The national teams of Thailand, Hong Kong and China became rivals of Turkmenistan following the results of the draw for the qualifying tournament of the Futsal Asian Cup 2024 held today at the headquarters of the Asian Football Confederation in Kuala Lumpur.
A total of 31 teams were divided into eight groups, with matches hosted by Thailand, Indonesia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Bahrain, Uzbekistan and Taiwan.
Turkmenistan and its rivals formed Group «A», the matches of which will be held from the 7th to 11th of October in Thailand.
The rest of the groups:
«B»: Indonesia (group host), Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Macau;
«C»: Iran, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic (group host), Maldives;
«D»: Vietnam, Republic of Korea, Nepal, Mongolia (group host);
«E»: Tajikistan (group host), Myanmar, Palestine, India;
«F»: Kuwait, Bahrain (group host), East Timor, Brunei;
«G»: Uzbekistan (group host), Iraq, Malaysia, Cambodia;
«H»: Japan, Taiwan (group host), Australia.
The group winners, the top seven runners-up, and the host country will advance to the finals.
Futsal players of Turkmenistan will play their first match in qualifying on the 7th of October against Hong Kong. In the second round on the 9th of October, they will play with China. And they will complete the group stage on the 11th of October with a meeting with Thailand.
The venue for the final tournament of the Asian Cup-2024, in which 16 strongest futsal national teams of the confederation will perform, will be determined later. According to its results, the five best Asian teams will be known, which will receive the right to play in the 2024 World Cup.
The previous final tournament of the Asian Futsal Cup took place in autumn 2022 in Kuwait. The fourth time it was won by the Japanese team, which in the final match defeated the 12-time Asian champion Iran - 3:2. The team of Uzbekistan became the owner of bronze medals, having won the match for 3rd place with a score of 8:2, the national team of Thailand - the rival of the Turkmen futsal players in the current qualification.
