The seedings for the draw for the 2019 Asian Cup have been confirmed after the latest FIFA rankings were released on Thursday.
The draw for the 24-team continental competition is slated to take place on May 4 at 19:30 in Dubai at the Armani Hotel in Burj Khalifa. The 24 teams have been divided into four pots containing six sides each with UAE drawn in Pot 1 as the top seeds as is custom for the hosts.
They will be joined by Iran, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.
Seedings for #AsianCup2019 have been finalised. 24 nations set to learn their opponents when the Final Draw takes place on May 4 in Dubai! pic.twitter.com/HgZVyczj54
— #AsianCup2019 (@afcasiancup) April 12, 2018
The 12 teams who progressed to the final round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers were all given a direct bye to the 2019 Asian Cup and have been placed in Pot 1 and 2 of the draw.
Meanwhile, the remaining 12 teams which booked their tickets to UAE through the Asian Cup qualifiers have been placed in Pot 3 and 4. This includes Kyrgyzstan who have made the biggest jump in the latest FIFA rankings by climbing 40 spots from their 115th position in March.
The 24 teams will be divided into six group of four teams each during the draw on May 4. The top two teams from each group along with the best of the third-placed sides will advance to the Round of 16 which will signal the beginning of the knock-outs.
