2019 AFC Asian Cup draw: what you need to know

The early hours of Saturday morning (AEST) is the day the Caltex Socceroos will learn their group stage opponents for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

After a historic win on home soil in the 2015 edition, Australia will head to the UAE next year as one of the favourites, under new boss Graham Arnold.

READ: Caltex Socceroos to learn 2019 AFC Asian Cup group opponents

Here’s all you need to know ahead of this weekend’s draw.

WHEN AND WHERE?

The draw will be held on Saturday morning (AEST) starting at 1.30am. It will be held at the Dubai Opera in the UAE.

WHICH NATIONS ARE INVOLVED?

As hosts, the United Arab Emirates qualified automatically, with the Caltex Socceroos set to try and defend the title they won on home soil in 2015.

The other 22 nations are: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Japan, Thailand, Korea Republic, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Syria, China PR, India, Kyrgyz Republic, Lebanon, DPR Korea, Jordan, Vietnam, Oman, Palestine, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Philippines, Yemen

HOW DOES THE DRAW WORK?

The group stages of the tournament will see the 24 teams drawn into six groups of four each (Groups A-F).

Each group will have a team from each of the four pots.

Hosts UAE will be placed in Pot 1 along with the heavyweights of the continent and will be drawn first to take up a slot in Group A.

The rest of the teams will be drawn at random.

HOW DOES THE TOURNAMENT WORK?

16 of the 24 nations will qualify to the knockout stages from the groups.

Which means the top two teams from each group and four best third-placed teams will go through to the knockout stages.

DID YOU KNOW?

While the 24 teams to compete in the 2019 tournament will be a record number, the inaugural tournament in Hong Kong featured just four nations.