AFC announces Asian Cup seedings

The Asian Football Confederation has announced the seedings and draw mechanism for the Final Draw for AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015

The Asian Football Confederation has announced the seedings and draw mechanism for the Final Draw for AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015.

There will be four country pots with hosts Australia occupying the A1 position of Pot 1 and the rest of the countries getting their respective positions based on the latest FIFA Rankings released this week.

The first four top-rank countries will be slotted in Pot 1 and the rest will be slotted in Pot 2, 3 and 4 respectively.

The seedings are: Pot 1 (teams ranked 1-4): Australia, Iran, Japan, Uzbekistan Pot 2 (teams ranked 5-8): Korea Republic, UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia Pot 3 (teams ranked 9-12): Oman, China, Qatar, Iraq Pot 4 (teams ranked 13-16): Bahrain, Kuwait, DPR Korea and Challenge Cup 2014 winners.

The draw, at the Sydney Opera House on March 26, will feature 15 confirmed sides, with the winner of the AFC Challenge Cup 2014, which takes place in the Maldives in May, to take the final position.

The teams who booked their place in the AFC Asian Cup 2015 draw via the qualifying campaign are: Oman, Bahrain, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia (all group winners) Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Iraq (all group runners-up) and China, who emerged as the best third-place finisher among the five groups.

Defending champions Japan, Asian Cup 2015 hosts Australia, and Korea Republic received direct entry to the finals by finishing first, second and third respectively at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, while DPR Korea sealed their place courtesy of victory in the AFC Challenge Cup 2012.