, Tajikistan, Lebanon
Asian Cup team emblem
The national football team is currently ranked 11th in Asia in the FIFA ranking, so it enters the draw as a second team, which also includes Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Uzbekistan and Jordan, so the national football team can avoid these teams when grouping. Including the host Qatar, as well as Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia and Saudi Arabia 6 teams became seeded teams.
Bahrain, Syria, Palestine, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon are in the third bracket, while India, Tajikistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia are the fourth team.
According to the AFC draw rules, except for the host A1, the rest of the teams are drawn in turn, starting with the fourth tier of teams.
The new Asian Cup was originally hosted by China, but last year the Chinese Football Association announced that it would abandon hosting it, and then Qatar announced that it would take over, and changed the time of the competition from the summer of 2023 to 2024, which will be held from January 12 to February 10 next year.
Since the last Asian Cup, it has expanded to 24 teams, divided into 6 groups, with the top 2 in each group and the 3rd place in the 4 best groups to reach the knockout rounds. In the last Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates, the national football team reached the last 8 under the leadership of Lippi, but lost to Iran in the 1/4 final.
Qatar Asian Cup, host Qatar will be the defending champion, the last UAE Asian Cup, Qatar won the highest honor of Asian football for the first time.