Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Malacca: Former champions and runners-up Thailand and India respectively who are gunning to make a come-back to a final of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup now know their opponents after a draw in Malaysia’s historic city Malacca for the qualifiers of the upcoming edition in 2014.
Among the 16 teams that were drawn, only Thailand and India have ever made it to the final match, and the Thais won the championship in 1983 after beating the South Asians. And that was the only time the Kingdom reached the final after finishing as the runners-up in 1981, 1977 and 1975.
Hosts in 1979 India have made runners-up two times, in 1979 and 1983, and the later year was the pinnacle for the Indians that they are looking forward to achieving again this time around.
The Thais were drawn into Group B alongside South Asians Iran and Bangladesh as well as ASEAN hopefuls the Philippines, while India have opponents from all corners of the continent -- Myanmar from the ASEAN region, Chinese Taipei from the East and Western Asians Palestine -- as company in Group D.
Vietnam, who crashed out of the group stage in the last edition in 2010, were pooled in Group C with Hong Kong, Kyrgyzstan from Central Asia and Bahrain, while Group A sees Uzbekistan, Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait locking horns to make the finals.
The seeding for the draw, conducted by AFC Head of Women's Competitions Julie Teo (pictured), was based on the rankings of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2010 while the top-four teams of the last edition qualify automatically to the finals.
Each group will battle it out in a one-round league, where each team in the group will play one match against every other team.
The winners of each group will advance to meet the four automatic qualifiers to make an eight-team finals competition.
The qualification campaign of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2014 will be held in May next year.
The Groupings:
Group A: Uzbekistan, Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait.
Group B: Thailand, IR Iran, Philippines and Bangladesh.
Group C: Vietnam, Hong Kong, Kyrgyzstan and Bahrain.
Group D: Myanmar, Chinese Taipei, Palestine and India.